Some of the best CEO’s take the lowest salaries. Marc Benioff of Salesforce took a salary of $1 at IPO, Patrick Shiong of Nant Health and Sytse Sijbrandij of Gitlab took no salary, Dustin Moskovitz from Asan took $1, and Thomas Siebel of C3 gets paid about $6k. These individuals were independently wealthy before the IPO, but it is refreshing to see a CEO pass up a big salary if they can. It sets an example for the rest of the company, establishes a culture of cash frugality, and shows a founder putting the company ahead of themselves. Founders taking low salaries also show very well when going to raise money. VC would much rather back a scrappy, frugal founder than one that spends gratuitously and the CEO salary tells you a lot about the CEO’s mantra.
Other forms of comp include options and bonuses. Note the median bonus was $161k and median option grant had a value of $129k. A performance bonus annually is expected, and a founder will be granted stock as the Company matures and becomes more successful, especially if their salary is low (note the average options comp is $4.7mm).
We hope the data above is helpful in setting salary expectations. Keep it as low as possible, expect option grants and bonuses for success, and keep in mind the real source of value is your equity.
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