CAROUSELL co-founder Quek Siu Rui didn’t tell his parents for the longest time that he wasn’t drawing a salary as he built his classifieds platform with friends.

The founders of travel startup Traveloka paid themselves just 1.5 million rupiah (S$140.50) a month when they started out, equivalent to the minimum wage in Jakarta at the time.

But all that was 10 years ago, and Carousell and Traveloka are now tech unicorns. While startup founders today still face the standard tribulations, a flush of early-stage capital into the ecosystem over the years has meant that fewer have to struggle for a prolonged period before they can live comfortably.