Once a startup raises its seed round; The perennial question is how much startups should pay themselves and their first few employees.
Kruze ConsultingThe CPA firm, which specializes in venture-backed firms, recently analyzed average pay rates for more than 450 seed-stage startups and shared that data with TechCrunch.
The averages below are based on actual wage records, not survey responses, Kruze said.
No wonder technical engineering/product positions pay more than CEO. Surprisingly, a person with a COO/operations title tends to earn more on average. Because an operations/COO title without a well-defined role can signal your seed VCs to a third co-founder – it's eyebrow-raising because a small company doesn't have much to run. Maybe even in that role. Spending/budgeting red flags for early stage VCs.
However, according to Kruze, the average salaries of founding executives are;
- CEO: 132,000 kyats
- CTO: 134,000 kyats
- COO/Operations$135,000
- Product/Palm Oil: 149,000 kyats
Especially where the business starts. Salaries are not particularly high in the Bay Area. For example, Senior engineers seed startups with salaries ranging from $180,000 to $235,000 in the Bay Area and $160,000 to $210,000 in other fields, Kruze found. On the other hand, Even in San Francisco, an entry-level engineer can command anywhere from $75,000 to $105,000 on average.
Founders should be aware that every time they praise, they tend to promote themselves to health. The average salary in the founder executive category after Series A is $183,000, and Series B reaches $218,000.
In positions less likely to be founders; According to Kruze, employees are offered starting salaries for initial hires.
- engineering Secondary: $100,000 to $145,000 Bay Area; $90,000 to $130,000 other tech hubs
- sales Intermediate level: $80,000 to $110,000 Bay Area; $70,000 to $100,000 other
- Product titles: $130,000 to $185,000 Bay Area; $110,000 to $175,000 other
- marketing; Intermediate: $100,000 to $175,000 Bay Area; $80,000 to $145,000 other
Employees often get equity, too — that's one of the attractions of joining a startup. District From Carta Covering more than 8,000 initial grants, the first five tenants show how much can be expected and are likely to be delivered within four years.
- First Lease: 0.5% to 4% share (average 1.49%)
- Second: 0.3% to 2% share (average 0.85%)
- Third: 0.21% to 1.2% share (average 0.50%)
- Stoke: 0.18% to 1% share (average 0.44%)
- Fifth: 0.13% to 0.8% share (average 0.34%)
This story was originally published on December 2, 2024.