If your startup does eventually take off, you will have to hire people. But I'm afraid that no one (no one of significant worth anyway) will want to work for you if your attitude is that "working at someone else's startup is a recipe for getting exploited". How will you, as a founder, do things differently?
You won't. Without exceptions, all founders I know that seem to have a chance to succeed are huge manipulators. I even think that this is a prerequisite to startup success. Those founders just have this special combination of personality and charisma that makes it almost impossible to say "no" to them, even if a minute ago you blamed yourself for allowing to exploit you.
