How much do Y Combinator founders pay themselves?

Career research company 80,000 Hours estimates that founders going through the Y Combinator accelerator program pay themselves about $50,000. If they go on to raise more money, that salary can double. If the startup flops, $50,000 could be the highest salary a founder makes.

What percentage does Y Combinator take?

7\%
YC Batch Investment: We’ll invest $125k in return for 7\% of your company using a “post-money” Simple Agreement for Future Equity (the “YC Safe”). We think that $125k is currently the right amount for founders to be able to run their company and pay expenses for around 5-6 months, and sometimes even longer.

Does YC negotiate?

Some sources told us that YC does negotiate, but it wasn’t clear what the negotiable margin was. The average seed deal in 2018 was $2.2M (~20\%). So, to match the dilution to a founder who didn’t do YC, a YC founder needs to raise a subsequent seed round of $2.1M for 13\% of the company.

How much does a CEO of a start up make?

Last year, we analyzed data from 125 startups to find that the average 2018 salary for a startup CEO was $130,000. This year, we expanded the data to over 200 of our seed and venture-backed clients and found that in 2019, CEO salaries rose to an average of $142,000 annually, nearly a 10\% increase.

How much does it cost to be a Y Combinator founder?

When it invests in its companies, Y Combinator values them at US$1.7 million, of which each founding team owns $1.6 million. This means that for average team sizes, each founder owns $700,000 of equity. So founders must earn (in cash or equity) substantially more than $100,000 per year, on average.

What is the highest salary a startup founder can make?

If they go on to raise more money, that salary can double. If the startup flops, $50,000 could be the highest salary a founder makes. “During the Y Combinator program, they use only a one-off seed investment from Y Combinator of US$120,000 to pay living and business expenses,” 8,000 Hours’ Ryan Carey writes.

Should co-founders be split equally?

Dramatically unequal founder equity splits often give undue preference to the co-founder who initially came up with the idea for the startup, as opposed to the small group founders who got the product to market and generated the initial traction. Equity should be split equally because all the work is ahead of you.

What happens to startup founders when their companies die?

The founders whose companies die usually only earn small salaries. Before being admitted to Y Combinator, founders usually live off savings or taking loans. During the Y Combinator program, they use a one-off seed investment from Y Combinator of US$120,000 to pay living and business expenses 15.