2016 - Forward Partners · Compensation Data Organised by Company Funding Stage 46 Founders Compensation Details 57 Role Function Data 63 Table of contents *Please note that this

2016 Survey Demographics 2

2 0 1 6

Welcome 2

We’ve undertaken this project to provide insight into startup

executives’ financial compensation across a range of functions,

levels and funding stages.

In order to create this report, we surveyed our network of startup

executives across the UK (with some startups forwarding to their

overseas teams as well). We received 356 responses, the majority

of which were from UK-based executives.

Survey demographics are set out on pages 10 to 16, and our

methodology is described on page 7. It goes without saying that

these findings are based purely on the information provided by

survey respondents, and therefore caution should be exercised

before drawing firm conclusions from the data. However, the

overarching trends outlined in this report are borne out by our

day-to-day experience of helping startups build their teams and

scale them internationally.

We would like to sincerely thank 3Beards/Unicorn Hunt and Jobbio

who promoted the survey to their networks.

2016 Startup Salary Survey

Welcome to Forward Partners firstannual Startup Salary Survey.

Welcome Welcome 43

In terms of respondents, the survey confirmed the perception

of the startup industry being largely male dominated, revealing

an 82% skew towards male founders, with only 18% of founders

identifying themselves as female.

Responses showed that although founder CEOs are the happiest

workers, most took a cut in their base salaries this year, indicating

that as perhaps one may expect, Founder CEO happiness is not

dependant on salary.

92% of founders who responded do not have an MBA level

education with most holding a BA level degree. This is inline with

the perception that entrepreneurial acumen and academic

achievement are not always linked and the fact that many

founders want to start their business as soon as they are able.

Founder profiles

Findings conclude that salaries across the startup ecosystem

saw marginal increases of 4%, in line with remuneration norms.

However, interestingly bonuses received within the startup

landscape increased by 50% during 2016 in comparison to 2015,

with the average bonus received this year amounting to £15,000.

The salary survey shed light on male/female attitudes towards self

remuneration, with male startup founders awarding themselves

salaries 100% higher than female counterparts working in similar

fields.

Although startups are often held up as a beacon of democratized

opportunity & equality, it appears that this is simply not the case.

The gender pay gap prevails across the industry with female C

Level executives earning on average 29% less across the year

than male counterparts.

This gender pay gap is particularly acute for senior female

executives at VP level and above, indicating that a glass ceiling

still exists at the highest levels. Interestingly females operating at

director level and below, received marginally higher base salaries

than male employees.

The gender gap

Welcome Welcome 65

Results indicate that the happiest function is founder CEO,

although it’s not the most well paid function, with Strategists

receiving the highest salaries (an average of £76,000).

Strategists were closely followed by Financiers who reported

earnings of an average of £75,000.

General Managers received an average of £70,000 whilst

Operations were paid the least, reporting earnings of £38,000

annually.

The biggest gains were evidenced in the HR function within

startups. For those growth stage companies that have an internal

recruitment function, it’s showing to be a lucrative and valuable

role that correlates with the macro trends showing internal-HR

becoming a priority earlier because of the frenetic and mercenary

tech talent market.

Product and Technology workers also reported significant gains

which correlates to the scarcity of available talent in these

functions and the lucrative salaries they now command.

Functional insights

In terms of career moves within the industry, the survey indicates

that the average employee spends between one and three years

in a role. However, for respondents from companies wholly owned

by institutions or angel investors, a large proportion of respondents

had been in their role for less than 6 months.

What we can extrapolate from this is that the average time in

roles is low and when you put this in the context of the wider macro

trends, it points to a highly frenetic labour market within startups.

Most moves were driven by new challenge and the opportunity

to take on greater responsibility as opposed to financial redress.

One of the most remarkable insights from the survey regarding

career moves was that internal moves drove a huge average 65%

increase in median total salary, followed closely by a recruitment

agency facilitated move.

This indicates that in an incredibly frenetic labour market, startups

are increasingly having to fight to retain talent which may be the

reason behind such significant salary increases.

Moving on

2016 Survey Demographics 2Welcome7

We surveyed 356 respondents for our Startup Salary Survey . A link

to an online survey was emailed to c. 15,000 of Forward Partners

network of senior digital executives, and distributed by partner

organisations in June / July / August 2016. >90% of respondents

were UK-based, but we have also included non-UK respondent

data in our findings. We focussed our survey on early stage startups

and qualified this by limiting responses to pre-series A companies

and Series A companies of no more than 20 employees. Location

appeared to have little or no influence on the data so we decided

not to use this as a filter when presenting our findings. GBP is used

throughout (conversions found below). Our data was cleaned,

categorised and reported in that state – without adjustment or

refinement. Some erroneous results can and will occur. Throughout

the report, median salary values have been presented to account

for outliers in respondent data.

Exchange rates we used at time of analysis

= 0.8379 = 0.7587

= 0.1135

Methodology

Welcome 1

Survey demographics 10

General Trends & Compensation Overview 17

Equity Overview 25

Male & Female Compensation Differences 31

Compensation Data Organised by Company Ownership Structure 33

Compensation Data Organised by Company Funding Stage 46

Founders Compensation Details 57

Role Function Data 63

Table of contents

*Please note that this deck is an overview of our findings and more

data will be available on our website in the coming months as part of

an ongoing early stage startup remuneration benchmarking project

10

2016 Survey Demographics 2016 Survey Demographics 1211

C-Level

Director

EVP/SVP

VP

Founder

Head of

Manager

IndividualContributor

Senior Individual Contributor

intern

Advisory

Role level split %

Gender %

44

18

11

5

7

4

3

3

2

.56

.28

Total respondents

356

84 16


Industry split %

Advertising

Commerce

Communications

Education

Entertainment

Finance

FMCG

5

20

12

2

3

1

1

1

Gambling

1Gaming

Hardware

Leisure

Media & Content

2

2

1

9

NFP/Charity

1Other

Productivity

Professional Services

Social

6

1

2

Software

Travel 4

15

Role function split %

CEO

Commercial

PR

HR

General Management

Ecommerce

Finance

Insight & Analysis

Marketing

Product

Operations

Strategy

Technology

41

12

10

7

9

6

6

4

3

3

1

.28

.28

NA/Didn’t say 10

200


Company size split %

Age %

1-45-9

10-1920-49

3730

1915

18-19

20-24

25-3435-44

0

4

19%37

44

45-54

10 55-64

2>65

0

Ownership structure split

%

Founders only

Founders + institutional investment

40

3

Founders + angel funding

28

Wholly owned by institutions

Wholly angel funded

0.84 Other

4

28

2016 Survey Demographics

2016 Survey Demographics 2

2016 General Trends & Compensation Overview 2016 General Trends & Compensation Overview 2019

Gambling

ProductivityProfessional

Services

Sectors % change 2015/16

Entertainment Finance FMCG

Media & Content NFP/Charity OtherGaming Hardware Leisure

Advertising Commerce Communications Education

-5

-43

10

60

Social

Software

Travel

-102

2924 23

Head of

24 6 -5

120100

400%

200%

14 4

-6

400

-44

0

149

0

12 057

4121

-12

8

-68

3

100

400%

200%

71

-5

100

1037

-14

58

0

50

Base % Bonus %


Sectors with biggest increase

Functions % change 2015/16

CEO Commercial eCommerce

Operations PR Product Strategy Tech

Base%

Bonus%

-9

72

2

130

-38

50

Base%

Bonus%

2

-41

6

33

0

0

9

60

28

286

3

58

Finance General Management HR

Insight & Analysis Marketing

-30

-31

35

76

0

0

13

-20

Professional1 Leisure2 FMCG3

Communications4 Gambling5

Professional1 Commerce3FMCG2

Advertising4 Productivity5

Functions with biggest % increase

HR1 Strategy2 Marketing3

Product4 Technology5

Total salary change %

-2

Total Salary Increase 2015/16

45

Total Bonus Increase 2015/16


Base

Median salary

BaseBonus Bonus

18-19

Median total salary by age

20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 >65

N/A

2015

2016

N/A

£25,000

£14,000

£40,000

£31,000

£66,642

£63,500

£117,500

£95,000

N/A

N/A

1-4

Median total salary by company size

5-9 10-19 20-49

2015

2016 £30,000

£26,009

£45,000

£40,000

£52,555

£41,700

£65,500

£62,607

Median % change of total (base+ bonus)remuneration by company ownership

Bootstrapped Angel Seed Series A

-9 33 13 15

Median % change of total remuneration(base + bonus) by how they moved

Direct Application HeadhuntedInternal Move/

promotionUsed a recruitment

agency

23 35 65 58

Introduced through network

11

Other

13

£48,000£50,000

£10,000£15,000

2016 2015

4

Median salary increase %

50

Median bonus increase %


Median base salary 2016 function/seniority

Director FounderHead of Ind. Contrib.VP’s EVP/SVP Sr. Ind. Contrib.ManagerC-Level

Marketing

Operations

Finance

HR

Tech

Gen. Manag.

eCommerce

Product

CEO

Strategy

Insight/Analytics = N/A

PR

Commercial £45.5k £40k£60k

£33k £25k

£55k

N/A£25k

N/A

£75k£54.5k

£70k

N/A N/A

£94k

N/A N/A N/A

£50k£30k

N/A N/A£31.3k

N/A N/A N/A N/A

£46.5k£100k £79.7k

N/A

£60k£70k £60k

£30kN/A

£87.5k

N/A£38k

N/A

£45k£76.8k

£30k £37kN/A N/A N/A £600 N/A

£83.5k

£22k

£65k£40k £30k

£60k £105k

£28k£60k

£75k£96k £90k

£37.5kN/A N/A

£55k

N/A

£60k£89k

N/A

£42k

N/A

£85k

N/A

£50k

N/A

£105k

£10k

£67.5k

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

£162.5k£51k

N/A N/A

£90k£76k

N/A£40k

N/A

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A£25k

£24k

£105k

N/A N/A N/A


Director FounderHead of Ind. Contrib.VP’s EVP/SVP Sr. Ind. Contrib.ManagerC-Level

Marketing

Operations

Finance

HR

Tech

Gen. Manag.

eCommerce

Product

CEO

Strategy

Commercial7%

80%

0% 0%20%

0% N/A 0% 7%

1% 2% 1% N/A N/A 0% N/A N/A 1%

41%71% 80%

N/A

40%

N/A N/A N/A

41%

7%15%

0% N/A

5% 0% 0% 1% N/A 1% N/A N/A 5%

5% 9% 3% 0% N/A N/A N/A 0% 5%

3%

80%13%

0%

30%

2% 1% 0% 3%

1% 0% 0% 0% N/A N/A 0% 1%

0% 0% 0% 1% N/A 0% N/A 0% 0%

N/A

1% 0% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 1%

39%13%

N/A N/A

100%

0% N/A 0% 39%

35%

0% 1% N/A 7%

Median equity % 2016 function/seniority PR & Insight/Analytics = N/A


2016 Equity Overview31

% Equity by level & company size

1-4 5-9

10-19 20-49

50

40

2

50

1

0

n/a

n/a

1

Director

Founder

Head of

Ind. Contrib.

VP’s

EVP/SVP

Sr. Ind. Contrib.

Manager

50%0%

C-Level 20

38

1

15

1

0

n/a

2

0

Director

Founder

Head of

Ind. Contrib.

VP’s

EVP/SVP

Sr. Ind. Contrib.

Manager

50%0%

C-Level

16

25

0

1

0

0

n/a

0

0

Director

Founder

Head of

Ind. Contrib.

VP’s

EVP/SVP

Sr. Ind. Contrib.

Manager

50%0%

C-Level 3

n/a

0

22

1

0

1

n/a

0

Director

Founder

Head of

Ind. Contrib.

VP’s

EVP/SVP

Sr. Ind. Contrib.

Manager

50%0%

C-Level

2016 Equity Overview 32

% Equity by function & company size

1-4 5-9

503

30

0

n/a

0

25

0

16

Marketing

Operations

Finance

HR

TechGen. Manag.

eCommerce

Product

50%0%

CEO

43

n/an/a

23

Strategy

Insight/Analytics

PR

Commercial

10-19 20-49

402

4

1

2

n/a

13

1

0

Marketing

Operations

Finance

HR

TechGen. Manag.

eCommerce

Product

50%0%

CEO

9

n/an/a

4

Strategy

Insight/Analytics

PR

Commercial

2511

0

0

0

0

0

n/a

0

Marketing

Operations

Finance

HR

TechGen. Manag.

eCommerce

Product

50%0%

CEO

1

n/a0

0

Strategy

Insight/Analytics

PR

Commercial

210

1

1

1

0

1

n/a

0

Marketing

Operations

Finance

HR

TechGen. Manag.

eCommerce

Product

50%0%

CEO

n/a

1n/a

0

Strategy

Insight/Analytics

PR

Commercial

compensation

2016 Male & Female Compensation Differences35

Median salary by level

Median bonus by level

£56,250

£39,600

£31,250

£15,030

£87,000

£76,000

£50,000

£85,000

£55,000

£60,000

£37,759

£38,000

£15,000

£-

£30,000

£5,000

£20,000

£27,500

£24,500

£14,000

£12,569

£8,000

£12,000

£3,900

Median total remuneration by age

18-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 >65

N/A

Female

Male

N/A

£40,000

£6,838

£48,378

£40,500

£92,067

£90,500

£128,458

£104,000

N/A

N/A

£126,000

N/A

55-64

Male

Female

VP’sC-Level Founder Director Head of Ind. Contributor

Male

Female

VP’sC-Level Founder Director Head of Ind. Contributor

2016 Male & Female Compensation Differences 36

Median % salary increase

Median % bonus increase

0 0

2 10

compensation

2016 Compensation Data Organised by Company Ownership Structure39

Founder Owned 100%

17

3

6

8

8

3

6

1

48

Pension

Living Allowance

Healthcare

Gym Membership

Company car

Benefits %

School fees

Life insurance

other

nothing

100%0%

C-Level DirectorFounder VP’s

Base salary by level Bonus by level

EVP/SVP

£75k

£50k£60k

£26.5k

100k

50k

£20k £20k£29k

£34k

£105k

£50k

2016 Compensation Data Organised by Company Ownership Structure 40

£60k

£40k £38k

Head ofIndividual Con-

tributorManagerSenior Individual

Contributor

£38k

£21.4k

£7.5k£2.8k

15k

Gender split %

82 17


MBA %

Education %

8416Yes No

LowerSecondary

School PhD

10

3

MastersBachelors

Degree

UpperSecondary

School

1

40 3850%


Size of team %

1-3 yrs 6mth - 1yr

Time in role %

< 6mths3-5 yrs 5-10 yrs

Age %

18-1920-24

25-3435-44

110

19% 4233

45-54

12 55-64

2>65

0

No response

22 19 195 5

31

2% did not say

1-4

5 - 9

10 - 1920 - 49

50

24

816


Founders + Institutions

NA NA



EVP/SVP

£94k

£65,735£60k

£22.5k

100k

50k

£15k

£25k

12

1

1

2

3

1

1

1

78

Pension

Living Allowance

Healthcare

Gym Membership

Company car

Benefits %

School fees

Life insurance

other

nothing

100%0%


£73k

£50k£40k



Contributor

£62.5k

£18.5k£9.5k £5k NA

Gender split %

76 24


MBA %

Education %

7129Yes No

LowerSecondary

School PhD

2 4

MastersBachelors

Degree

UpperSecondary

School

4

57

3350%


Size of team %

1-3 yrs 6mth - 1yr

Time in role %

< 6mths3-5 yrs

5-10 yrs

Age %

18-1920-24

25-3435-44

04

19% 4538

45-54

955-64

2>65

0

11 92

02

76

Noresponse

2% No response

1-4 5 - 910 - 19

20 - 4927 33

2515


Institutions +/or Angels only

4

1

2

3

1

1

1

1

79

Pension

Living Allowance

Healthcare

Gym Membership

Company car

Benefits %

School fees

Life insurance

other

nothing

100%0%

NA NA



EVP/SVP

£66k£50k

£12k

100k

50k

£20k

NA


£22k

£48k



Contributor

NANANANA

Gender split %

85 15


MBA %

LowerSecondary

School PhD

Education %

8812Yes No

15

0

MastersBachelors

Degree

UpperSecondary

School

0

42 4350%


Size of team %

1-3 yrs

6mth - 1yr

Time in role %

< 6mths

3-5 yrs5-10 yrs

Age %

18-1920-24

25-34

35-44

04

19%

35

58

45-54

0

55-64

3>65

0

38

1227

40

19

No response

1-4

5 - 910 - 19

20 - 4942

238

27


2016 Compensation Data Organised by Company Funding Stage53

base avg 2016 £59,000 £40,000 £45,000 £77,500

bonus avg 2016 £30,000 £7,000 £7,983 £15,000

c’level SeedBootstrapped Angel Series A

base avg 2016 £30,000 £28,000 £34,250 £30,000

bonus avg 2016 £5,000 NA £37,935 NA

founders SeedBootstrapped Angel Series A

base avg 2016 NA NA £105,000 NA

bonus avg 2016 £50,000 £48,750 £50,000 NA

evp SeedBootstrapped Angel Series A

2016 Compensation Data Organised by Company Funding Stage 54

base avg 2016 NA £75,000 £76,000 £94,000

bonus avg 2016 NA £20,000 £25,000 £17,500

base avg 2016 £38,967 £40,000 £55,000 £90,650

bonus avg 2016 £20,000 £24,500 £16,000 £32,500

base avg 2016 £45,000 £70,000 £55,000 £60,000

bonus avg 2016 £28,125 £30,000 £14,380 £11,000

SeedBootstrapped Angel Series Avp

SeedBootstrapped Angel Series Adirectors

SeedBootstrapped Angel Series Ahead of


base avg 2016 £40,000 NA £50,000 £25,500

bonus avg 2016 £2,800 NA £5,000 £15,000

SeedBootstrapped Angel Series A

Individual contributors


Happiness avg (out of 10)

7.8Angel

7.8Series A

8.4Bootstrapped

8.3Seed


14

17

23

29

6

14

14

9

14

Benefits %

Bootstrapped

Angel

Pension

Healthcare

Company car

Living allowance

Gym membership

School fees

Life insurance

Pension

HealthcareCompany car

Gym membership

Life insurance

17

14

29


Pension 15Healthcare

Company car 8

Living allowance

15

Gym membership 19

Life insurance 4

Seed

Series AHealthcare

Pension

Living allowance

Life insurance

Company car

Gym membership

26

5

11

5

11

42

38


52

11

4

14

10

9

Reason for moving %

BootstrappedNew challengeGreater financial

compensation

Change of location

Greater responsibility

Change ofsector / industry

Desire to work fora specific company

57

66

12

12

7

Angel

Greater financialcompensation

Change of location




New challenge



637

2

18

3

7

Seed New challenge


Change of location

Change of sector / industry



43

7

4

18

12

15

Series A


Change of location



New challenge

2016 Founders Compensation Details63

Size of company %

Base

Median

BaseBonus Bonus

2016 2015

1-4

5 - 9

10 - 1920 - 49

58

38

4

0

Function %

2016 Founders Compensation Details 64

CEO

Commercial

PR

HR

General Management

Ecommerce

Finance

Insight & Analysis

Marketing

Product

Operations

Strategy

Technology

62

27

4

0

0

0

4

3

0

4

0

0

0

£31,250£30,000

£5,000

£17,500

2016 Founders Compensation Details65

Education %

LowerSecondary

School PhD

80

MastersBachelors

Degree

UpperSecondary

School

4

354650%

MBA %

928Yes No

2016 Founders Compensation Details 66

Happiness avg (out of 10) 8

1-3 yrs

6mth - 1yr

Time in role %

< 6mths

3-5 yrs 5-10 yrs

Age %

18-19

20-24

25-34

35-44

0

8

42

27 45-54

19 55-64

4>65

0

>11

54

2715

0 04

2016 Survey Demographics 2016 Survey Demographics 22 * low data

2016 Role Function Data69

Median base £50,000

CEO Commercial eCommerce*

Marketing Operations PR*

£41,000

£60,000

£40,000

£38,500 £25,000Median base

£53,500 £34,500 £-Median base

£6,250 £8,000 £-Median bonus

£18,000 £13,500 £-Median bonus

Median base salary & bonus stats 2015/16

2016

2015

2016

2015

Median base £48,000 £40,000 £95,000

Median bonus £20,000 £10,000 £7,500

Median bonus £20,000 £12,750 £10,000

£80,000 £57,000 £47,500

£15,000 £20,000 £10,000

£10,000 £5,000 £6,500

2016 Role Function Data 70

Finance General Managemnt HR Insight & Analysis*

Product Strategy Technology

£60,000£75,000

£60,000

£70,000

£76,000

£52,500

£60,000£90,000 £82,935 £39,000

£-£24,000 £20,000 £6,000

£-£50,000 £24,000 £5,500

£45,000


Size of company / function median total stats 2016

1-4 £67,935 £80,000 £75,000

Marketing

5-9 £65,000 £60,500 NA

10-19 £65,000 £52,000 NA

20-49 £76,663 £45,000 NA

1-4 £84,000 £39,000 NA

5-9 £45,000 £46,000 NA

10-19 £65,000 £43,900 NA

20-49 £70,000 £80,325 NA

CEO Commercial eCommerce*

Marketing Operations PR*


NANA £100,000 £55,000

NA£54,469 £60,000 NA

NA£119,000 £101,044 £80,000

NA£110,000 £130,000 £66,000

£61,500 £115,000 £44,935

£70,000 £80,500 £53,500

£92,500 £42,500 £58,900

£110,000 NA £98,457

Finance General Management HR Insight & Analysis*

Product Strategy Technology


Avgerage happiness (out of 10)

8.8CEO

Commercial 7.4

Marketing

Operations

PR

7.4

6.6

9

Finance 7.8


eCommerce NA

General Management

HR

Insight & Analysis 5

8.7

8.8

Product

Strategy

Technology

8.1

8.7

7.5

2016 Survey Demographics2

2016 Startup Salary Survey

ForwardPartners.com

Documents

2016 - Forward Partners · Compensation Data Organised by Company Funding Stage 46 Founders Compensation Details 57 Role Function Data 63 Table of contents *Please note that this