![](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5a4d09f22b69220001d89bb4\/5b335b01c698a72551671bdb_Proportion%20of%20founders%20with%20a%20salary%20v5%20with%20logo.PNG\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nOur data shows that the decision to take a salary very much depends on the size of the round. For rounds of \u00a3150k or below, around half of founders secure a salary. However, this proportion increases for round sizes between \u00a3150k and \u00a31m, with three quarters successfully negotiating a salary. Interestingly, this proportion remains consistent above the \u00a3150k inflection point, whether the round size is \u00a3200k or approaching \u00a31m.<\/p>\n
Founder Salary vs. Company Valuation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n![](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5a4d09f22b69220001d89bb4\/5b2be790d01390102078afc3_Founder%20Salary%20vs%20Company%20Valuation%20v3.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dOnce it\u2019s agreed that the founder will earn a salary, we\u2019ve uncovered that the amount is significantly correlated with the valuation of the company. You might have fun using our results to predict your own salary! (Or for investors, founders salaries). The results: For every \u00a3100,000 increase in valuation, founder salary tends to increase by roughly \u00a31300 per year.<\/p>\n
Founder Shares & Vesting<\/strong><\/h3>\nAnother key point in term sheet negotiations is the question of how much equity the founder still owns after the investment, and the conditions those shares are subject to. It\u2019s in the investors\u2019 interest after all to ensure that founders stay within the company, and not walk away with a sizeable chunk of the equity rendering the company essentially un-investable for future rounds. On the other side of the table however, founders have worked hard to build their company from the ground up. The question of ownership is a hotly debated issue.\u00a0A common way to satisfy both parties is the use of founder share vesting, where both founders and investors agree that part or all of the founder(s) shares be withheld for a certain amount of time after the investment. The \u2018vesting period\u2019 is the length of time it\u2019s agreed that the founder(s) needs to stay in the company in order for their shares to be fully returned to them.<\/p>\n\n![](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5a4d09f22b69220001d89bb4\/5b326aa2ecd43f54a2ff3533_Vesting%20period%20with%20logo.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dSo, how common is founder share vesting in early stage rounds? For pre-series A deals, our data shows that two thirds of deals include founder share vesting in the term sheet, with the majority of those agreeing to a 3 year vesting period. Interestingly, we also found out that the inclusion of founder share vesting was not correlated with whether or not the founder will earn a salary post-investment.<\/p>\n\n![](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5a4d09f22b69220001d89bb4\/5b326bb31a8bf54857eff5a6_Vested%20shares%20cliff%20period%20with%20logo.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dDuring the vesting period, shares are returned to founders bit by bit, usually on a monthly or quarterly basis. However sometimes a delay is built into the vesting schedule, called a \u2018Cliff\u2019, where the first tranche is only released after an agreed period of time. This is designed to ensure founders are committed to staying in the company for at least the initial Cliff period, since they would otherwise leave the company without any shares vested.\u00a0Our data shows a third of funding rounds include a cliff period in vesting schedules, and of those the vast majority opt to do the first share release at the 12 month mark.<\/p>\n\n![](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5a4d09f22b69220001d89bb4\/5b326d2f05c8c1a37fe951c3_Vesting%20Start%20Date%20with%20logo.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dThe date at which the shares start to vest is also agreed in the term sheet. Vesting usually commences on the date the investment closes. However our data shows that 40% of the time, founders and investors agree that the fairest start date is prior to the funding round, selecting either the date the founder joined the company, or the date that the company was incorporated.\u00a0Counter-intuitively, we also noticed that the earlier the date from which shares start to vest, the longer the \u2018vesting period\u2019. So, if you ask for your investor for your vesting to start earlier, expect them to push for a 3 to 4 year vesting period.<\/p>\n\n![](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5a4d09f22b69220001d89bb4\/5b326dd0f539d255157b7be2_Percent%20vested%20at%20vesting%20start%20date%20with%20logo.PNG\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dSolo Founder vs. Co-Founders<\/h3>\n
Our data also allows us to survey the startup scene for wider trends, and we thought we\u2019d leave you with one that we thought was particularly interesting. Whilst solo founders account for a relatively high percentage of early stage funding rounds, it seems that investors might favour businesses with two founders over one:<\/p>\n\n![](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5a4d09f22b69220001d89bb4\/5b2a6d65fe21962351131a92_Number%20of%20Founders%20at%20Seed%20Stage%20Startups%20(1).PNG\")
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nIf you have any questions, or would like more data from SeedLegals in helping to calculate founder compensation for your own round, speak to an expert from the team here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How much should founders earn at Seed stage? We’ve crunched the numbers on hundreds of fundraises from \u00a350K and \u00a31M to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":407854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,104,105],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-18263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deal-data-ie","category-funding-guides-ie","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"revision_date":"","has_custom_post_authors":false,"is_expert_reviewed":true,"expert_reviewed":{"heading":"Expert reviewed","tooltip_message":"This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert.
Meet our experts<\/a> and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our editorial policy<\/a>."},"has_sources":false,"post_content_width":"default","related_posts":false,"hero_image":407851,"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"The early days of building your vision requires sacrifices. And often, for founders, part of that sacrifice is your salary. Some bootstrapped founders don\u2019t pay themselves a salary at all and some finally have cash in the business bank account but no idea what\u2019s fair to pay themselves. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2640\ufe0f<\/span><\/p>\nLuckily, we\u2019ve gathered data from tens of thousands of UK funding rounds done on SeedLegals to give you some guidance on:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705The median founder salary in the UK in 2024\/25<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705How the value of an early stage company correlates to founder salary<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705How founder shares can be fairly distributed and earned<\/span><\/p>\nDo startup founders take a salary?<\/h2>\n
During term sheet negotiations, founders and investors agree how much the founders will be compensated.<\/p>\n
Usually founders receive shares and most founders also receive a salary. When the company pays founders a salary, this means the founders won\u2019t need to moonlight (have another job on the side) and can stay focused on growing the business.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if the founders don’t take a salary, the extra money could go a long way to growing the business in the early stages.<\/p>\n
This is what our users are deciding in their first funding rounds \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"Our data shows that the decision to take a salary very much depends on the size of the round. For rounds of \u00a3150,000 or below, around half of founders secure a salary.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"
This proportion increases for round sizes between \u00a3150,000 and \u00a31 million, with three quarters successfully negotiating a salary. Interestingly, this proportion remains consistent above \u00a3150,000, whether the round size is \u00a3200,000 or approaching \u00a31 million. There’s a slight increase above the \u00a31M mark.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"
What’s the median salary for startup founders?<\/h2>\n
When they do take a salary, what are startup founders getting paid?<\/p>\n
The data shows that it can vary a lot. But there is a trend. In the last 12 months, the median annual salary for startup founders was around \u00a350,000. This has increased by around \u00a310,000 over the last five years.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"
Do founder salaries depend on company valuation?<\/h2>\n
\u200dWhen it\u2019s agreed that the founder will earn a salary, we\u2019ve discovered that the amount mostly correlates with the pre-money valuation<\/a> of the company. The data tells us that the higher the pre-money valuation of the company, the higher the founder salary.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dOnce it\u2019s agreed that the founder will earn a salary, we\u2019ve uncovered that the amount is significantly correlated with the valuation of the company. You might have fun using our results to predict your own salary! (Or for investors, founders salaries). The results: For every \u00a3100,000 increase in valuation, founder salary tends to increase by roughly \u00a31300 per year.<\/p>\n
Founder Shares & Vesting<\/strong><\/h3>\nAnother key point in term sheet negotiations is the question of how much equity the founder still owns after the investment, and the conditions those shares are subject to. It\u2019s in the investors\u2019 interest after all to ensure that founders stay within the company, and not walk away with a sizeable chunk of the equity rendering the company essentially un-investable for future rounds. On the other side of the table however, founders have worked hard to build their company from the ground up. The question of ownership is a hotly debated issue.\u00a0A common way to satisfy both parties is the use of founder share vesting, where both founders and investors agree that part or all of the founder(s) shares be withheld for a certain amount of time after the investment. The \u2018vesting period\u2019 is the length of time it\u2019s agreed that the founder(s) needs to stay in the company in order for their shares to be fully returned to them.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dSo, how common is founder share vesting in early stage rounds? For pre-series A deals, our data shows that two thirds of deals include founder share vesting in the term sheet, with the majority of those agreeing to a 3 year vesting period. Interestingly, we also found out that the inclusion of founder share vesting was not correlated with whether or not the founder will earn a salary post-investment.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dDuring the vesting period, shares are returned to founders bit by bit, usually on a monthly or quarterly basis. However sometimes a delay is built into the vesting schedule, called a \u2018Cliff\u2019, where the first tranche is only released after an agreed period of time. This is designed to ensure founders are committed to staying in the company for at least the initial Cliff period, since they would otherwise leave the company without any shares vested.\u00a0Our data shows a third of funding rounds include a cliff period in vesting schedules, and of those the vast majority opt to do the first share release at the 12 month mark.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dThe date at which the shares start to vest is also agreed in the term sheet. Vesting usually commences on the date the investment closes. However our data shows that 40% of the time, founders and investors agree that the fairest start date is prior to the funding round, selecting either the date the founder joined the company, or the date that the company was incorporated.\u00a0Counter-intuitively, we also noticed that the earlier the date from which shares start to vest, the longer the \u2018vesting period\u2019. So, if you ask for your investor for your vesting to start earlier, expect them to push for a 3 to 4 year vesting period.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dSolo Founder vs. Co-Founders<\/h3>\n
Our data also allows us to survey the startup scene for wider trends, and we thought we\u2019d leave you with one that we thought was particularly interesting. Whilst solo founders account for a relatively high percentage of early stage funding rounds, it seems that investors might favour businesses with two founders over one:<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nIf you have any questions, or would like more data from SeedLegals in helping to calculate founder compensation for your own round, speak to an expert from the team here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How much should founders earn at Seed stage? We’ve crunched the numbers on hundreds of fundraises from \u00a350K and \u00a31M to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":407854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,104,105],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-18263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deal-data-ie","category-funding-guides-ie","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"revision_date":"","has_custom_post_authors":false,"is_expert_reviewed":true,"expert_reviewed":{"heading":"Expert reviewed","tooltip_message":"This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert.
Meet our experts<\/a> and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our editorial policy<\/a>."},"has_sources":false,"post_content_width":"default","related_posts":false,"hero_image":407851,"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"The early days of building your vision requires sacrifices. And often, for founders, part of that sacrifice is your salary. Some bootstrapped founders don\u2019t pay themselves a salary at all and some finally have cash in the business bank account but no idea what\u2019s fair to pay themselves. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2640\ufe0f<\/span><\/p>\nLuckily, we\u2019ve gathered data from tens of thousands of UK funding rounds done on SeedLegals to give you some guidance on:<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705The median founder salary in the UK in 2024\/25<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705How the value of an early stage company correlates to founder salary<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705How founder shares can be fairly distributed and earned<\/span><\/p>\nDo startup founders take a salary?<\/h2>\n
During term sheet negotiations, founders and investors agree how much the founders will be compensated.<\/p>\n
Usually founders receive shares and most founders also receive a salary. When the company pays founders a salary, this means the founders won\u2019t need to moonlight (have another job on the side) and can stay focused on growing the business.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if the founders don’t take a salary, the extra money could go a long way to growing the business in the early stages.<\/p>\n
This is what our users are deciding in their first funding rounds \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"Our data shows that the decision to take a salary very much depends on the size of the round. For rounds of \u00a3150,000 or below, around half of founders secure a salary.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"
This proportion increases for round sizes between \u00a3150,000 and \u00a31 million, with three quarters successfully negotiating a salary. Interestingly, this proportion remains consistent above \u00a3150,000, whether the round size is \u00a3200,000 or approaching \u00a31 million. There’s a slight increase above the \u00a31M mark.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"
What’s the median salary for startup founders?<\/h2>\n
When they do take a salary, what are startup founders getting paid?<\/p>\n
The data shows that it can vary a lot. But there is a trend. In the last 12 months, the median annual salary for startup founders was around \u00a350,000. This has increased by around \u00a310,000 over the last five years.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"
Do founder salaries depend on company valuation?<\/h2>\n
\u200dWhen it\u2019s agreed that the founder will earn a salary, we\u2019ve discovered that the amount mostly correlates with the pre-money valuation<\/a> of the company. The data tells us that the higher the pre-money valuation of the company, the higher the founder salary.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dSo, how common is founder share vesting in early stage rounds? For pre-series A deals, our data shows that two thirds of deals include founder share vesting in the term sheet, with the majority of those agreeing to a 3 year vesting period. Interestingly, we also found out that the inclusion of founder share vesting was not correlated with whether or not the founder will earn a salary post-investment.<\/p>\n \u200dDuring the vesting period, shares are returned to founders bit by bit, usually on a monthly or quarterly basis. However sometimes a delay is built into the vesting schedule, called a \u2018Cliff\u2019, where the first tranche is only released after an agreed period of time. This is designed to ensure founders are committed to staying in the company for at least the initial Cliff period, since they would otherwise leave the company without any shares vested.\u00a0Our data shows a third of funding rounds include a cliff period in vesting schedules, and of those the vast majority opt to do the first share release at the 12 month mark.<\/p>\n \u200dThe date at which the shares start to vest is also agreed in the term sheet. Vesting usually commences on the date the investment closes. However our data shows that 40% of the time, founders and investors agree that the fairest start date is prior to the funding round, selecting either the date the founder joined the company, or the date that the company was incorporated.\u00a0Counter-intuitively, we also noticed that the earlier the date from which shares start to vest, the longer the \u2018vesting period\u2019. So, if you ask for your investor for your vesting to start earlier, expect them to push for a 3 to 4 year vesting period.<\/p>\n Our data also allows us to survey the startup scene for wider trends, and we thought we\u2019d leave you with one that we thought was particularly interesting. Whilst solo founders account for a relatively high percentage of early stage funding rounds, it seems that investors might favour businesses with two founders over one:<\/p>\n If you have any questions, or would like more data from SeedLegals in helping to calculate founder compensation for your own round, speak to an expert from the team here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How much should founders earn at Seed stage? We’ve crunched the numbers on hundreds of fundraises from \u00a350K and \u00a31M to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":407854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,104,105],"tags":[],"event_tags":[],"class_list":["post-18263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deal-data-ie","category-funding-guides-ie","category-startup-guides-ie"],"acf":{"revision_date":"","has_custom_post_authors":false,"is_expert_reviewed":true,"expert_reviewed":{"heading":"Expert reviewed","tooltip_message":"This article has been fact-checked by a SeedLegals subject matter expert. The early days of building your vision requires sacrifices. And often, for founders, part of that sacrifice is your salary. Some bootstrapped founders don\u2019t pay themselves a salary at all and some finally have cash in the business bank account but no idea what\u2019s fair to pay themselves. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2640\ufe0f<\/span><\/p>\n Luckily, we\u2019ve gathered data from tens of thousands of UK funding rounds done on SeedLegals to give you some guidance on:<\/span> During term sheet negotiations, founders and investors agree how much the founders will be compensated.<\/p>\n Usually founders receive shares and most founders also receive a salary. When the company pays founders a salary, this means the founders won\u2019t need to moonlight (have another job on the side) and can stay focused on growing the business.<\/p>\n On the other hand, if the founders don’t take a salary, the extra money could go a long way to growing the business in the early stages.<\/p>\n This is what our users are deciding in their first funding rounds \ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n Our data shows that the decision to take a salary very much depends on the size of the round. For rounds of \u00a3150,000 or below, around half of founders secure a salary.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" This proportion increases for round sizes between \u00a3150,000 and \u00a31 million, with three quarters successfully negotiating a salary. Interestingly, this proportion remains consistent above \u00a3150,000, whether the round size is \u00a3200,000 or approaching \u00a31 million. There’s a slight increase above the \u00a31M mark.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" When they do take a salary, what are startup founders getting paid?<\/p>\n The data shows that it can vary a lot. But there is a trend. In the last 12 months, the median annual salary for startup founders was around \u00a350,000. This has increased by around \u00a310,000 over the last five years.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":false,"caption":"","width":"100","alignment":"left"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":" \u200dWhen it\u2019s agreed that the founder will earn a salary, we\u2019ve discovered that the amount mostly correlates with the pre-money valuation<\/a> of the company. The data tells us that the higher the pre-money valuation of the company, the higher the founder salary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\u200dSolo Founder vs. Co-Founders<\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
Meet our experts<\/a> and learn more about our review process and quality assurance in our editorial policy<\/a>."},"has_sources":false,"post_content_width":"default","related_posts":false,"hero_image":407851,"post_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":"
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705The median founder salary in the UK in 2024\/25<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705How the value of an early stage company correlates to founder salary<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u2705How founder shares can be fairly distributed and earned<\/span><\/p>\nDo startup founders take a salary?<\/h2>\n
What’s the median salary for startup founders?<\/h2>\n
Do founder salaries depend on company valuation?<\/h2>\n