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What the average annual CEO salary rate (SAAS, Fintech, or B2B CRM) during the early stage (pre-seed, seed) in SV?

Vanessa Kruze, CPA, is a leading expert in startup taxes and tax compliance. Her team at Kruze Consulting has filed thousands of tax returns for companies that have raised billions in VC funding, and her work has been diligenced by leading VCs, attorneys, and M&A teams at the largest technology companies.
Vanessa Kruze, a highly-experienced CPA, brings valuable tax expertise to startups, drawing from her rich background at Deloitte Tax and as a financial controller for a $20 million startup. As the leader of Kruze Consulting, recognized multiple times in the Inc 5000 list, she specializes in navigating the complex tax landscape for startups. Her firm is known for delivering precise and strategic tax solutions, delivering tax credits utilizing advanced tools to ensure compliance and optimize tax benefits for startups throughout the United States.

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My team and I handle payroll, taxes and the accounting for seed and venture-funded startups, and we analyzed CEO pay at over 125 startups; most of them in Silicon Valley. The average CEO pay for seed funded startups is $119,000 - but it does vary by industry. This chart breaks down seed funded CEO salary by industry:

What-the-average-annual-CEO-salary-rate-SAAS-Fintech-or-B2B-CRM-during-the-early-stage-pre-seed-seed-in-SV

I don’t have data on B2B CRM companies, but do have the data on seed funded Fintech and SaaS company pay:

  • Fintech: $124,000
  • SaaS: $113,000

I’d have to imagine that seed funded B2B CRM CEOs get paid about the same.

The question also asks about pre-seed CEO pay. My company only works with companies that have raised real seed funding, so my dataset starts to get less robust. However, quickly looking at numbers that I do have, over half of the companies did not pay their CEO anything before the seed round. So I’d say that the media pre-seed CEO pay is zero. The average appears to be $40,000, but it is very common for pre-seed CEOs to not get paid anything.

I’ve got more info on Startup CEO Pay on my firm’s blog - hope that this was helpful!

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