BSG From the Boardroom

As executive recruiters, we often get asked about executive compensation.

So often—after we finish up a search—we aggregate the compensation data we’ve collected across the search, and share it back with the innovation community. In this case, we recently finished a CFO  search for a profitable SaaS software client located here in New England in September, 2011.

Here is the snapshot of compensation from our search—

The footnote at the bottom of the image above articulates the following criteria for the majority of companies in this data set:

• SaaS software companies (virtually all B2B)
• Venture capital/externally funded
• Profitable stage
• Series A-D in funding, usually between $5M and $20M raised
• All companies located in greater Boston area

There are many variables to consider that influence where to pinpoint one’s own compensation vis-a-vis the above:

• The closer toward Boston/Cambridge and the  urban locations these represent,  the more likely compensation will be higher
• The later the stage of company development, the higher the CFO compensation, the earlier the lower
• The more money raised, usually the higher the compensation is in the above range
• Once a company reaches consistent profitability, executive compensation increases across the functional spectrum
• If a non-founder CFO vs. founder-CFO, cash compensation is likely higher (and equity lower in the range)