Founders Compensation

What is the appropriate compensation for a founder? Too often, founders find themselves caught between two roles, operator and owner, without clarity on how each should be measured. Compensation as an employee should be benchmarked against comparable roles, while compensation as a founder reflects risk, ownership, and negotiated returns over time. At The Founders Office, we help founders separate these lenses so they can make clear, principled decisions that align with both today’s work and tomorrow’s outcomes.