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Venwise'Benchmark'Survey'
Part!I:!C.Suite!Cash!and!Equity!Compensation!

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Over!the!course!of!the!coming!year,!we!hope!to!provide!all!Venwise!members!with!a!series!of!
data!sets!that!will!assist!you!in!benchmarking!your!company!against!the!greater!Venwise!
community.!For!Part!I:!C.Suite!Cash!and!Equity!Compensation,!our!hope!is!that!this!report!and!
data!will!provide!you!with!a!breakdown!of!similar!stage!and!sized!companies!executive!
compensation!in!order!to!assist!in!your!2017!financial!planning!sessions.!!
!
Below!you!can!find!a!high!level!overview!of!some!of!our!findings.!For!the!detailed!raw!figures!
and!report,!please!see!the!.CSV!file!attached.!!
!

Executive'Summary'
Through!this!data!we!look!at!both!equity!and!cash!compensation!in!the!lenses!of!company!size,!
customer!base,!rounds!of!funding!and!finally!in!comparison!with!each!other.!Much!of!what!we!
found!was!expected:!as!cash!compensation!increases,!equity!decreases!&!CEOs!on!average!
have!the!highest!equity!shares.!!
!

Qualifications'of'the'data'
Due!to!a!small!data!set,!it!is!important!to!take!each!of!the!following!learnings!with!the!following!
asterisks.!!
! In!total!we!had!53!responses!from!53!individuals!!if!you!have!not!yet!filled!out!the!
survey,!click!here.!We!will!send!along!update!results!with!Part!II.!!
! Due!to!the!fact!that!Venwise!has!several!companies!with!multiple!executives!as!
members!!we!removed!duplicative!information!leaving!us!with!50!unique!data!sets!
(See!Table!1).!
! All!of!our!data!is!solely!within!context!of!the!Venwise!community,!not!the!greater!
startup!sphere.!We!believe!that!our!member!companies!are!representative!of!the!
greater!population,!however!we!do!not!mirror!the!industry!as!a!whole.!
!

Average'Earnings'
Overall!averages!for!cash!and!equity!earnings!are!as!follows:!
!
CEO$
!$214,696.97!!
20.56%!

CTO$
!$219,880.95!!
4.56%!

COO$
!$239,100.00!!
5.54%!

CMO$
CFO$
!$234,666.67!! !$239,277.78!!
2.75%!
1.96%!

CPO$(product)$
!$219,480.00!!
2.50%!

!
We!can!see!that!the!operational!roles!such!as!COO!and!CFO!have!similar!cash!earnings,!as!do!
the!technical!roles!of!CTO!and!CPO.!When!observing!overall!equity!compensation,!however,!the!
roles!earn!significantly!different!portions.!One!hypothesis!is!that!this!is!due!to!founder!vs.!non.

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founder!status!!COOs!and!CTOs!more!typically!being!early!hires!or!founders,!where!as!CFOs!
and!CPOs!often!are!hired!later.!
!

Funding'Level'Comparison'
When!evaluating!the!number!of!rounds!of!funding!for!different!companies!have!raised,!we!
found,!an!executives!cash!compensation!increases!as!their!funding!increase!and!their!equity!
decreases!subsequently.!An!example!of!this!can!be!found!in!the!graph!below!displaying!the!
average!CEO!pay!as!they!move!from!Series!A!to!Series!D!and!up.!Additionally,!the!column/point!
furthest!to!the!left!represents!bootstrapped!and!seed!companies.!
!

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!
Here!you!can!see!the!inverse!relationship!of!cash!and!equity!for!CEOs.!As!the!companies!raise!a!
new!round!(excluding!seed/bootstrapping),!we!see!an!average!increase!of!$58,540!in!earnings!
and!a!4.1%!decrease!in!equity!for!CEOs.!These!margins!vary!with!the!other!executives!(Table!2).!!
!
Additionally,!we!noted!that!for!CEOs!there!is!a!small!jump!in!equity!between!Series!C!and!D!
fundraises.!For!CTOs!and!CPOs!(Product)!we!see!a!2%!and!1%!jump!in!equity!respectively.!!
We!believe!that!this!is!an!abnormality!due!to!the!small!data!set.!Using!our!access!to!anecdotal!
evidence,!we!hypothesize!that!equity!stake!is!likely!to!stay!consistent!if!not!slightly!decrease!in!
later!funding!rounds.!!
!
!
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'
Salary'vs.'Equity'breakdown'
A!last,!interesting!comparison!we!observed!was!the!percentage!of!equity!an!individual!had!
based!on!their!base!salary!(and!the!inverse)!as!can!be!seen!below.!
!
Equity!Compensation!based!on!Cash!
Earnings

Cash!Compensation!based!on!Equity!Earnings

60%

$350,000!
$300,000!

50%

$250,000!

40%

$200,000!
30%

$150,000!

20%

$100,000!

10%

$50,000!
$.

0%
<=$150k

$150.$250k
CEO
CMO

$250.$350k

>$350k

CTO
CFO

COO
CPO

>10%

5.10%
CEO
COO
CFO

1.5%

<=1%

CTO
CMO
CPO

!
!
In!looking!at!this!comparison,!its!clear!that!cash!compensation!across!all!roles!presented!start!
to!differ!as!equity!stakes!decrease.!In!addition,!the!variance!is!greater!when!you!compare!the!
equity!share!each!role!has!as!the!cash!compensation!increases.!
!
For!the!majority!of!executives,!as!long!as!they!own!more!than!10%!equity,!their!salary!does!not!
vary!widely.!However,!in!the!graph!on!the!left,!it!is!clear!that!for!CEOs!and!CTOs!the!percentage!
of!equity!can!depreciate!substantially!as!their!salary!increases!.!its!easy!to!hypothesize!that!as!
founders!are!being!diluted!by!later!rounds!they!are!earning!more!cash!compensation.!
!

Conclusion'
Though!the!above!conclusions!are!both!high!level!and!limited!in!their!scope,!we!hope!our!
findings!give!you!some!insight!into!the!compensation!structures!other!companies!are!
employing.!As!we!promote!the!next!3!Parts!of!our!Benchmark!survey,!we!will!learn!and!refine!
our!process!and!intend!to!bring!deeper!value!to!you!throughout!the!year.!!
!
If!you!have!any!questions!or!feedback!on!our!findings,!feel!free!to!reach!out!to!us!at:!
answers@venwise.com!
!
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Appendix'
!
Table$1:$Complete$Data$Set$

Please&see&.CSV&file&for&a&closer&look&

!
Table$2:$Change$in$Average$Cash$and$Equity$Earnings$Over$Increased$Funding$Rounds$

CEO$
COO$
CTO$
CMO$
CFO$
CPO$

Average!Increase!In!
Cash!Earnings!
!$58,541.67!!
!$60,166.67!!
!$35,833.33!!
!$45,500.00!!
!$62,000.00!!
!$53,819.44!!

Average!Decrease!In!
Equity!Earnings!
4.1%!
0.9%!
1.9%!
0.7%!
1.8%!
0.5%!

!
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