How to poach employees from big companies to your startup?

I would like to convince a talented engineer to come join my startup as employee #2 (there are just three of us at the moment). The company he currently works at is the large gorilla competitor of our niche.

We likely cannot afford to match whatever he is getting paid right now over there. In this scenario, what are some ways that one can convince talented people to join a startup?

He won't be joining as a co-founder, just an early employee.

Money is rarely the strongest motivating factor for why people move companies, rather, a complex mix of financial reward, work satisfaction, work challenge, hierarchy, company culture, geography and more.

The only person that can answer this question, is the guy you are targeting. Find out what he doesn't like about his existing situation and offer him an improved situation.

For example being 10 minutes from his house, might be more valuable to him than 5k of salary and a 1 hour commute.