Venture capitalists talk about money all the time—revenue, profits, valuations—but they’re more cagey when it comes to their own money. Pay transparency is an issue in many industries, but it can be particularly mystical in the world of VC, where many jobs are never publicly posted.
There are lots of peer-to-peer surveys for more junior positions like associates and principals that share what many specific funds pay, one venture investor told me, but “pay transparency isn’t great at an industry level.” They said it “varies dramatically” at the fund level, and can depend on whether the firm is an equal partnership.
Still, the general scarcity of public information about how much money to expect in various roles at VC firms can make it more challenging for people who are greatly underrepresented in venture and historically underpaid—like women and people of color—to know if they’re earning what they’re worth, or whether they should go ahead and ask for carry. It’s especially tricky because many VC jobs are offered through friend circles or Stanford University alumni networks. (My colleague Jessica Mathews and I wrote a full guide on how to get a job in venture, which you can read here.) It “definitely” disproportionately affects women and minorities, the venture investor said, although it “varies a lot, fund to fund, in terms of how accountable they hold themselves.”
The pronounced lack of diversity can also have an impact on which startups get those coveted VC dollars: “Venture is a great job, and there’s very few of them,” Jen Wolf, managing partner at Initialized Capital, recently told me. But if it’s “always the same type of person that’s doing that job, the same type of companies and the same type of founders are always getting funded.”
There are some resources for wanna-be investors to get insight into how much they might be able to make and what to ask for when negotiating: Emerging Venture Capitalists Association, a community for early-career investors, publishes an annual compensation survey; John Gannon also publishes an annual salary survey. Meanwhile, laws have passed in several states and cities that require employers to share salary ranges for positions. But Initialized’s Wolf says she’s seen some reports of people posting really wide salary ranges “as a way to try to get around the process.” Initialized Capital just launched a public search for its newest partner, and will offer $400,000 to $650,000 in base salary, not including bonuses or carry, I reported yesterday. Others in the VC space have been speaking more publicly about compensation.
The good news is there seems to be some traction—both on the state and firm level—to shine a brighter light on compensation. And according to what the venture investor told me, there are VC group chats that share lots of salary data with each other—though some of it is incomplete. But in light of the VC industry’s poor track record of hiring women and people of color, and considering the pay gaps that remain, I certainly hope it will become less noteworthy when a VC firm reveals to the world how much a partner makes.
On that note, I’d love to hear from investors: How are you approaching discussions inside your firm about sharing more detailed salaries for roles, or speaking openly about compensation within the firm? My email, as always, is below.
See you tomorrow,
Anne Sraders
Twitter: @AnneSraders
Email: anne.sraders@fortune.com
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