How Much Do Salaries Rise as Startup Valuation Grows

How much do salaries rise as company valuation gets bigger?

Put another way, how much of a discount are startup employees taking to join a seed/Series A company vs a more established Series C?

Obviously smaller startups are usually strapped for cash and salaries are reduced. In this analysis, we found that salaries jump about 20% between companies worth $25 million and companies worth $250 million.

So the question is - does the expected value of the equity increase over that same valuation span justify the reduced salary?

Of course this is a very reductive view of things - there are so many reasons to join a small startup beyond the compensation. But it's certainly on the mind of many candidates today.

Beyond the change over valuation there is also job function to consider. The standard wisdom holds here - eng and product at the top of the list, customers success near the bottom (sales base is low but their commissions will jump the near the top as well).

𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟱 𝗝𝗼𝗯 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 $𝟮𝟱𝟬𝗠

1. Engineering: $201K average salary 2. Product: $199K 3. Data: $186K 4. Design: $179K 5. HR: $171K

This analysis is cross-role, so it includes very junior and very senior employees. The rankings may shift a bit if you look at this on a level by level basis.

So - is the salary adjustment worth it in your view?

#cartadata #compensation #startups #salaries #founders