Startup C-suite salaries on the rise

How much are startups paying their C-suite in 2025?

This was one of the questions we set out to answer in our latest C-Suite Salary Report, published last month.

The report, now in its fourth edition, follows its predecessors in 2019, 2021, and 2023. As such, it presents a good opportunity to look back at the data from our previous editions and identify some key trends in startup compensation.

C-level basic salary increases

Splitting our dataset of startup C-level execs into two segments: founders and non-founders, a steady progression in average basic salaries emerges across our last three reports:

Average equity holds steady

Conversely, both founder and non-founder equity decreased between 2021 and 2023 (perhaps reflective of the VC downturn and less favourable terms for startups and their exec teams). This now seems to have stabilised, with our 2025 data showing little variance from our last report.

Benefits becoming more competitive

In an increasingly competitive talent landscape, more startups are turning to benefits to attract high-calibre hires.

Our data, compared with the findings of our 2023 and 2021 salary surveys, shows the way various rewards and incentives are becoming more commonplace among non-founding C-suite hires.

In particular, we see big increases in the prevalence of bonuses, which can be a useful tool for startups seeking to boost their compensation offering while limiting their exposure.

Having a broader set of benefits also helps startups to compete with corporates for talent (or, indeed, poach talent from those environments).

For more detailed breakdowns, analysis and benchmarks, please download our 2025 C-Suite Salary Report here.