2026 Founder + Executive Compensation by Stage.
Founder and executive comp ranges from pre-seed to Series C. Aggregated from public surveys + open salary data. Each row sources its number. Free to cite anywhere. Citation block at the bottom.
Founder/CEO cash compensation by stage.
Annualized base salary. Equity covered separately below.
| Stage | Median | 25th-75th range | Sample size | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | $0 - $60K | $0 - $90K | ~280 companies | Kruze 2024 survey |
| Seed (post-raise) | $125K | $95K - $150K | ~700 companies | Kruze + Pave 2024 |
| Series A | $175K | $150K - $200K | ~450 companies | Pave 2024 founder report |
| Series B | $215K | $185K - $250K | ~310 companies | Pave 2024 + Carta 2024 |
| Series C+ | $285K | $245K - $325K | ~190 companies | Carta 2024 executive comp |
Pre-seed founders frequently take zero cash before institutional money. Post-raise jumps to the seed band fast.
CTO + technical co-founder cash compensation.
Technical co-founder splits typically run 5-10% below CEO until Series A, then converge.
| Stage | Median | 25th-75th range | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | $0 - $40K | $0 - $75K | Often the founder doing the building | Kruze 2024 |
| Seed | $115K | $90K - $140K | 5-10% below CEO at this stage | Pave 2024 |
| Series A | $170K | $145K - $195K | Converges with CEO at A | Pave 2024 |
| Series B | $220K | $190K - $250K | Often slightly above CEO at B | Carta 2024 |
| Series C+ | $290K | $250K - $330K | Mature engineering org pulls comp up | Carta 2024 |
VP + senior executive cash compensation.
First non-founder executive hires across the most common functions.
| Role | Series A | Series B | Series C+ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP Engineering | $220K-$260K | $260K-$310K | $310K-$380K | Pave + Carta 2024 |
| VP Product | $200K-$245K | $245K-$295K | $295K-$360K | Pave + Carta 2024 |
| VP Marketing | $180K-$230K | $230K-$285K | $285K-$345K | Pave 2024 marketing |
| VP Sales | $175K base + $175K OTE | $220K base + $220K OTE | $275K base + $275K OTE | Pave 2024 sales |
| VP Finance / CFO | $210K-$255K | $260K-$315K | $315K-$395K | Kruze 2024 CFO study |
| Head of People | $155K-$195K | $200K-$255K | $255K-$320K | Pave 2024 people ops |
Equity ownership by stage.
Approximate retained equity after each round, assuming typical dilution patterns. Use ranges, not point estimates.
| Stage | CEO / sole founder | 2-founder split (each) | 3-founder split (each) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed (pre-raise) | ~100% | ~50% each | ~33% each | Standard |
| Post-seed | 70-78% | 35-39% each | 23-26% each | Carta 2024 dilution |
| Post-Series A | 52-60% | 26-30% each | 17-20% each | Carta 2024 dilution |
| Post-Series B | 38-46% | 19-23% each | 13-15% each | Carta 2024 dilution |
| Post-Series C | 26-34% | 13-17% each | 9-11% each | Carta 2024 dilution |
Option pool refreshes shrink founder equity faster than down-rounds in most cap tables. Watch for 10-15% pool top-ups per round.
VP + executive equity grants.
Initial equity grants at hire, expressed as a percentage of fully-diluted shares.
| Role | Series A grant | Series B grant | Series C grant | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP Engineering | 0.5% - 1.5% | 0.25% - 0.7% | 0.12% - 0.35% | Carta 2024 hire grants |
| VP Product | 0.4% - 1.2% | 0.2% - 0.6% | 0.1% - 0.3% | Carta 2024 |
| VP Marketing | 0.3% - 1.0% | 0.15% - 0.5% | 0.08% - 0.25% | Carta 2024 |
| VP Sales | 0.4% - 1.2% | 0.2% - 0.55% | 0.1% - 0.3% | Carta 2024 |
| CFO | 0.5% - 1.5% | 0.25% - 0.7% | 0.12% - 0.35% | Carta 2024 + Kruze 2024 |
How the data was assembled.
Named public sources
- Pave: 2024 founder compensation report, marketing comp report, sales comp report, people ops comp report. pave.com/blog
- Carta: 2024 startup compensation study + dilution + hire grant percentile data. carta.com/blog
- Kruze Consulting: 2024 founder salary study + CFO compensation study. kruzeconsulting.com/blog
- AngelList: startup salary data, by role + stage + region. angel.co/salaries
- Visible.vc: founder benchmark surveys + investor update transparency reports. visible.vc
Ranges shown are the 25th-75th percentile across the named sources where overlap allows, with the median pulled to the most-recent source's midpoint. Where one source's range falls outside the others by more than 15%, it's flagged in the notes column rather than blended.
Where this fits in a Sprint.
Compensation benchmarks alone don't decide a hire. They set the price band. The decision is which role to hire next, in what shape, at what level. That's a signal-mapping problem (positioning + channel mix + product depth) and a category-pattern problem (what your competitors are doing).
An Atlas Sprint maps that shape across 10 competitors in 10 days. Compensation data goes inside the brief alongside competitor org charts + open roles signal. See the Sprint ladder or compare to strategy consultants.
Or paste anywhere: Source: LoopWorker · 2026 Founder + Executive Compensation by Stage · aggregated from Pave, Carta, Kruze, AngelList, Visible.vc public data.
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