founder CEOs are MASSIVELY underpaid

“Founder paychecks are like MVPs — barely functional, but somehow still expected to scale.”

the go-forward compensation (cash + stock) of founder CEOs that have been at their job for more than 4 years is usually less than 20% of what an outside CEO would get. that’s insane.

Absolutely insane.

I wrote about this in 2021: Let’s talk about founder compensation

There is a big difference between total-ownership and go-forward compensation. After the initial founder equity grant is vested (usually after 5 years), founders still need to be compensated on a go-forward basis.

you can make a case founders CEO compensation should be 2x (or even 10x) what an outside CEO would get. but compensation should be at least ~80% (which would be a 4x increase for most founder CEOs).

Half of what i do as a venture capital investor is just fight to get founders a higher compensation.

Pretty much every VC disagrees with me but they are all wrong.

Founders that are fully vested need good equity refreshes and VCs that do not do this are short-term greedy. they hurt the companies long term because the CEOs are less motivated because their boss (the VCs) are explicitly telling them they are worth much less than an outside CEO.

prediction: these old-school VCs will not get deals in the future.

“Founder paychecks are like MVPs — barely functional, but somehow still expected to scale.”

“Outside CEOs get paid like NBA stars. Founders get paid like interns with trust issues.”

“Bro, I raised $20M and my salary’s still ‘pizza and vibes.’” 🍕

“Fully vested founder? Congrats — you now earn less than the head of office snacks.” 🍪📉

“VCs be like: ‘Let’s replace the guy who built the company with a guy who once advised a company.’” 🧠🪦

“If founder comp was a startup, it’d be pre-revenue, post-hope.” 📉📉

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