Startup CEO Salaries Reach Record Highs in 2025
Kruze Consulting, the leading startup accounting and CFO consulting firm servicing more than 800 venture funded startup clients, has released its 7th annual CEO Salary Report. This report is based on anonymized payroll data instead of self-reported survey data and is the longest running startup CEO salary report available. Compensation data comes from 450 startups in Kruze’s client base and represents a range of verticals including AI, SaaS, Fintech, and others. In this year’s report, startup CEOs are seeing an increase in average salaries, up more than 14% from $141,000 in 2024 to $161,000 in 2025.
The boom in AI startup funding has played a significant role in driving this increase in salaries, particularly at the early stage. Funding across early-stage startups, regardless of vertical, saw an increase in 2025. The average salary for seed-stage CEOs grew from $132,000in 2024 to $147,000 in 2025 and Series A salaries rose from $179,000 to $203,000 over the same period. Contrary to this growth, Series B CEO salaries have continued to decline since hitting a peak in 2022. In 2024, these salaries were $227,000 and have slid to $214,000 in 2025. The reason behind this steady reduction could be venture capitalists’ aversion to investing in later stage companies that aren’t showing as much growth potential as their early-stage counterparts.
One reason behind this dynamic could be due to the fundamental differences between AI-native and non-AI-native startups. Investors seem to be favoring early-stage startups with AI at their core; businesses that are unburdened with having to overhaul their infrastructure. AI-native startups have the benefit of attracting promising new talent and are more agile, giving them an innovative edge.
The gender pay gap between male and female CEOs is $11,000 – the narrowest it has been since 2020. According to Kruze data, female CEOs saw an overall wage increase by 17.8% in the last year from $129,000 in 2024 to $152,000 in 2025. Comparatively, salaries for male CEOs rose from $143,000 to $163,000 in the last year. The gender pay gap was at its peak in 2020 at $45,000. By increasing transparency on CEO salaries, the goal is to equip both Founders and investors with useful data on how to approach conversations on executive compensation.
“The increase in startup CEO salaries reflects a renewed sense of confidence from investors, particularly for those interested in innovative companies and dynamic sectors at the early-stage including AI startups, which continue to attract significant attention” says Vanessa Kruze, CEO of Kruze Consulting. “It’s encouraging to see that the gender pay gap is continuing to narrow, and we hope it remains on this current trajectory. The signals from this year’s CEO Salary report are that the funding landscape has generally improved from the less favorable conditions in 2024, proof of the resiliency of startups and the value they can provide to investors who are willing to support their growth.”
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