> A typical engineer at a top AI startup makes over 1M/year, mostly equity. [0]
>> - What percentage of the $1M is paid as salary?
> Depending on the startup, 75-90%
Which one is it? I've worked for multiple AI startups and have many friends in the space and I don't know that many are making $750-900k cash, but calling $100-250k cash + dreams and wishes a million doesn't add up either.
But I should make it clear that ordinarily I'd agree with the haters, but AI is actually different and so much wealth will be created that many of these unicorns will end up exiting for plenty. The people who got left out of the windsurf deal will still make millions (just not tens of millions)
Let's say top 30 by valuation
Depending on the startup, 10-25%
Very widely
I claim the median is around 1M at these top companies. Not the median offer, but the median current employee