Playing premium hands early on may get you reasonably deep but wont get you winning.
You have to expand your range according to position
Playing solid starting hands will soon be picked up on and the only pots you will win will be small but pots you lose will be bigger as your hand can be well defined
early on when blinds are small and stacks are deep connected cards and small pairs have a high implied value and should be open raised the odd time to add deception to your game and when you hit you can take down a huge pot and also if a high card comes on flop you can represent it
If I see a tight player raising I will call in position quite a lot with any connected cards and will aim to take it away from him on flop/turn on a raggy board.
You may slip into the lower cash payouts playing very tight but prize structure of games compels you to aim for FT at least to get a good return.
But ....if you playing 10-20 mtts per session ....thats a different animal