the biggest expense is hiring. senior level people in the valley are not going to work for less than $100K unless they are getting 20% of the company, which the

the biggest expense is hiring. senior level people in the valley are not going to work for less than $100K unless they are getting 20% of the company, which they aren't. the reason why VCs invest $7M into series A rounds is BECAUSE they need to pay everyone high salaries. note: I'm not saying this is what SHOULD happen, nor am I saying paying six figure salaries is a good strategy. It is just what happens. There are thousands of ersatz executive types in Silicon Valley who have made a career out of bouncing around between overpaid "VP" positions at startups that eventually run out of money and fade away.