How Startup Executive Compensation Has Changed Since 2021

Using the Thelander YoY private company dataset, we looked to see which private company executives have seen the biggest movement in total cash since 2021.

For startups with $50–$109.9M in total financing:

• CEOs saw median total cash rise from $437,980 (2021) to $480,500 (2025), with the 75th percentile climbing from $521,277 to $590,131.
• Chief Scientific Officers had some of the biggest jumps: median total cash went from $338,545 to $395,849, and the 75th percentile from $415,410 to $506,508 over the same period.

In other words, CSOs have quietly seen some of the strongest total cash growth in this funding band—especially at the top end of the market.

Curious to see how your current comp compares to real-time market data? Fill out the Thelander Private Company Compensation Survey today to find out ➡️ survey.jthelander.com

Categorised in: Data Drops

This post was written by jthelander