Start-up CEOs are seeing a significant increase in average salaries this year
That's according to the 7th annual CEO Salary Report from Kruze Consulting.
Start-up Chief Executive Officers (CEO) are seeing a significant increase in average salaries this year, in contrast to the declining averages of the prior two years, according to a new report from Kruze Consulting, a San Francisco, CA-based accounting firm servicing more than 800 venture-funded start-up clients
According to the newly released 7th annual CEO Salary Report, the average salary increased slightly more than 14 percent, from $141,000 in the 2024 report to $161,000 this year. This good news for founders reflects the improved fundraising outlook for 2025, with Pitchbook expecting U.S. fundraising to increase to $90-110 billion from 2024’s total of $71 billion.
Kruze Consulting has produced its annual salary report for the last seven years, and it’s the longest-running start-up CEO salary report based on anonymized payroll data. Kruze reviews the payroll data from more than 450 start-ups across a wide range of industries, including Software-as-a-Service, biotech, fintech, artificial intelligence, and more. Rather than relying on survey data that can be inaccurate, Kruze analyzes actual payroll data to provide an unbiased view of executive/founder compensation for venture-funded start-ups.
The Startup CEO Salary Report was created to provide fundraising founders insight into the compensation they should request, as well as include in their financial models. Founders often find discussing compensation with Venture Capitalists (VCs) difficult, but the reality is that venture capital firms aren’t opposed to paying founders. Investors understand that, for the start-up to function, founders need a living wage so that they’re motivated to build the company and not distracted by personal finances.
So, founders shouldn’t be afraid to ask for a reasonable salary. Which, of course, leads to the question: “What is a reasonable salary?” Many VCs don’t offer much salary guidance to the management of their portfolio companies. Kruze believes the report provides valuable information to start-up founders to help them understand how they should compensate themselves as they grow.
Like what you've read?
Forward to a friend!