Guide
The Founding AE, SDR & Head of Sales Comp Benchmark
By Arshnoor Kohli, Founder, Vektor
Last updated
Published · 8 min read
Bottom line
For Seed through Series D+, founding AE OTE usually lands between $140K and $240K by stage. SDR OTE is roughly $80K to $120K. First Head of Sales or VP Sales is about $220K to $400K. Equity is highest at Seed and gets smaller as you scale. Use these as a starting point for negotiation. ACV, cycle length, and how proven the motion is will move the number inside the band.
Base, OTE, and equity bands by stage and sales role for venture-backed teams. Market estimates for planning, not placement guarantees.
How to read this
Ranges reflect first-year offers for U.S.-based, in-person or hybrid roles. OTE assumes 100% quota attainment: base plus variable at plan. Equity is a percentage of fully diluted shares at offer, not a dollar value, since that depends on your last valuation.
Treat every range as a starting point for negotiation, not a fixed number. Role scope, ACV, sales cycle length, and how proven the motion already is will move the number up or down within the band.
Founding AE & Early AE
Quota-carrying closer. First or second sales hire. Often building the motion with the founder. At Seed, founding AEs usually carry lower quota and higher equity, because they're building the playbook, not just running it.
| Stage | Base | OTE | Equity | Typical quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $70K-$90K | $140K-$180K | 0.25%-0.75% | $400K-$700K ARR |
| Series A | $80K-$100K | $160K-$200K | 0.15%-0.40% | $700K-$1.1M ARR |
| Series B | $90K-$110K | $180K-$220K | 0.08%-0.20% | $1.0M-$1.4M ARR |
| Series C | $100K-$120K | $200K-$240K | 0.03%-0.10% | $1.2M-$1.6M ARR |
| Series D+ | $110K-$135K | $220K-$270K | 0.02%-0.08% | $1.4M-$2.0M ARR |
SDR & BDR
Pipeline seat. Usually the first hire behind a founding AE once outbound needs a dedicated owner. SQL means sales-qualified lead, defined by your own handoff criteria between SDR and AE.
| Stage | Base | OTE | Equity | Typical output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $50K-$65K | $80K-$100K | 0.05%-0.15% | 20-30 SQLs/mo |
| Series A | $55K-$70K | $90K-$110K | 0.03%-0.10% | 30-40 SQLs/mo |
| Series B | $60K-$75K | $95K-$115K | 0.02%-0.06% | 35-45 SQLs/mo |
| Series C | $65K-$80K | $100K-$120K | 0.01%-0.03% | 40-50 SQLs/mo |
| Series D+ | $70K-$85K | $110K-$130K | 0.005%-0.02% | 45-55 SQLs/mo |
Head of Sales & VP Sales
First sales leadership hire. Bring them in once a repeatable motion exists and you need to scale it, not invent one from scratch. Hiring a VP Sales before the motion is real is the most common miss we see. It usually costs a wasted quarter.
| Stage | Base | OTE | Equity | Typical team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $130K-$160K | $220K-$280K | 0.75%-1.5% | 2-4 reps |
| Series A | $150K-$180K | $260K-$320K | 0.4%-0.8% | 4-8 reps |
| Series B | $170K-$200K | $300K-$360K | 0.2%-0.4% | 8-15 reps |
| Series C | $190K-$220K | $330K-$400K | 0.1%-0.2% | 15-25 reps |
| Series D+ | $210K-$250K | $370K-$450K | 0.05%-0.12% | 25-40 reps |
Three signs your comp plan is off before you post the role
- OTE split isn't 50/50 or 60/40 base-to-variable. Anything more back-loaded reads as underfunded risk to experienced closers, and you'll select for people who can't afford to turn down a safer offer.
- Equity is priced off headcount, not off stage. A Seed founding AE should sit closer to your third or fourth engineering hire in equity than your tenth. The seat carries founder-level risk.
- Quota came from a plan, not from your actual pipeline. If last quarter's inbound plus outbound-sourced pipeline can't support the quota on the offer, the number looks good on paper and is unhittable in practice. Unhittable quota is the number one reason founding AE hires don't make it past 90 days.
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