Salary range for founding engineer at startup
I got a LinkedIn add request today asking me to join a very small team working at an AI startup for a founding engineer role. I wasn’t sure if the range was correct. How much should I look at as I’ve founded a company before?
Discussion
(4 comments)- 2
3 days agoSoftware EngineerIs this from an agency or the actual recruiting team? If it's an agency, it's most likely a scam.
AI startups are in a weird spot right now. Given that it was easier (for a while) to raise $2 million in funding than to get any revenue, there are a ton of GPT wrappers that will likely implode in the next 12-18 months.
Why not just start your own company? If you have some good SWE experience and have started a company before, you're well-equipped to be a founder already. Founding engineer compensation is doing a lot of the work of a founder, except you pay a heavy "de-risking" penalty for not being the one securing funding. (You own 2% at most, instead of 20-30%)
This is a very opinionated take, but unless you see a tremendous personal or financial growth curve, it's generally a very bad deal.
- 03 days agoSenior Software Engineer [OP]Taro Community
Thanks this is helpful, the call out I received was $170K-240K for 1.5-2.5% equity (similar to what my friends who are angel investors take even for sweat equity without writing an actual check to advise on specific tech startups). Was just wondering how much it would be worth to evaluate.
Ah ya, I am working on my own company right now lol so wasn't sure I would even respond to this tbh bc the equity was so low and ridiculous vs me being a founder where I was 50-50 with my previous co-founder.
Also agree, AI hype cycles are all the rage for folks right now, but important to evaluate closely and tread carefully looking at all the details like this, they matter.
- 14 days agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Here's a relatively recent article about what to expect based on the amount of funding raised + your level of seniority: The Ultimate Guide to Finding a Startup Job. Assuming they've raised less than $3M since you said "founding engineer," the guideline is:
- $90K-$110K for new grads
- $130K-$150K for 2-4 years of experience
- $140K-$160K for 4+ years of experience
Of course, there's a lot more that goes into compensation, including:
- How much traction do they have?
- How familiar you are with the domain?
- Overall how much leverage do you have? i.e. how badly do you need this job vs how badly do they need you?
- 03 days agoSenior Software Engineer [OP]Taro Community
Thanks this is helpful, I def have more senior level experience past that range, the call out I received was 170K-240K for 1.5-2.5% equity (similar to what my friends who are angel investors take even for sweat equity without writing an actual check to advise on specific tech startups). Was just wondering how much it would be worth to evaluate. Appreciate the advice and hard #s.
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