I worked at a startup where the founders were your age and paid themselves that much while holding their majority stake in stock.
We had open salary bands so we were all paid OK - especially our couple ~entry level folks at $100-120k. It was strange times in my eyes, though. They hired an HR person whose first act was to raise the c-suite salaries to market rate ($200k+) while the business still had negligible income but closed a round.
What a sweet position to be in. All the upside of the potential stock valuation windfall while none of the downside of putting your career and income on the line.
I mean, when your dad knows the right guy at a prestigious bank, and your mom is a VP in a prestigious biotech firm, and they bought you your spot at Stanford, you kind of deserve it, right?
We had open salary bands so we were all paid OK - especially our couple ~entry level folks at $100-120k. It was strange times in my eyes, though. They hired an HR person whose first act was to raise the c-suite salaries to market rate ($200k+) while the business still had negligible income but closed a round.
It is good to be in the owner class, I guess.