SaaS Salary Benchmarks

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Salary Benchmarks

Compensation data for the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer role at US SaaS companies, based on 49 verified salaries.

Quartile breakdownAll SaaS roles
Base salary · US SaaS49 salaries
$170,000
Median base salary
Bottom 25% avg$60,791Top 25% avg$335,217
Average base salary
$214,304
Typical range (P25–P75)
$120,000–$300,000
Salaries analyzed
49

Hiring for this role? At the median, one Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer costs $170,000 a year in base salary.

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Overview
49 salaries

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Salary Overview

Bottom 25% AverageAverage of the lowest-paid quarter · 10 salaries
$60,791
Middle 50% AverageAverage of the middle half · 16 salaries
$136,438
Top 25% AverageAverage of the highest-paid quarter · 23 salaries
$335,217

Median Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer base pay by pay period

Per year
$170,000
Per month
$14,167
Every two weeks
$6,538
Per hour
$81.73
Base-pay equivalents before tax; hourly assumes 2,080 working hours a year.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer salaries at SaaS companies average $214,304, with typical salaries ranging from $120,000 to $300,000. Based on 49 real salary data points from SaaS companies.

Quartile bands
Employees · annualized base

Detailed Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Compensation Breakdown

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer base salary by percentile band
Percentile BandSalary rangeAverage Base Salary# of salaries
Top 25%$300,000 and up$335,21723 salaries
Middle 50%$120,000–$300,000$136,43816 salaries
Bottom 25%Under $120,000$60,79110 salaries
Hiring budget
Base salary · fully loaded

What Does a Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Cost to Hire?

Budget for Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer hires at the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of this benchmark, as base salary and as fully loaded cost.

Pay level
Hires
1

One Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer hire at the median: $170,000 a year in base salary, $212,500–$238,000 fully loaded.

Cost of one hire by pay level
Per hireP25MedianP75
Base salary / year$120,000$170,000$300,000
Base salary / month$10,000$14,167$25,000
Fully loaded / year1.25–1.4× base$150,000–$168,000$212,500–$238,000$375,000–$420,000
Fully loaded / month1.25–1.4× base$12,500–$14,000$17,708–$19,833$31,250–$35,000
Fully loaded adds employer payroll taxes, health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment at 1.25–1.4× base salary. That multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonus, equity, and recruiting fees are not included.

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Key insights

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Pay by the Numbers

  • The middle half of Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer salaries spans $120,000–$300,000: a $180,000 spread, 106% of the $170,000 median.
  • A 75th-percentile Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer earns 2.5× the 25th-percentile salary.
  • The Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer median is 31% above the median Leadership role ($130,000 across 91 roles).

What Drives Higher Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Pay?

  • Years of experience and proven track record
  • Company stage and funding (later stage typically pays more)
  • Technical expertise and specialization
  • Location and remote work policies
FAQ
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer salary

On a median base salary of $170,000, a Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at a US SaaS company makes about $14,167 a month, $6,538 every two weeks, or $81.73 an hour over 2,080 working hours a year. The middle half of salaries (25th–75th percentile) works out to $10,000–$25,000 a month. These are base-pay equivalents before tax, and they leave out bonus, commission, and equity.

Expect the lower half of this benchmark. Across 49 verified SaaS Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer salaries, the 25th percentile is $120,000 and the median is $170,000. A Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at a seed or Series A startup, or at a bootstrapped company under roughly $10M ARR, will often land between those two figures. Base pay typically moves toward and past the $300,000 75th percentile as the company adds headcount and ARR. Those stage bands are a rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a breakdown by company size, which the dataset does not report.

Budget for more than base salary. On a median base of $170,000, the fully loaded cost of a US Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer is roughly $212,500–$238,000 per year once employer payroll taxes (~7.65% FICA plus federal and state unemployment), health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment are added. That 1.25–1.4x multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to the benchmark on this page, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonuses, and equity sit on top where the role carries them. Also budget one-off hiring costs: agency recruiting fees commonly run 15–25% of first-year base, and a new hire takes weeks to months to reach full productivity.

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