Is it really a very cheap rate? It seems like it is the market rate to me for newbie founders. If it were "very cheap", every VC and their mom would be rushing to buy in on these types of startups -- and believe me, there are many VCs and a lot of VC money in SV.
I know that Hacker News is a place of serious discussion only, but is nobody going to mention that the first picture of a "brain" looks more like my own small ding dong?