How Much Do Startup Founders ACTUALLY Make? 

Nice video! Gives clarity on the obscure topic of startups. Where can I find more information on the M&A and founders exit share + startup value?

@@saravanashanmukham6108 Thank you!! Sadly I don't know of any other sources beyond the ones I cited and shared in this video. Wish it was more transparent

As mentioned, sources are important and I ask you, where did you get Elon M. Is the founder of Tesla Motors? … bad info confuses a lot.

@@alexagui6875 You're right in pointing out that Elon is not the founder of Tesla (he came in early on and took over the CEO role), unlike the other tech luminaries in this video!

@@nogatekeepers Can you please share the links to the sources cited?

Thanks so much Aman! Really glad you find these helpful and entertaining :)

Thank you for the kind note!

That’s probably the greatest thing anyones said about my channel so far. Thanks so much, very glad you find it useful!!

💯 Wayne explains these complex topics better than any professor out there. No obfuscation, no jargon. Digestible and comprehensible for everyone.

Great to hear! Thanks for the note!

Totally...unbelievable amounts of wealth..

Thanks for the super kind note! This is my goal, so very glad to hear you like it

@@nogatekeepers Hello. Just wanted to let you know that Jesus loves you very much. He is coming back very soon and He wants you to be ready. Just go to Him as you are. You don’t have to be perfect. The only thing He requires is a full surrender of your life. Go to Him and give Him your life and everything. Once you surrender everything (from the heart). He will give you The Holy Spirit in His fullness. The Holy Spirit will then give you faith, the power to overcome sin, peace, fulfillment and above all, eternal life. You cannot do it on your own strength. It’s only by the Holy Spirit. And you get The Holy Spirit once you lay everything down, including your life at The Lord’s feet. He says in His Word “Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit”. People think Christianity is boring. That’s because they see it as a religion. Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who loves you and gave Himself for you. Having a relationship with Christ is the most joyful fulfilling thing you can ever have. Jesus changed my life and He wants to change yours as well. The reason we are all here is to fellowship with and have a relationship with God.

Yeah we don’t talk about it because we glorify the success cases

Wish I knew of a good source internationally. Would be cool to know!

Thank you!!

Thanks! Very glad it’s useful and good luck on the raise!!

Thanks so much!

Thank you! Appreciate you dropping by :)

Thank you so much Rachel!

It’s from a founder survey conducted by Pilot

Thank you Wayne, much appreciated @@nogatekeepers

A founder who only raised 100k and needs to pay other employees doesn’t have much ability to pay themselves unless the company is making substantial revenue, unfortunately

So founders will work with no salary 😭😭

@@showbikshowmma3520 Very common, and very tough. Founding a company is trying to do the impossible

It’s crazy, right? Thanks for the note!

Thanks Kenny!

Yes it’s become common especially over the last few years of inflated valuations to sell secondary shares in financing rounds, even as early as the series A

Thank you so much!!

It’s totally natural to feel nervous - these are uncomfortable (but very important) discussions! I can’t tell you what makes sense for you personally and this particular startup, as conditions really vary, but the averages in this video should give you a broad range. For the startups I work with, at the very beginning of company formation, founders often pay themselves a very nominal amount with a plan to pay themselves a certain amount once they raise their seed round (I’ve seen most commonly in the 70-120k range). Most startup founder salaries seem to scale much more around the series A

Yeah it's for speed/scale, def not for everyone

@@nogatekeepers once a startup is profitable, cant it raise capital in way of loan’s versus giving equity for more money than it needs? Seems like raising money causes a lot of problems, like sloppy hiring, or looking at wrong targets to chase the next round.

@@frankyb702 absolutely it can be dangerous!

profitability should be every company's goal, then you can control your own destiny

Yea I'll add that to the list! Short answer - varies a ton by fund, you need to look at AUM per investor for an idea of fees and therefore salary, and fund peformance ultimately as the big driver of real carry/wealth

Yes I can: pilot.com/blog/2021-pilot-founder-salary-report

@@nogatekeepers Wow. That's great. Thanks!

@@chucklohn522 You're welcome!

True! Thanks for pointing that out. He took founding equity but after he took it over

Yeah founders are trading off salary for equity in the early days. I'm not sure how the vast majority of founders do this, but for tech startups, many (most?) founders don't pay themselves anything in the early days they are getting off the ground, before they raise funding

Glad it was helpful!

That’s a special situation I also don’t have data for. I typically don’t see any founder buy outs unless the company is cash flow profitable right away though

@@nogatekeepers I actually found some good info from the guy who did that survey. The key is to search under the correct search words - "Founder Liquidity." You should have a dive into that and do another video on it. Another term is Founder Secondaries. Very few people over cover this topic.

@@chucklohn522 Will check that out!

Thanks Tony!!

Thanks so much for the kind note Chuck!

@@nogatekeepers You're welcome!

You’re right! Crazy to see he took it over and still got founder shares (more, even)