Rob, I certainly see the wisdom in what you write (even though you're not talking to me, I know ;-) ), but my feelings are mixed towards creating an uber-compelling situation.
If you get a co-founder in an uber-compelling situation where you already have customers and are able to pay salaries, are you really getting a co-founder or an employee who happens to also have a large chunk of equity? From my perspective, being able to get a salary from the company should not be a pre-requisite to join a company as a co-founder. I would typically want to get a co-founder when I'm not in such a comfortable situation that everyone and everybody wants to apply to get a job at your company and tell you how great your company is and how excited they are to work for/with you.
On a side note, I really believe in dynamic equity splits when it comes to bringing a co-founder, even after you've started building a business. Mike Moyer has nicely popularized the concept with his Slicing Pie book (www.slicingpie.com) and the concept of Grunt Funds. If I had to take a co-founder, I would definitely want to have him on board with that type of equity split scheme, and I no longer want to hear about 1-year cliffs and vesting schedules and all that type of stuff that's just distracting from building the business. So, if things don't work out, the co-founder can leave while retaining some right to equity and without feeling disgruntled.
Also, because you've already started the business, you would get to have more equity at the very start although that equity will most likely decrease as the co-founder put in some time and efforts into the business. Obviously, the key is not to get a lion's share of the business when you start your Grunt Fund in order not to discourage your co-founder. But I see this as the fairest possible way to allocate equity to a co-founder who's not someone you've already worked with and/or know for a while (and even in those cases, I believe it's a good model anyway, as Mike Moyer points out in his first chapter).
My 2 cents,
R.