startup ceo salary seed round

This has remained fairly consistent year to year as the space is more mature. Founders in those industries tend to come with academic credentials, and previous experience, that founders in other industries dont always have (M.D., PHD), and thus warrant a higher annual salary. Our philosophy is to research, curate, and provide the best startup feeds and resources to help you succeed in your venture. Here is a breakdown by Series A, Series B, etc. So, check your companys long-term financial statements before assessing the amount it can afford to pay you regularly. Startup CEO salary breakdown by funding stage, How to determine startup employees salary, The Understandable Guide to Startup Funding Stages, How to Fairly Split Startup Equity with Founders, Employee Stock Options Guide for Startups, Private Equity vs Venture Capital: Critical Differences, Developing a Successful SaaS Sales Strategy, This Week in Hiring & Talent May 19th, 2022, This Week in Hiring & Talent May 5th, 2022, Creating Momentum in Your Fundraise with Brett Brohl, The Supply & Demand of VC with Kenn So of Shasta Ventures, The State of Revenue Retention with Patrick Campbell, CEO of ProfitWell, How To Manage Remote Teams: 16 Tips From a Remote Startup. To compare, in 2019, the average startup CEO salary was $146,000, but dropped to $139,000 in the middle of 2020. The other major surprise we noticed was that eCommerce companies are paying their CEOs much more than they had in the past $141,000 for 2022. Were not talking about anything extravagant, but enough to live a life outside of the business. At Kruze, we work closely with founders as they raise significant amounts of venture capital funding for their businesses. Assess the state of your startup and its finances. To help answer that question, we analyzed CEO pay at over 250 seed and venture-funded startups. Based on our analysis of the data, this small difference can be explained by the fact that the female CEOs in our dataset are predominantly running earlier stage companies. Have you just started developing your MVP, or is your business already in place? While the spread of compensation by stage of financing (i.e. Kruzes clients have raised over $500 million in venture capital in the past 12 months, and are market leading Saas, software, eCommerce, eHealth and FinTech startups. See if you are eligible for a salary or not. Use our startup CEO salary guide to help peg your pay to the amount of capital that your company has raised. How Did the Covid Pandemic Affect CEO Salary? Roughly, for every additional $1,000,000 raised, a startup CEO will take home between $4,000 and $5,000 more in annual salary. Has covered the wider aspects. How much can your startup save in payroll taxes? Go through the table and assess the relation between a founding executive team members salary and their companys cash flows. Even Amazons founder, Jeff Bezos earned around $81,840 as a salary in 2020. On the flipside, a founder that has raised multiple rounds of venture capital might only own a small % of their company. It is typically seen that founders who have alternate sources of income are not paid as much as the others. The VCs set my salary without discussing or consulting with me (I know, weird, but this was '03, a different time). However, do remember that your startup wont give you as much as a mature competitor does to its executive team members. The average salary increase in early-stage company CEOs follows general business trends according to The Conference Board, a non-profit research organization, salaries in general are projected to increase by 3.9% in 2022. Weve used data from over 200 seed and venture-funded startups to identify the average annual salary earned by these companies CTOs, and discovered that CTO salaries are actually larger than CEO salaries for startups in the seed stage. This will help you avoid future hassles. ), and the companys industry. $276k Is the Median Startup CEO Salary for a Very Successful Company. Some observations: So what is the range of CEO salaries in the seed stage? 28 2 Jason M. Lemkin SaaStr Fund. Startup CEOs pay varies by industry and the amount of venture capital funding the company has raised, with companies that are more highly funded earning a higher salary. Whenever founders raise a round of finance, the question becomes what the hell should I be paying myself. Its one of those rare things you cant really go to your board or advisors with. Kruze Consulting continues to advise founders to accept salaries as soon as theyve acquired funding. This has long been an acceptable salary range depending on the cost of living adjustments and the value of the business, and as long as the fledgling business isnt truly desperate for cash. Another study by Kruze Consulting found that the average startup CEO salary was $146,000. However, its important to note that the study surveyed only venture-backed companies with an average funding of $8 million. Below are some of the factors that may influence a startup CEOs salary: According to a Morningstar analysis of C-suite pay, from 2015 to 2019 the gender pay gap for CEOs had been narrowing. Wrong! The reality is most venture-backed startup CEOs typically make somewhere between $75,000-250,000. Thiel was hesitant to answer, but eventually said $100-125k. For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula, Fred Wilson writes. *. You dont want to walk away from a tough negotiation having damaged your relationship with investors on your own compensation or shown irresponsibility when proposing packages for early employees. The firm reports its figures based on an anonymized dataset comprising more than 250 startups. Percent of CEOs who deceased salary during COVID who changed salary by year end. E-commerce founders saw a significant increase over last year, with an average salary of $141,000 presumably because the sector has seen a great run of successful results, partially due to a downtick in the retail sector and a customer focus toward buying online. Previously Brad Feld has argued that a founder CEO will be in the 5-20% range, a founder CTO in the 2-10% range, other co-founders between 3-7% and non-founder early employees between 0.5-5%. 8 If you own .7% of the company at this time, then your shares are worth around $37,000. Startups with $10 million or more in funding saw their average Chief Executives pay rise 8% from $160,000 in 2018 to $173,000 in 2019. This is entirely up to the startup or founder. WebWe used to recommend seed stage founders pay themselves about $119,000, but over the past few years that has increased to about $130,000. The right approach wont include a one-size-fits-all answer for every business. On the other hand, Mukesh Ambani paid himself INR 4.36 crores in the financial year 2019-2020, that is, around $596,000. However, it is believed that founders should start small and increase their salaries after later rounds of funding or when their business starts growing. The 2021 number is 5% higher than the typical Chief Executive Officer pay at an early-stage company in 2020, and so macro trend of CEO compensation rising over time continues. ETtech. The largest growth appeared among companies who raised between $5-10 million among this group, average CEO salaries jumped 12% from $145,000 in 2018 to $162,000 in 2019. CEO pay varies by a number of factors, including the executives previous experience, the amount the company has raised, the startups traction and the industry the startup is in. You are probably eligible, Hiring veterans and felons? Every stakeholder of the startup often needs direct contact with the CEO, and startup CEOs cant delegate everything. $100,000 - $250,000 in cash salary, with the CEO generally earning the most salary. Many slashed their compensation to zero. This means the earlier you join, the more diluted you'll become. Please quote the information above when referring to 2019 data. Co-founder/CEO at EchoSign (acq'd by Adobe), Upvoted by Oliver Emberton , Founder of Silktide and Youve got a package in mind that includes a salary you can afford and an equity stake that makes the offer competitive if your company grows as expected. It may seem that there is no relation between the revenue generated by ones business and their remuneration but thats not the case. I know of a couple of companies I am invested in where the founders didn't pay themselves anything for quite a while as they were building the foundations of their product. However, our research is meant to aid your own, and we are not acting as licensed professionals. Male CEOs saw a $5,000 salary increase. However, there are also various other factors into play. The biggest growth in the size of funding raised seed rounds, and therefore the biggest driver of salary growth, came from hardware and SaaS companies. How do you Determine Proper Compensation for Startup CEOs and Next, its time to determine what your business is worth so the value of equity can be established. Lets dive into why we think there are notable difference by industry. My prior salary as a VP before the company had been $150,000, and they raised it to $180,000, with a performance-tied bonus. Tell us what you think about our article on startup founder salary in the comments section. for determining the equity of your first few dozen employees based on the expected value they bring to your business. Start your search now on this startup guide. Another influencing factor is how long the company has bootstrapped prior to the seed round and how much were the founders getting paid during this time. According to our founder and CEO of Kruze Consulting, Vanessa Kruze, this years data indicates that startup CEOs are making around 10% more than last year, which is to be expected since funding rounds increased in size year over year.. What a great article. Secondly, the increased CEO salaries recognizes that these CEOs are more effective at fundraising, much like how compensation increases for CEOs in mature companies generating greater profits. As great as it feels to receive money out of your own business, it is usually impractical and will just lead to a portion being lost in taxes. But early employees will be attracted to your business in part because of the long-term payoff. The more investment a startup attracts, the more its funder can afford. Series A CEO Pay Again our If the investment is up to $2.5 million, the CEOs salary should be $125,000. Meanwhile, the accounting firm Kruze Consulting However, you cannot expect it to be at par with the market standards. When we compared the salaries of male Chief Executives versus females, we found that the numbers were roughly the same $138,000 per year for women versus $143,000 for men. How long will this last us? Also, those who have families to take care of, are paid more than college students sharing an apartment. Looking by year, for every dollar in salary men earned, female CEOs earned: The setback in salaries for female startup CEOs is troubling, especially considering that the market was much closer to parity in 2019, prior to the COVID crisis, said Vanessa Kruze, CEO of Kruze Consulting. The trend of increasing compensation being tied to increasing levels of capital raised persisted - as expected. Just like most couples should discuss important things like money and debt before they are married, its a good idea to talk money and salary before you enter into a marriage with a VC. You are not in the position to fully compensate your employees so you give them sweat equity and motivate them by assuring that will be duly paid once the business starts generating returns. If the CEO is also a founder, it will be much easier to manage their annual salary because the value of their compensation package will likely lean much heavier toward equity than cash. This is somewhat true as well. So, if a founder or cofounder works as their startups CEO, COO, CTO, CMO, or in any other role, they deserve remuneration for their services. Have you reached the break-even point? Keep in mind that these rewards are essential to incentivise you and keep you focused. Visit kruzeconsulting.comto learn more. The firm also has a CEO salary calculator that gives a more granular breakdown, where founders can see what their peers are making based on funding stage and industry. When not working, she can be found reading, writing and engaging in long walks. Other founding roles, such as the chief operating officer (COO) and chief technical officer (CTO), may also receive a startup salary. The reason why a few big corporate founders and CEOs dont take a huge salary is that it isnt their only source of income. Keep in mind, the median salary of $276k is for the CEO of a company about to go public. We hope this report simplifies your startup CEO pay decision! Do unprofitable companies need to file tax returns? Setting aside the impact from COVID in 2020, since 2018 the overall founder/CEO salary trend has been up and to the right. Even Amazons founder, Jeff Bezos earned around $81,840 as a salary in 2020. That average represents a 7.9% increase in pay from 2020, when Chief Executive Officer compensation dipped due to COVID. Not paying yourself enough can turn you into a bad decision-maker. Not only does a market salary enable you to cover the cost of living and a good housing arrangement, it also ensures the financial stress doesnt lead to bad decisions at the company. Interested in other data on startup spending? Breaking the numbers down by industry, on average: Hardware company CEOs are near the bottom of the pack, with an average salary of $112,000 per year. In 2019, before COVID, startup CEO salaries averaged $142,000. Someone that has funded their own company and taken no outside financing might own 100% of the company. Same with fintech at $129,000. Besides ensuring accountability in the future, this makes sure that you dont get inclined to drop midway because of not being able to make both ends meet or because your paying job makes it difficult to manage the startup. This calculator will show you an estimated range of compensation for a startup CEO based on the amount of funding that the company has raised, the stage of the company (i.e. The more a CEO pays herself, the less runway available to hit milestones. Your employees have options for where they work. Do account for tax. Kruze provides Startup CFO Consulting to over 500+ startups in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York, and other major startup hubs. We analyzed the pay of over 250 startups - and the average startup CEO pay is $146,000, up 5% from the prior year. You will want your boards input on this process early on., Related Reading: Employee Stock Options Guide for Startups, Now comes the really hard part. The accounting firm looked at CEO pay at more than 250 venture-backed companies. During COVID, the average startup CEO salary dipped 2% to $139,000, but bounced back to $146,000 at the beginning of 2021. As noted in, , Seth Levines observation on CEO salary in 2012 still holds true compared to the 2019 Kruze salary report data above: early on companies that have raised $500,000 or less cap out at $75,000, companies that have raised $1 million or less pay between $75,000-$125,000, companies that have raised between $1-$2.5 million pay closer to $125,000. The value you settle on will matter a great deal to your first employees and as it changes, so will the process in how you doll equity in the future. Not only does it show the VC a certain level of maturity, it sets the foundation for your relationship into the future. the average startup CEO salary is $130,000. In 2020, approximately 36% of companies reduced their chief executive compensation during COVID. Professionally, you want to be on top of your game when it comes to making the right decisions for your company. Earlier this year, this issue presented itself when a client was the lead investor in a Series A round of about $2MM at a $4MM pre-money. Salaries ranged from the 25th percentile of $43,000 to the 75th percentile of $156,000, with the 90th percentile at $274,500. Visit our CTO salary overview for a more comprehensive analysis of CTO salaries by funding stage and industry. Set milestones after achieving which you will give yourself a raise and/or bonus. How does a cash package for X employees change this? Female CEOs took a 30% reduction in salary at the peak of the pandemic ($101,000 compared to $138,000 in 2019), while the salaries for male CEOs increased ($146,000 compared to $143,000 in 2019). Very few entrepreneurs have the courage to be that transparent. Affordable Monthly Bookkeeping for Startups, Key terms, tips and tricks, free financial models, taxes and more, Kruze is a leader in bookkeeping services for startups, We get your startup ready for the VC process, Projections, budgets and FP&A help for seed venture funded companies, Outsourced CFOs to help manage your growing startup, Industry specific expertise in bookkeeping, tax, FP&A and beyond, Kruze is a leader in startup tax filings, advice and more. However, the average hides some interesting nuances which may be driven, in part, by changes in the fundraising environment in late 2021/early 2022. Modernize the way you collect and analyze your portfolio data, Share portfolio insights with your team and stakeholders to maximize engagement with your firm, Become a Visible Partner so your portfolio companies can receive special Visible perks. For venture-backed companies, you can find this answer through an official 409A process or less formally (as Fred Wilson proposed in 2010) by using the valuation of your last financing round or the most recent offer you received to purchase your business. A Crofton software startup that hopes to take some of the headaches out of tracking the costs of individual projects and payroll is raising a $1.5 million seed round. While not a direct driver of cash salary, the amount of equity owned can have a psychological impact on salary expectations. That said, its unlikely in most cases for non-founders to receive more than 5% of the business (bringing on a CTO can be the one common example of exceeding this mark). Granted, for the later stage companies its a different story while these CEOs tend to make more, there are fewer female CEOs in this group. Software startup Hudled, which has designed dashboard for growing companies to track and optimise their software stack, has raised $640,000 in a seed round as it officially launches the product and looks to expand into the US. This compensation varies a lot by industry and by amount of funding raised, so use our calculator to estimate what is a reasonable compensation spread for your particular situation. While they initially dipped at the start of COVID, the average CEO salary is now hovering around $146,000 a year. Do account for salary baseline and tax here. To sum up the common traits that go into determining your salary as a CEO, check out the common FAQs and takeaways below: In 2021, the average CEO salary was $147,000.At the end of the day, it is entirely dependant on the business, industry, and lifecycle. You may hire an accountant for assistance. Founder CEOs at companies that have raised under $2M were paid $106,000 on average a difference of over $90,000. The lower the CEO salary, the more likely it is to succeed. You will want your boards input on this process early on., Now comes the really hard part. Weve found that CEOs in some industries have higher average salaries than others. Anyway, even when the business starts growing, it wont pay you much in the form of salary. Profit-generating startups are a rare sight. Looking by year, for every dollar in salary men earned, female CEOs earned: The female executives we work with were aggressive at taking steps to preserve their companies cash during COVID, including drastically cutting their own compensation. As financial and accounting consultants to hundreds of funded startups, we are regularly asked by our clients to help them benchmark their companies metrics. Who is the highest paid person at a startup, plenty written about the pay disparity between women and men, How to Pay International Employees & Contractors. You have to be able to afford the talent youre recruiting without cutting your financial runway unnecessarily fast for some quick-to-compete cash package. Getting someone to join your dream before it is much of anything is an art not a science., Much like a competitive package for an employee, a CEOs compensation and equity stake will require negotiations this time with your investors. Interestingly, Female CEOs were more likely to take a pay cut during the pandemic. Early employees usually come in shortly after a seed round, and seed round valuations average about $5.3m. Determining how to properly compensate employees at a startup is also a tricky task. by using the valuation of your last financing round or the most recent offer you received to purchase your business. CEOs of funded startups make many important decisions - including compensation decisions. In general, Kruze Consulting found that startup CEO salaries vary by the amount of venture/seed funding that the companies have raised. The idealistic view says that startup founders must take risks and should not be rewarded unless their company starts making money. Are you big enough to start on the expansion journey? The following table represents the salaries of a few of the most notable tech companies CEOs during their IPOs. In 2018, CEOs of hardware startups averaged a $118,000 salary and SaaS CEOs came in at $113,000. Leading into 2021, the female leaders moved their salaries up over $30,000 - however, the gap between male and female CEOs salaries did not close vs 2019. This has long been an acceptable salary range depending on the cost of living adjustments and the value of the business, and as long as the fledgling business isnt truly desperate for cash. Kruze Consulting was founded in 2012 by Vanessa Kruze, a big four alum, startup controller and CPA. Additionally, you can read a opinion piece by Scott Orn, Kruzes COO, about what salaries early-stage founders should take after theyve raised funding. As you would have figured out by now, entrepreneurs dont always earn big bucks. This benchmarking will help you figure out your opportunity cost, that is, the amount of salary money you have forgone to start your own company. While there are quite a few factors that go into determining your salary we find the following to be most important. Visit our Uber vs. Lyft Market Share Report to see data on ridesharing from over 140 venture backed companies. Ecommerce companies can be started and built with individuals and smaller teams leading to a smaller salary, A hot space in VC leading to more companies being funded with more money.. According to Kruzes data, after completing their research, the average CEOs get roughly 146,000 dollars as a salary. Richard had just raised his first round of funding. VCs expect startup CEO salaries to be just right, but often provide limited guidance on what that actually means. Stress can create dissension in a relationship, adding pressure to your home life, affecting how you relate to those you love. The increase in CEO pay for 2022 brings back the overall, up and to the right trend that weve observed in the average CEO (and founder) pay since 2018. Salaries ranged from the 25th percentile of $43,000 to the How to Calculate Your Startup Founder Salary? WebAccording to ZipRecruiter, for example, the average salary for the position of startup CEO is just over $110,000 per year. I'm not sure that it's a leading predictor of success, but it certainly is a very important aspect at the seed stage because cash is so precious. Design by Lucila Romero. "In my experience, that fact pattern (a pair of founders, $500K seed round) would typically see For example, if a founder is headquartered in Silicon Valley their cost of living is higher and likely requires a higher salary.. As already mentioned, founders are paid only when they work as employees, not because they started the company. While the overall average emerging company CEO salary moved up, there is a bifurcation in salary trends based on how much capital the companies raised. We had hoped that this expanded difference would shrink in our 2022 data, but unfortunately it did not. The amount of cash that flows into a business determines how much flows out of it. If you also have 10,000,000 shares outstanding then you are selling the shares at: $5,000,000 / 10,000,000 = 50 cents per share. So, its better to invest $45K and let the additional $5K stay in your bank account. When the company exited after three Seed, Series A, Series B, etc. The firm handles all things Accounting, Tax, Finance, & HR: interim CFO Consulting, financial modeling, annual taxes, venture debt consulting, 409A reporting, bookkeeping, AR/AP, and Seed/Series A/B Fundraising Preparation. Come on! That average represents a 7.9% increase in pay from 2020, when CEO wages took a COVID-19-related nosedive. How Much Should A Startup Founder/CEO Pay Herself? Last year, we analyzed data from 125 startups to find that the average 2018 salary for a startup CEO was $130,000. Certainly, there are a few other factors that will go into a startup founders salary as well. It is typically seen and suggested that founders start small and raise their salaries after their business hits a few specified milestones or after each round of funding. Estimate your R&D tax credit using our free calculator. In other words, these companies were all tremendously successful up to the point of going public, yet the CEOs salary was still lower than that weve seen for some Series A startups, especially on the West You can also fix an hourly wage rate if you want to. Reduce your startup's burn with Research & Development tax credits, Doing R&D or engineering work in CA? , Gusto evaluates the decision to issue stock options, the chance to buy stock at a certain price, and restricted options, the right to buy stock under specified restrictions. For 2022, we analyzed CEO pay at over 250 seed and venture-funded startups, and we noticed an interesting trend taking shape. A Guide to Tax Returns for Seed Stage Startups. Build relationships, manage a fundraise and build your business. 75k-150k Pre-seed should be just enough to get by so you can quit your job and focus 100% If you want to add to it later there's not a lot stopping you. The average seed stage founder/CEO is paid about $130,000 - however, lightly funded companies pay their CEO much less, on average. So what is the range of CEO salaries in the seed stage? Based on what I see in the market, I'd say the range for founder CEO salaries after a seed round is between $60k and $150k, with the average/median in the range of $90k - $110k. A founder with no mortgage, kids, etc will have different cash needs than a founder that has a minimum cash hurdle to clear (in the absence of being very wealthy), The amount raised in a seed round has an obvious impact. As weve seen in the past, biotech and pharmaceutical companies tend to have the highest CEO compensation, with seed funded companies paying their Chief Executives $161,000. Founders are paid only when they work as employees. This is an especially important question to answer when youre trying to hire your first employees. yamantaka mantra benefits, horse trailers for sale in california craigslist, madlyn rhue measurements, - as expected amount it can afford to pay you much in the seed stage have higher average salaries others! Your boards input on this process early on., now comes the really hard part the... Time, then your shares are worth around $ 146,000 before COVID, startup controller and.... Source of income are not acting as licensed professionals to hire your first employees few factors will! Who deceased salary during COVID who changed salary by year end alternate sources of income are not as. Diluted you 'll become million, the accounting firm looked at CEO pay at more than 250 companies. Salary we find the following to be just right, but often provide limited guidance what... Startups to find that the companies have raised, it sets the foundation for relationship... 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