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What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

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Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#81

Post by lnanek2 »

Duhck wrote: post #19

This correlation is lost on me. Founders are entitled to make a living wage. In NYC being paid less than $50k would mean a few things: !) You have to live in squalor. 2) You have money from somewhere else to support the rest of your needs. 3) You use the business to pay for your expenses I would like to see the size of the business as it relates to compensation. A single founder with no employees and no office space…

It's not that tough in NYC if you go with lots of roommates, or are willing to take the bus from cheap NJ living each morning. Even after I stopped taking so much equity instead of cash and moved into the city proper, I still managed a basement apartment in Chelsea for only $1,500/month. Something like Washington heights at the top of the island would probably be half that.

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#82

Post by mkramlich »

kordless wrote: post #68
the_watcher wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another cause for investors to be less than thrilled with them. Bad investors. Good investors will let good founders so their thing and support them.

There are lots of bad investors, that is for certain.

my observed rule of thumb is that there are more bad than good for any given

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#83

Post by derefr »

nostromo wrote: post #72
Domenic_S wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment summed up: "Look how clever I am!"

No, it's: know what you want in life. If you want to be a founder, don't paint yourself into a corner with life decisions that prevent you from being a founder, and then blame ageism.

Some people only figure out that being a founder is a possible life-path when they're already in their 40s/50s. You can't plan your life around things you don't yet know you'll want to do.

Presuming that every founder is someone who has wanted to be a founder since they were in their 20s--but for some reason just didn't perhaps get the chance until their 40s/50s--is exactly ageism.

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#84

Post by davidbanham »

derefr wrote: post #83
nostromo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's: know what you want in life. If you want to be a founder, don't paint yourself into a corner with life decisions that prevent you from being a founder, and then blame ageism.

Some people only figure out that being a founder is a possible life-path when they're already in their 40s/50s. You can't plan your life around things you don't yet know you'll want to do. Presuming that every founder is someone who has wanted to be a founder since they were in their 20s--but for some reason just didn't perhaps get the chance until their 40s/50s--is exactly ageism.

No. If people were being actively excluded purely on the basis of age, that would be ageism. The fact that some people plan better than others is just life.

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#85

Post by derefr »

davidbanham wrote: post #84
derefr wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people only figure out that being a founder is a possible life-path when they're already in their 40s/50s. You can't plan your life around things you don't yet know you'll want to do. Presuming that every founder is someone who has wanted to be a founder since they were in their 20s--but for some reason just didn't perhaps get the chance until their 40s/50s--is exactly ageism.

No. If people were being actively excluded purely on the basis of age, that would be ageism. The fact that some people plan better than others is just life.

What is "age," practically, other than the accretion of responsibilities?

I don't think any of the people who worry about being impacted by ageism are speaking about age per se. They're more concerned with... let's call it "overtime-ism": a strong bias in favor of people who will be willing to work overtime. The video-game industry, Japanese megacorporation culture, and a large segment of silicon valley are all afflicted with overtime-ists, which seems to have a good overlap with where allegations of "ageism" are aimed.

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#86

Post by BSousa »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #75
Domenic_S wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment summed up: "Look how clever I am!"

I guess you'd prefer people to share bad advice? Personally, I think I'm better off hearing from people who are clever. Nothing in his comment is impossible for anyone else to replicate.

No it isn't. Of course it is easy to find a spouse that supports you, buy a house you can rent easily (wonder what will happen when the tenant leaves), have a nest egg ready so you can afford to not have a living salary.

Most people, even in their 20's can't really easily afford to not have a salary unless they have the support of someone else (parents, spouse, family, etc). Making it seem like it is easy is what people are complaining about.

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#87

Post by JoeAltmaier »

BSousa wrote: post #86
jamesaguilar wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you'd prefer people to share bad advice? Personally, I think I'm better off hearing from people who are clever. Nothing in his comment is impossible for anyone else to replicate.

No it isn't. Of course it is easy to find a spouse that supports you, buy a house you can rent easily (wonder what will happen when the tenant leaves), have a nest egg ready so you can afford to not have a living salary. Most people, even in their 20's can't really easily afford to not have a salary unless they have the support of someone else (parents, spouse, family, etc). Making it seem like it is easy is what peo…

Actually it is easy - to know how. Its just hard to have the discipline to do it. Save 10% of what you earn for 20 years. There you go, not rocket science.

So what's the gripe? Sounds like sour grapes.

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#88

Post by jumbled »

ronaldx wrote: post #45
dangero wrote: post #8

I'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).

Isn't that how all businesses work these days, anyway? You can't start a business and expect to be able to support yourself until your business starts making money. This is only feasible if you are able to get into huge amounts of debt or if you already have plenty of resources (i.e, rich).

Re: What salary does the founder of your favorite startup get?

#89

Post by ronaldx »

jumbled wrote: post #88
ronaldx wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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).

Isn't that how all businesses work these days, anyway? You can't start a business and expect to be able to support yourself until your business starts making money. This is only feasible if you are able to get into huge amounts of debt or if you already have plenty of resources (i.e, rich).

IMHO Venture Capital is supposed to escape us from that type of ruin: that's where I would accept it to have some value.
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