Kiwi startup founders take around 29 months on average to score their first pay cheque, but when they get there, they’re doing of okay, with 50% of them on more than NZ$195,000 (A$182k) according to the New Zealand Founder Pay Report 2025.
The first deep dive into startup life in Aotearoa, by LiveRem and Oxygen Advisors, analysed anonymised payroll data from founders at Kiwi startups and scaleups with annual revenue spanning less than NZ$1m to more than $10m in annual revenue. And some have more than 100 staff.
LiveRem CEO and cofounder Kathleen Webber said the report tackles something that’s often regarded as a taboo topic.
“Without reliable data, many founders default to ‘as little as possible’, risking burnout, inequity and blind-spot budgeting,” she said.
“Yet, paying yourself isn’t just a line in Xero; it’s a strategic call that shapes how long you can lead and how well you can live.”
The average founder pays themself NZ$205,000 a year – the median is $195k. Income brings its own rewards for founders.
LiveRem CEO Kathleen Webber
For companies with revenue under $3m, the average salary is $146k. That pay doubles for companies to $292k for founders at companies that bank more than $10m.
But surprise, surprise, there’s a gender pay gap and male founders take home, on average, 8% more than women, and a whopping 25% at the median level, which suggests that pay for women founders as revenue grows fails to keep pace in the way it does for blokes.
Webber notes that the dataset shows the ‘typical’ Kiwi startup founder is a 40-year-old man in Auckland.
“When that profile is still the norm, it’s clear we’ve got a long way to go in building a more diverse pool of founders,” she said.
Roles in the company as well as where it’s based also make a difference to your pay packet. Technical founders earn 20% less than a CEO and if you’re based in Aotearoa’s most expensive city, Auckland, expect to take home 18% more than anyone further south.
But the equity that comes with being a founder helps them play a long game for a pay off, with 42% of founders are taking home less than at least one member of their team. Meanwhile, 56% of founders exited after 6-7 years.
Oxygen Advisors cofounder and co-CEO Mike Mandis said they see companies wrestle with this every day.
“Pairing LiveRem’s live benchmarks with Oxygen Advisor’s modelling means boards can set pay that’s fair today and sustainable tomorrow,” he said.
Among the comments made by founders who responded to the report reveal a complex array of factors influencing their decisions about how to reward their vision and ambitions.
“I started by not paying myself at all for quite a while … (then)I started to pay myself just enough to not have to worry about survival … at no stage have I paid myself what I used to earn before starting the business … the reduced salary will become a burden on family life,” one said.
Another replied “At the beginning, we paid ourselves next to nothing … Over time, our approach has shifted … setting salaries that are right for our size and stage, not just what we can scrape by on … Being able to work toward personal goals like saving for a house has lifted a big mental load … it frees up headspace to focus on growing the business.”
“Both of these underline a core insight from the report: salary is also a wellbeing lever,” Mandis said.
“Paying too little may buy runway – but could be a tax on resilience; paying a sustainable, stage-appropriate sum keeps founders and by extension, their companies healthier for the long haul.”
Mandis argues that revealing the reality of founder life and remuneration helps everyone makes informed decisions and go into startups with the eyes open.
“The numbers are now on the table and with the NZ Founder Pay Report 2025 in hand, founders, boards and investors finally have an objective baseline for setting pay that fuels both performance and personal stamina,” he said.
“Coupled to metrics such as growth relative to spend and ratios of spend (on R&D or CAC), salary benchmarking becomes strategic rather than a gut feel exercise. When the numbers line up, founders can show investors (and themselves) that every dollar, whether paid in payroll or poured into product, is pulling its weight for long-term growth,” adds Mandis.
Webber agrees that salary size can help lower stress and increase staying power.
“Importantly, founders also told us that their pay cheque isn’t about lifestyle upgrades – it’s about mental bandwidth,” she said.
LiveRem launched New Zealand’s first real-time salary-benchmarking platform last year, pulling live figures straight from payroll systems so founders (and , any employer) can see what roles are actually paying.
Well-known Kiwi startups such as Sharesies, Tracksuit, CatalystIT, Auror, Tradify and PaySauce are among those feeding in anonymised numbers.
Webber believes disclosing founder pay also helps people weigh up the balance between sacrifice and gain, and align goals for everyone.
“As a country, we have to ask how many great ideas never see daylight because the personal cost is just too high,” she said.
“If New Zealand wants more world-class startups, we need better government–industry partnerships – that may include targeted grants, matched-funding or smarter tax settings that shortens the runway and makes entrepreneurship a career path people can afford to choose.”Tech-enabled insights
The full report can be downloaded here
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