I didn't think my explanation implied how you interpreted it.

I thought everybody knew Wayland was started by some people working on Xorg already; I did not mean to imply otherwise. Many or all were paid for their work. They believed Wayland was a better approach, and, AFAIK, at some point switched to be paid full-time to work on Wayland instead of X. Which, sounds a lot like they convinced their employer (or a new employer) to pay them to work on Wayland instead of X. Do you believe this is a fair summary of the situation?