[tdullien]

I will add a section. Pay yourself a salary at the very latest the moment you've raised funding. If a VC objects to you doing that, get a different VC. You're in for the long run, and support from your family etc. is important, and you're already taking on a huge risk by pooling all your risk in one company, vs. the VC who is happily diversified.

Investors who imply you shouldn't take a salary are no bueno.

[insanitybit]

I've never once had a VC even ask about my paycheck let alone suggest I don't take one. FWIW the second you run a company you literally have to pay yourself at least minimum age, it's illegal not to. edit: Hm, apparently you can take a literal $0 paycheck. Regardless, it'd be absurd for a VC to tell you to do this imo.

[pixel_popping]

It's not true, as the founder of the company, you aren't even technically employed (unless you become a legal employee), so there is no concept of wage at all, only dividends and buying stuff directly with the company (fine within reasonable limits).

[insanitybit]

I feel like I was an employee, I don't really recall the details when I spun up my C-Corp tbh. It does seem that a CEO can take a $0 salary.

[mhluongo]

This clearly isn't true for eg a single-member LLC, and likely not true in general.

[insanitybit]

If you're raising VC money then I assume you're not an LLC. But I think you're right that the owner can take a $0 salary.

[pixel_popping]

Absolutely you should take a salary, one that don't create anxiety and making sure you aren't struggling every end of the month, you don't want a Founder that keep thinking of building another project than the one funded because he is struggling for a matter of thousands a month.

[softwaredoug]

How much of a salary do you pay yourself?

Like equivalent to what your developer salary would be? Less? More because you’re a CEO now?

I basically have minimum $ amount I would accept for “developer job I absolutely love” that I know sustains my family comfortably without much extra fun or savings. Is that a good bar?

[insanitybit]

I basically specified that I'd make the highest salary and no more than that. It felt like a fair policy at least, it took a lot of guess work out of it. If I wanted to bring someone in at X00K, I had to make X00K.

I started off making significantly less than I did as a dev (~30-50k + I had spent months with 0 salary before raising), within ~2 years I was making a bit more and I capped out around there.

[tdullien]

Yes. Usually, the VCs will want you to not take an extravagant salary, but a solid family with which you can keep your family comfortable. And that's normally the right bar.

And if there are liquidity pressures a few years into the process, and you have traction at Series B or C - don't hesitate to think about a small secondary.