As a founder, you’re building something real, and you deserve to be paid like it. But between runway math, hiring plans, and the pressure to grow, paying yourself often ends up last on the list. There's no silver bullet number that works across every business, but we've created this report year after year to give founders a starting point.
Now in its sixth year, Pilot's Founder Salary Report aggregates real data from 1,600+ founders to find out what they're paying themselves and the factors to weigh as you determine the right number for you.
In this year's survey, founders paid themselves an average of $118K. And at the other end: 9.1% of founders paid themselves nothing, up from 5.4% in 2025.
After peaking at $142K in 2024, the average founder salary fell 31% to $98K in 2025. This year's $118K average marks a meaningful recovery but remains 17% below the peak two years ago.
Seventy-seven percent of founders rely on at least one other source of income aside from their salary, whether that's investments, a spouse’s earnings, savings, or consulting. For those taking little or no salary, that safety net likely makes it possible.
Forty-one percent of founders feel underpaid. Those who feel underpaid earn less than those who feel fairly paid. Only 3% feel they're paid too much.
Male founders tend to pay themselves more than their female counterparts, taking in an average of 16.5% more.
While there are many ways to determine salary, 1 in 3 founders set their salary based on what the startup can afford. This approach anchors your pay to what's left in the account rather than your financial position.
Founders who benchmark against fair market rates consistently pay themselves more—an average of $102K compared to $79K for those who base it on what the startup can afford.
The median amount raised stayed flat at $500K, but the average was cut nearly in half, from $7M in 2025 to $3.9M in 2026. The highest raise in our dataset fell from $350M last year to $232M this year.
Despite this drop, salaries still recovered. Founders who raised over $10M saw an average increase of 81%. While well-funded founders recovered dramatically, everyone else recovered more modestly.
Nearly 1 in 4 founders took no outside funding in 2026, up from 1 in 5 last year. Bootstrapped founders pay themselves less than their VC-backed counterparts: $88K on average compared to $131K.
The data shows two clear growth signals for founder pay: revenue and headcount. As your run rate climbs, so does your salary—up to around $3M, where it plateaus. And the more people you hire, the more you tend to pay yourself. Together, these two variables paint the clearest picture of where your salary should be heading as you grow.
Founders with fewer than five employees average $75K. At six to ten, that jumps to $112K, close to the overall average. After 11 employees, salary accelerates further to $156K.
Your industry shapes your paycheck more than you might expect. Tech founders average $145K, nearly double the $67K average for consumer-goods founders.
Whether you're growing, optimizing, or just surviving, founder salaries stay consistent, ranging from $80K to $93K on average.
Founder salaries recovered across every region, but not equally. The Bay Area and Boston saw the biggest gains, up 44% and 45%, respectively, from last year's lows. NYC recovered more modestly, while Texas and the rest of the US also saw smaller boosts.
The founders who pay themselves well aren't always the ones with the most funding, the highest revenue, or the longest track record. They're the ones who understand their financial position well enough to make a confident decision.
Some founders sacrifice their own livelihood for their business, often out of uncertainty rather than necessity. Many founders don't know what their business can afford, so they take less than they should, or sometimes nothing at all.
That's where Pilot comes in. Our bookkeeping and financial consulting services give founders an accurate, real-time picture of their business, so your paycheck stops being a source of anxiety and becomes a decision you make with confidence.
You've built something real. You deserve to be paid like it.
