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What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
41–50 of 89 posts
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#42I suspect many founders of profitable non VC funded startups have small salaries and instead "pay" themselves through dividends as it can have tax advantages which might color the value of such graphs. That said, I believe such companies aren't always considered "startups" around these parts for some reason but that can be hazy when it comes to other people's surveys.
Yes this article is somewhat misleading in my opinion. I would imagine that a lot of CEOs only pay themselves a fraction of their income through typical payroll. Steve Jobs famously paid himself $1 salary. Although in his case he apparently didn't take other forms of compensation since apparently he didn't need the income. But many other CEOs are known to take low salaries and then get millions in bonuses or stocks.
Although in his case he apparently didn't take other forms of compensation since apparently he didn't need the income.
He received millions in stock options (e.g., a December 2001 grant of 7.5 million options to Jobs that subsequently ended in a backdating scandal) and an Apple-sponsored private plane beyond his salary.
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#43I've always heard that a founder's salary should be the amount that allows the founder to focus on the business. The concept of a super low salary seems to be focused on the 20 something single crowd. I have a family to support, so I can't take a super small salary and eat Top Ramen. This may be a subtle way that older founders are discriminated against. The story I've heard from founders who have families is that th…
> I have a family to support, so I can't take a super small salary and eat Top Ramen. This may be a subtle way that older founders are discriminated against. This is not (harmful) discrimination. Ceteris paribus, people with financial obligations are less fit to found a startup.
They're also more motivated to succeed.
I have a wife and two kids (both under 5) and a big mortgage. I pay myself barely enough for us to get by (the lowest salary that I've ever earned). The difference is made up in savings and my wife's occasional consulting work. I'm the lowest paid in the company.
The cost of failure is so much higher, which simply means you're far more driven to succeed.
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#44This talk of "salary" is misleading. Everyone must know by now that the smartest guys in the room get compensated by other means, if only because if you say the "s" word, the IRS hears it.
If your founder is only making $75k as salary in Silicon Valley, and he looks like he still eats and showers regularly, he's getting compensated in some other way as well. Who knows where it is coming from, but you're definitely not eligible for it as a mere salaried worker bee.
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#45I've always heard that a founder's salary should be the amount that allows the founder to focus on the business. The concept of a super low salary seems to be focused on the 20 something single crowd. I have a family to support, so I can't take a super small salary and eat Top Ramen. This may be a subtle way that older founders are discriminated against. The story I've heard from founders who have families is that th…
> This may be a subtle way that older founders are discriminated against.
I would prefer to say that this is a way that younger founders are exploited.
And, it illustrates a bigger problem:
If startup founders cannot afford to pay themselves a living salary, this limits startups to people who can comfortably afford to fail. (Essentially, the rich).
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Food stamps are not taxable.
That's a good point. If you pay yourself below the poverty line, you can get food and housing subsidies while you defer your compensation and accrue unrealized interest and gain unadjusted-basis capital and pump your defined contribution retirement plan and permanent life insurance up to mind-bogglingly high levels.
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#47I've always heard that a founder's salary should be the amount that allows the founder to focus on the business. The concept of a super low salary seems to be focused on the 20 something single crowd. I have a family to support, so I can't take a super small salary and eat Top Ramen. This may be a subtle way that older founders are discriminated against. The story I've heard from founders who have families is that th…
Older founders have had more time to prove themselves and should in theory have a nest egg large enough to take a sabbatical to start a business.
For example, when I decided I wanted to start a business, I talked with my significant other about it at length. When we bought a house, we bought a duplex where the other half pays the entire mortgage.
Now, I'm actually able to focus on my business (or projects, or whatever really) better than most 20-somethings could because I have a supportive spouse with an income, previous income-generating projects under my belt, a nest egg and no rent to speak of.
So, while low (or no) salaries may have an anti-age effect, I'd suggest it's not by design and more relative to what people have previously accomplished and what their priorities have been.
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#48Here's data for Customer.io for comparison:
* Currently based in NYC
* Raised ~$700k.
* Both of us founders are each @ $80k and have been the same with the exception of a couple of months at minimum wage.
The goal with these salaries, was to be able to not think about money while working on the company. It kind of worked. 80k in NYC doesn't get you very far unless you're making huge lifestyle changes and not eating out with friends, or traveling for fun etc... I moved out of Manhattan to Brooklyn to save a bit on rent.
I'm planning to raise our salaries later in 2014 (don't tell John, it'll be a surprise).
For other examples, check out what Joel @ Buffer has shared about their salaries:
http://open.bufferapp.com/introducing-open-salaries-at-buffe...
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#49The lower the CEO salary, the more likely it is to succeed. Sure, but this an obvious "correlation is not causation" situation and the reason for this is unpleasant. If you're from a middle-class background, you have to take full salary because that's the only money you have to live on. If you're from an upper-class background, taking full salary hurts your relationship with investors, and will possibly hurt your bar…
This post will be downvoted to hell, but I have been wanting to say this for a while and can't find a way to contact you. (My email is my HN handle at gmail) You may or may not be right about this or the rest of VC-istan. But I LOVE the fervor and color of your posts. I love hearing a contrarian view. And I would love to buy you a cup of coffee or beer to say thanks for making my time of HN so much more interesting.…
Agreed. I've gained a lot from his comments even if I don't always agree with them. I think at the very least many of his observations are incredibly astute and intellectually interesting, even if some may turn out to be ultimately wrong. That's just my opinion, and maybe I just enjoy the fervent contrarian narrative amidst the hoohah of HN, but I think his karma suggests that many others enjoy it and derive some meaningful insight from it as well.
Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?
#50Before you jump to conclusions from this graph [1] about India, keep in mind that for most families, making $50k a year is a glory. You can live luxuriously, drive "high-end" car(s), but a moderately-large house in a couple years etc. You get the idea. I always hate it when they compare economies in $ for everyone. http://cdn2.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/...
I don't think living in India makes consumer electronics, cars, worldwide travel, world class education, clean neighborhoods, reliable electricity, good plumbing, or anything like that cheaper. I've moved between developed and developing countries, and I have found that first world goods and services are more expensive in developing countries, the only thing that is cheaper is labour. In other words if you want people to cook and clean for you, serve you food, mend your clothes and fix your car, it will be cheaper. The cost of living only feels cheaper in developing countries if you consider the population of that country to be your peers and you generally do the same things for food, entertainment and running a household as them.