196 tech CEO salaries 

Although we are able to see salaries from tech companies prior to their IPO, there is no dataset that specifically outlines the salary levels at early-stage companies. The salaries of 196 tech company CEOs at IPO are shown in the data below. Several points stand out:

The lowest salaries are paid to some of the best CEOs.

For instance, at the IPO, Salesforce's Marc Benioff received a salary of one dollar, Nant Health's Patrick Shiong received no compensation, Square's Jack Dorsey received only $3,750, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos received only $64,333.There is a disclaimer: These individuals received substantial annual options packages and were independently wealthy prior to the IPO.

The median salary for a very successful business is $325,000.Keep in mind that the CEO of a company that is about to go public makes an average salary of $325,000.

Options and bonuses are two additional types of compensation. Keep in mind that the median option grant was $76k and the median bonus was $139k.Even if a founder's salary is low, it is reasonable to accept a bonus and the expectation that they will receive stock as the company grows and becomes more successful.

Some of the founders purchased substantial options prior to the IPO. For instance, in the year preceding the IPO, James Park of Fitbit received 7.5 million dollars, Dick Costolo of Twitter received 11.3 million dollars, Scott Painter of True Car received 5.2 million dollars, Brian Armstrong of Coinbase received 59 million dollars, and Drew Houston of Dropbox received 109 million dollars (not a typo). As a CEO, it is reasonable to anticipate additional option grants as long as you are driving exceptional growth and value. It's actually the market, and reputable investors won't hesitate to reward CEOs who do well.

Over time, salaries have increased. Since 1998, the median amount of CEO ownership has increased. The median value between 1996 and 2007 was $214,000.The median price was $400k in 2020 and $394k in 2019, respectively.

As you achieve success and move closer to an IPO, we hope the aforementioned data will be of use in establishing salary expectations.