Founder Salary Report 2024

Funding

Average funding amounts decreased slightly from last year to $11.3M vs. $12M in 2023’s report. The median amount increased from $2.5M in 2023 to $4M this year. The incidence of founders bootstrapping their startups also decreased 10% from 11.5% of respondents in 2023 compared to 10.3% this year.

Bootstrapped vs. VC-Backed Salaries Breakdown

Founders who are VC-backed are more likely to have higher salaries compared to their bootstrapped counterparts. Of the founders who paid themselves between $100K and $200K annually, 93% of them were VC-backed while only 7% were bootstrapped.

Nearly 57% of bootstrapped founders pay themselves between $1-$100K annually and 57% of VC-backed founders pay themselves between $50K and $150K a year.

$0

29%

7%

$1-$49K

14%

8%

$50K-$99K

14%

18%

$100K-$149K

22%

23%

$150K-$199K

9%

23%

$200K-$249K

5%

10%

$250K-$299K

3%

6%

$300K+

3%

4%

*Bootstrapped companies were defined as those with no funding, while VC-backed salaries are defined as those with some investor capital.