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Are people really making that in this situation? Sounds awfully expensive in my experience. EDIT: I get that people can rationalize that amount, but are people

Are people really making that in this situation? Sounds awfully expensive in my experience. EDIT: I get that people can rationalize that amount, but are people you know of actually getting it. I, for one, would have a very, very hard time paying someone $60k in cash for two months of early stage "CTO" work (and a very, very easy time taking it). But I'm more interested in the facts: are people actually paying short term contrators at early stage startups $20k-30k/month?

dpark 15y ago
I doubt it. It sounds extremely expensive to me as well. You might make that as an "executive level technical contractor" for a major software firm, but probably not for a startup that's just getting funded. At small startups, there are often a lot of people with CXO titles, and it doesn't really mean much.
mikeryan 15y ago
On contract a good engineer can easily make $125 an hour (5k a week, ~20k a month) a CTO should be higher then that, so not this is not expensive. Remember this is contract and there is no equity on the table.
gyardley 15y ago
Contractor implies that you're getting no benefits and you're paying up the self-employment tax instead of the company. For a CTO-level position, at a startup that's raised a Series A? You bet I'd want that much money. Assuming a typical start-up level workload, that works out to somewhere around $80 and $120 an hour, which is pretty reasonable for CTO-level talent, considering the higher tax burden and the need to secure your own health insurance. EDIT: Yes, certain (funded and/or profitable) startups will pay this much (or the equivalent in salary and benefits) for a talented CTO. Note that this implies actual CTO-level work and not "oh, I'm just going to call my first developer hire the CTO to flatter his ego because he's the only technical guy on staff." (That sort of title inflation you should run from - it's just going to cause HR trouble when the company grows and needs a real CTO, and it's usually offered in lieu of an appropriate salary.) If you're putting "CTO" in quotes, you need to hire a developer, not a CTO.

dpark 15y ago

I doubt it. It sounds extremely expensive to me as well. You might make that as an "executive level technical contractor" for a major software firm, but probably not for a startup that's just getting funded. At small startups, there are often a lot of people with CXO titles, and it doesn't really mean much.

mikeryan 15y ago

On contract a good engineer can easily make $125 an hour (5k a week, ~20k a month) a CTO should be higher then that, so not this is not expensive. Remember this is contract and there is no equity on the table.

gyardley 15y ago

Contractor implies that you're getting no benefits and you're paying up the self-employment tax instead of the company. For a CTO-level position, at a startup that's raised a Series A? You bet I'd want that much money. Assuming a typical start-up level workload, that works out to somewhere around $80 and $120 an hour, which is pretty reasonable for CTO-level talent, considering the higher tax burden and the need to secure your own health insurance. EDIT: Yes, certain (funded and/or profitable) startups will pay this much (or the equivalent in salary and benefits) for a talented CTO. Note that this implies actual CTO-level work and not "oh, I'm just going to call my first developer hire the CTO to flatter his ego because he's the only technical guy on staff." (That sort of title inflation you should run from - it's just going to cause HR trouble when the company grows and needs a real CTO, and it's usually offered in lieu of an appropriate salary.) If you're putting "CTO" in quotes, you need to hire a developer, not a CTO.