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Why we picked it Most founder-salary writing either romanticizes starving yourself or only speaks to VC-backed rounds. This one pushes back on the martyr myth directly and lays out sustainable, stage-appropriate numbers, including the honest note that once a bootstrapped business is profitable you can and should pay yourself properly. It is a good starting point for pricing your own paycheck against the stage you are actually at, not the one you wish you were at.
How much should founders pay themselves?
From Majd's Newsletter (Substack) by Majd ALAILY
- The 'founder who takes no salary' is mostly a myth: around 95 percent do pay themselves, so treat your own pay as normal, not as a sacrifice.
- Salary should track the stage of the business, so pre-revenue means little or nothing, but a profitable business (bootstrapped included) can support a real salary.
- Bootstrapped founders control their own cash flow, so once profit is steady, underpaying yourself is a choice you can revisit, not a permanent rule.