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Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

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Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#21

Post by qty899 »

larrys wrote: post #5

"...Thiel believes that a CEO should not be paying themselves more than $150,000, even after a Series A investment. Anything above that shows a lack of motivation to the company and to the future success of the company." Anything above? Really? This assumes a few things. First that the cost of living is the same for any CEO. A CEO at a startup in NYC or SV has considerably higher cost of living than a CEO located in…

I highly, highly, highly doubt a CEO with 9 children who needs more than $150K in salary because s/he doesn't have any sufficient safety net will be taken seriously by any VC.

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#22

Post by vaksel »

_delirium wrote: post #19
earl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in sf or nyc. a low end (not dumpy, but definitely not high end with a doorman) 2 bed apartment is going to run you $650k in the decent bits of sf and more in nyc. In sf, you end up paying approx $1100 per month per million dollars of value in property taxes. So $715 in taxes, $300 or so in insurance, a $2500 mortgage, and you can easily be spending $3500-$4k/mo (after taxes) on housing. Using the rough rule of t…

>> Most people with kids and mortgages get by on less than 150k. > Not in sf or nyc. It's still trivially true that most people in SF and NYC, including married adults with families, get by on way less than $150k. Even Upper-East-Side Manhattan, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the U.S., has average incomes "only" in the high 5 figures. Maybe there is a small section of Nob Hill where $150k incomes are normal, but…

NYC is a bad example, the real estate costs really sky rocketed over the past 25 years or so...so it's very possible that someone could have gotten one of those buildings on a $40K/yr teacher's salary.

Good luck doing that in this day and age

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#23

Post by bdunn »

I never really understood this idea of positions (especially the owner/CEO) being pegged to an arbitrary salary figure.

If profits are good, reward yourself. Any smart business owner gets the long term rewards of reinvesting in the company and will likely do that where appropriate.

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#24

Post by heliodor »

earl wrote: post #16
philwelch wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people with kids and mortgages get by on less than 150k. If you really can't make ends meet on 150k you've overextended yourself.

Not in sf or nyc. a low end (not dumpy, but definitely not high end with a doorman) 2 bed apartment is going to run you $650k in the decent bits of sf and more in nyc. In sf, you end up paying approx $1100 per month per million dollars of value in property taxes. So $715 in taxes, $300 or so in insurance, a $2500 mortgage, and you can easily be spending $3500-$4k/mo (after taxes) on housing. Using the rough rule of t…

Since when is a doorman a necessity?

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#26

Post by larrys »

vaksel wrote: post #22
_delirium wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Most people with kids and mortgages get by on less than 150k. > Not in sf or nyc. It's still trivially true that most people in SF and NYC, including married adults with families, get by on way less than $150k. Even Upper-East-Side Manhattan, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the U.S., has average incomes "only" in the high 5 figures. Maybe there is a small section of Nob Hill where $150k incomes are normal, but…

NYC is a bad example, the real estate costs really sky rocketed over the past 25 years or so...so it's very possible that someone could have gotten one of those buildings on a $40K/yr teacher's salary. Good luck doing that in this day and age

As a matter of fact I dated such a person (UES of NYC). Her salary was, IIRC, actually about $80's. She was divorced with one child. They had a 1 bedroom and shared the same bed. And she wouldn't have been able to afford that without family help.

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#27

Post by larrys »

vaksel wrote: post #20
larrys wrote: post #5

"...Thiel believes that a CEO should not be paying themselves more than $150,000, even after a Series A investment. Anything above that shows a lack of motivation to the company and to the future success of the company." Anything above? Really? This assumes a few things. First that the cost of living is the same for any CEO. A CEO at a startup in NYC or SV has considerably higher cost of living than a CEO located in…

yeah you'd think they'd want the CEO to be able to 100% focus on their startup If for example the CEO's wife lost her job...$150K is suddenly not that much for a family. Do you really want your CEO to do consulting on the side to pay the bills instead of focusing on the startup?

To me this is simply an attempt by Thiel to try and limit CEO's to a) ramen hungry founders or b) founders who already have money to live on c) founders without family obligations that can dedicate themselves 100% to the startup. Using the fact that money spoils (not denying that it could be true for some people) is just a red herring. I know many people who could retire and still work 6 or 7 days a week for the challenge. Some people who win the "lottery" lottery quit their jobs. And some continue to work.

This reminds me of a story that a small business owner told me many years ago. He said in his business he preferred to have Puerto Ricans work in his warehouse. But he couldn't advertise and say "looking for Puerto Ricans" for bias reasons. So he told me that he simply put in the advertisement "must speak spanish" and that got him exactly what he was looking for.

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#28

Post by alphakappa »

viscanti wrote: post #3
rollypolly wrote: post #2

You can put any sort of artificial limit on CEO salaries. The only thing you'll never be able to touch is their true source of wealth, which is stock.

That's the whole point though. You want the CEO to be able to live comfortably, but you want her hungry to grow the company. Having the bulk of her assets in stock, which is worthless until the company is a success, aligns the interests of the CEO with the Investors. Startup CEOs are more savvy than ever about retaining equity. It should be clear that their path to wealth goes through building a successful company, n…

If they have no money for the present, and the only possibility to make some money is to have an IPO or sale, then the CEO is not necessarily aligned to the long-term interest of the company.

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#29

Post by tibbon »

tlogan wrote: post #25

Can we also have rule that VC salaries should not be more than $150K? And they will be paid only from funds profits and there will be NO management fees for their funds?

Or that VC salaries are $1 or at most $15K? Because again, they should only be paid from profits.

Re: Peter Thiel: Startup CEO Salaries Shouldn’t Be Above $150,000

#30

Post by angersock »

tlogan wrote: post #25

Can we also have rule that VC salaries should not be more than $150K? And they will be paid only from funds profits and there will be NO management fees for their funds?

Let's not be silly here. If it weren't for VCs doing all the hard work, what would ever ship?
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