$132K – $149K, this is what seed-stage startups pay early employees, based on data

Once a startup has raised its seed, the lingering question is what should the startups pay themselves and their small staff?

Kruze ConsultingA CPA firm that specializes in startups, recently analyzed the salary levels of over 450 startups and shared the data with TechCrunch.

The following figures are based on actual salary records, not survey responses, Kruze says.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, technical engineering/product positions tend to be paid more than CEOs. One surprise is that the person holding the COO/operations position is also the highest paid, on average. It’s an eyebrow raiser because the head of operations/COO may present to your seed VCs a third-party co-founder with no known role – there aren’t many jobs to do in a small company. Although having this position can be a a red flag for spending/budgeting for startup VCs.

However, here is the average salary for startup managers, according to Kruze:

• CEO: $132,000
• CTO: $134,000
• COO / OperationsPrice: $135,000
• Product/CPO: $149,000

This is not a very high salary, especially in the starting point, the Bay Area. For example, Kruze also found that senior plant engineering engineers make salaries ranging from $180,000 to $235,000 in the Bay Area and $160,000 to $210,000 elsewhere. On the other hand, entry-level engineers, even in San Francisco, can’t command much: $75,000 to $105,000 on average.

It’s worth noting that startups like to give themselves a healthy spin every time they upgrade. The average salary for the group of founders after Series A is $183,000, and with Series B, it reaches $218,000.

In non-starter positions, here are the employees starting at the starting part-time salary, according to Kruze:

• Engineering, midlevel: $100,000 to $145,000 Bay Area; $90,000 to $130,000 for other technical areas
• Products, medium: $80,000 to $110,000 Bay Area; $70,000 to $100,000 more
• Product names: $130,000 to $185,000 Bay Area; $110,000 to another $175,000
• Marketing, midlevel: $100,000 to $175,000 Bay Area; $80,000 to $145,000 more

Employees also like access to equity – that’s one of the attractions of joining a startup. More information from Carta The initial grant of 8,000 represents the amount of the first five hires to be paid over four years.

• First rental: 0.5% to 4% equity (average 1.49%)
• Second: 0.3% to 2% equity (average 0.85%)
• Third: 0.21% to 1.2% equity (average 0.50%)
• Fourth: 0.18% to 1% equity (average 0.44%)
• Fifth: 0.13% to 0.8% equity (average 0.34%)

This article was originally published on December 2, 2024.