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Ask HN: Is $350k CEO salary normal for pre-launch company that's raised $2.2m?

by willyg123 on 4/14/21, 6:12 PM with 3 comments

For reference, there's a pre-launch/pre-revenue company on Netcapital that is raising at a $49m valuation. [1]

The founder is receiving a salary of $350,000. [2]

The CEO says this is "very normal." Is this a "very normal" salary?

[1] https://netcapital.com/companies/genesisai

[2] https://netcapital.com/files/7b0a9a34-f7d8-4a33-9b13-1f31af79bc08/genesisai_offering-statement.pdf

  • by relaunched on 4/14/21, 7:11 PM

    I've seen some crazy / frothy valuations, but $49 pre looking to raise 2.2, pre-rev, pre-launch is "not normal". Next to that, $350k seems very normal.

    However, for SV-style tech startups, if you're a first time founder, just out of school or close to it, it's very high. However, if you have experience and a family, the right salary is a number that allows you to maintain your lifestyle, without financial stress and focus on the business. $350k seems high, but could be market now... somewhere for someone. In a capital rich market, it's possible.

    I sounds more reasonable if you were paying a seasoned executive around series B or later.

    But, in frothy times, there is a lot of dumb money around and they just might get it.

  • by cddotdotslash on 4/14/21, 8:08 PM

    > The base salary for our CEO was $200,000 for 2020 and is set at $350,000 for the year 2021; Our CEO is eligible for a bonus award of up to $70,000 for 2020 and up to $2,900,000 for 2021.

    > With this offering, we plan to allocate more resources towards payroll, as well as to sales and marketing. We hope that these activities will help us to reach our revenue targets.

    > GenesisAI has not yet generated any revenue

    I think it's clear where the money is going in this offering.

  • by ianceicys on 4/14/21, 6:28 PM

    Very normal. That's actually significantly under market.