It's important to recognize the flip side of the coin (based on my own experience):
If you aren't articulating your vision well, then of course early employees won't be doing what you expect--and if you don't document what your tech is, of course they will just roll their own.
If you don't give them a reasonable stake in the company in real stock or revenue sharing, then of course early employees won't put in the same work.
If you wasted a lot of effort learning things the hard way about your tech or your business, and you hire early employees that already knew how to do things the right way, of course they won't appear to be working as hard.
It can be really sad watching cofounders screw over early employees all the while wringing hands about "dang, these folks just aren't as committed as we were". Early employee at a startup sucks, because you don't have the financial security of being a cog, you don't have the respect or payoff of being a cofounder, and you do have to clean up after the cofounders messes and grow the business.
If you aren't articulating your vision well, then of course early employees won't be doing what you expect--and if you don't document what your tech is, of course they will just roll their own.
If you don't give them a reasonable stake in the company in real stock or revenue sharing, then of course early employees won't put in the same work.
If you wasted a lot of effort learning things the hard way about your tech or your business, and you hire early employees that already knew how to do things the right way, of course they won't appear to be working as hard.
It can be really sad watching cofounders screw over early employees all the while wringing hands about "dang, these folks just aren't as committed as we were". Early employee at a startup sucks, because you don't have the financial security of being a cog, you don't have the respect or payoff of being a cofounder, and you do have to clean up after the cofounders messes and grow the business.