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A related question, how much is a reasonable salary for a startup founder? Do investors usually assume the founders will be living in squalor, eating noodles an
by axod 18y ago
A related question, how much is a reasonable salary for a startup founder? Do investors usually assume the founders will be living in squalor, eating noodles and paying themselves nothing until profitability, or are investors usually open to founders that have existing financial commitments - family, mortgage etc.
Probably varies massively, but I've often assumed that investment often requires you don't take a salary, or very much at all anyway.
- ambition 18y agoAustin Hill @ StartupEmpire in Toronto suggested that a reasonable VC-funded startup salary is based on needs rather than competitive salary. E.g. living expenses + a little, which means more $ for a CEO with a family & mortgage and less for a 22-year-old. He pointed out that you don't want to starve the CEO or force them to live in squalor because it's just not productive, e.g. the CEO needs to be able to rest well and stay healthy. Some VCs also tossed out $90k-$150k as reasonable salary once the company is able to self-fund that.
- tptacek 18y agoI have a lot of friends that are in or have been through A-round-funded startups, and I've been through several myself. All of them took market-rate salaries. I worked a year without salary to start a company in '99, but all three of us took market salaries (over my objection, which I'm now happy wasn't honored) when we closed the first round.