NZ’s First Founder Salary Survey Lifts The Lid On Pay, Wellbeing And The Gender Gap

7 May 2025 – Auckland

Kiwi startups finally have hard numbers on what founders are paying themselves. LiveRem and Oxygen Advisors today released the New Zealand Founder Pay Report 2025 which analyses anonymised payroll data from founders across the motu at Kiwi startups and scaleups earning anywhere from under $1 million to more than $10 million in annual revenue and employing teams that range from a handful of people to well over 100. The report delivers the most detailed snapshot of founder pay in Aotearoa to date.

“Founder pay is a taboo topic. Without reliable data, many founders default to ‘as little as possible’, risking burnout, inequity and blind-spot budgeting. 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,” comments Kathleen Webber, Co-Founder & CEO, LiveRem.

“We see companies wrestle with this every day,” adds Mike Mandis, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Oxygen Advisors. “Pairing LiveRem’s live benchmarks with Oxygen Advisor’s modelling means boards can set pay that’s fair today and sustainable tomorrow.”

Key findings

Gender, role and geography as well as company size and revenue are key drivers of remuneration levels and the ‘paybacks’ of being a founder aren’t always immediate:

• Average time to paycheck is 29 months and revenue drives reward. Founders of companies earning over $10m in annual revenue earn twice as much as those under $1m.
• 50% of founders pay themselves more than $195k. The average founder pays themself $205k per year, or $195k at a median measurement. For companies with revenue under $3m, the average salary is $146k. This climbs to $292k for companies above $10m.
• Gender pay gaps persist. Male founders are paid, on average, more than women. Male founders are paid, on average, 8% more than women, and on a median measure, 25% more than women
• Roles and location matter. Other pay gaps include location (18% more in Auckland) and skillset (‘Technical founders’ earn 20% less than CEOs.)
• Long-term rewards often trump immediate paybacks. 42% of founders are taking home less than at least one member of their team and successful exits typically don’t come quickly - 56% of founders exited after 6 - 7 years.

(Full report on all founder salary data here.)

Founder wellbeing - salaries 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,” comments Webber.

Verbatim quotes from founders surveyed include:

“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.”

“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. 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,” believes Mandis.

Using the data to drive meaningful decisions

Both LiveRem and Oxygen Advisors believe that accurate salary data like this is key to meaningful decision making. “Our dataset also 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,” comments Webber.

“In general, it’s important to have as many accurate data points as possible when making remuneration decisions to map out fair, sustainable salary structures. 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.

The bigger picture

"As a country, we have to ask how many great ideas never see daylight because the personal cost is just too high. 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," believes Webber.

Tech-enabled insights

LiveRem is the engine behind this data. Last year, it launched New Zealand’s first real-time salary-benchmarking platform, pulling live figures straight from payroll systems so founders (and , any employer) can see what roles are actually paying in the market - today, not nine months ago. With brands like Sharesies, Tracksuit, CatalystIT, Auror, Tradify and PaySaucealready feeding in anonymised numbers, LiveRem instantly flags when the market for a role moves, highlights turnover risk and pinpoints gender pay gaps. “Think of it as having a full-time compensation analyst on every pay run, but automated, affordable and always current,” comments Webber.

“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. LiveRem will keep the dataset live and growing, while Oxygen Advisors turns those insights into actionable pay strategies - because when remuneration decisions are grounded in real-time evidence, startups stay healthier, talent sticks around and the ecosystem is empowered to take steps closer to true diversity,” concludes Mandis.

Download the full report and sign up to the next data-drop: Full report

About LiveRem

LiveRem gives leaders confidence with instant salary insights so they can see how their pay decisions stack up in the market, right now, not last year. With the most up-to-date information, leaders get peace of mind that their pay decisions are competitive, people budgets are optimised, and they’re building a business on fair, data-backed decisions.

About Oxygen Advisors

Oxygen Advisors is a full service accounting firm for startups/scaleups. Their fractional CFOs and finance teams take the weight off founders' shoulders. From capital raising to bookkeeping, they have you covered.

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