At what point is it realistic to ask for $$ to pay ourselves as founders (who will quit their job?) and how much is appropriate?

We are currently doing a pre-seed raise of $500k, but I’m really struggling to balance my work and my start-up.

Note that my current job pays $100k, and I don’t have a crazy resume.

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Generally, founders don’t take a salary until a Series A and the salary is modest. Maybe a salary starting at seed depending on the size (some seeds nowadays are large). Depending on the size, following a Series B maybe a salary of $200k. So if you are pre-seed, expecting a salary would be insane and a huge turn off to investors.

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It’s not a prescriptive rule, but you should pay yourself for many reasons, the most important being your mindset. If you have the space and cushion to breathe easier, it will help your business. However, it’s critical to find a balance so that your pre-seed round goes farther and accomplishes the goal you set out for in the raise.

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Follow-up question. Would an investor put in $$ in a pre-seed round if the founders keep their day job? Realistically, we need to keep our lights on somehow.

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Wait till series A

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Thanks for Sharing! Stupid question.. if founders don’t get salary for till say, series A/B how do they usually manage their finance or.. survive without an income.

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Most use savings
Investors are not investing so you can have a salary
Unless you’ve put in a significant portion of your own money into the startup most won’t be comfortable with you paying yourself this early

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OP I had $2M in pre-seed while keeping my job
So I’d say yes absolutely
You do need one guy on the team very available

Pay yourself something to get by. Most experienced investors expect founders to need an income. However, it should be as modest as you can manage. Investors generally want full time founders.

Don't be nuts man, pay yourself a living wage. Could be 50, could be 100, just be sure to have some justifications when probed by your investors or else it'll be a difficult conversation to have. Feeling safe about your finances is a basic right

As soon as you can do so profitably and when you're the next best hire for the team. Unfortunately if your not on the engineering or product side, and you're on the biz dev side like me, you won't be paying yourself as a salaried employee anytime soon.

Remember, once you start taking a FTE salary, it costs your company more than just the salary. The alphabet boys will want their check too.

This is tricky. I have been there. It is difficult to quit jobs when you are further along in your career. Who is going quit when all 3 founders making good money. Try to run it as long as you can without quitting your job. It is hard.

I worked for 6 months during startup, and my day job employer noticed (a consulting firm, they asked me to step up or leave the company, which I did). I paid myself from early revenue then later from our first raise. When the first raise dried up I stopped taking salary again except during months when we had sufficient revenue to cover all payroll. I’m now looking to exit. If it weren’t for the exit potential, I’d have made a lot more $ staying in consulting. But I am so much happier as entrepreneur despite the rollercoaster and stress.

This is good for perspective
I was working on a fintech startup in a developing country I co-founded before consulting and have noticed a lot of consultants mistakingly think their job as the most stressful and I can think is “that’s because you’ve never worked in an early stage startup”

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