But if your company is bringing in $1500/mo after line-item expenses and before wages, you are making less than minimum wage; you are not profitable. Happy? Sure. Profitable? No.
You seem to be blurring the line between "the company is profitable" and "I (an individual) am profitable." It's certainly possible for the company to be profitable in a narrow sense (which can be an important bit of information) while you (the founder) as an individual are not.
But since a founder owns equity which he/she expects to become valuable in the future, it's a tradeoff some people choose to make - forgoing a salary now, so the company can thrive.
Perhaps the downvoters would like to explain their logic here? If a worker chooses to donate his/her time to the company, how is that a cost for the company? Again, there is a distinction between the finances of the company and the finances of the individual involved. It's entirely reasonable, for example, for a founder to "donate" his/her time to the company, because he/she expects to gain from their equity stake in the future.
But if your company is bringing in $1500/mo after line-item expenses and before wages, you are making less than minimum wage; you are not profitable. Happy? Sure. Profitable? No.