Why Some Founders Don’t Pay Themselves

Stop making million-dollar decisions alone. Hampton gives you a personal board of eight vetted founders in your city who meet monthly to tackle your hardest problems. Find your group: joinhampton.com

Everyone wants to know what founders really earn, but most of the numbers out there are either outdated or just plain wrong. We gathered fresh data from 150+ high-performing founders, and the results reveal just how differently they think about paying themselves. Some take home millions, others nothing at all, and the logic behind those decisions says more than the numbers themselves.

Here’s what we talk about:

• 8% of founders take no salary at all — why? (and whether they’d do it again)
• The sweet spot for founder take-home pay: how much is too much?
• C-Suite compensation breakdown: who's earning what, and where bonuses explode
• Lifestyle vs. legacy: how founders think about cash flow vs. long-term exits
• Industry winners: finance, pets, and healthcare dominate earnings
• The one funding stage where founders earn the least
• Non-salary perks: credit card hacks, expense runs, 401(k) tricks, and company-backed loans
• A rare peek into the creative (and sometimes questionable) ways founders make it worth their while

Cool Links:

• Hampton https://www.joinhampton.com/
• Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/

Sponsors:

• Get a team of AI agents that run compliance for you at delve.co/moneywise
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• Tame your taxes today at https://olarry.com/moneywise

Chapters:

• (1:37) Base Salaries
• (3:14) Founders Who Pay Themselves Nothing
• (3:56) Salary Distribution and High Earners
• (4:34) Additional Payouts and Bonuses
• (5:11) Two Types of Founders: Reinvesting or Cashflow
• (6:14) Take Home Pay by Net Worth
• (7:18) C-Suite Salaries and Bonuses
• (8:43) Industry Salary Breakdown
• (9:24) Highest and Lowest Paying Industries
• (10:03) Compensation by Funding Stage
• (10:52)  Creative Compensation Strategies

This podcast is a ridiculous concept: high-net-worth people reveal their personal finances. Inspired by real conversations happening in the Hampton community.

Your Host: Jackie Lamport

• Not really the host, but the producer.
• Wrote this sentence.