PS#099: 2025 VC Compensation Report
Once again, it’s time for everyone’s favorite topic – compensation.
To help prepare you for the upcoming recruiting season, I try to provide an annual view on the latest venture capital compensation trends.
If you’re just joining us, I highly recommend reading through my original guide to understand how VC compensation works. In addition to specific compensation details, I walk through how fund fee structures and (most importantly) how to approach an offer. It’s a great place to start.
Today, we’re going to focus on the latest market compensation.
Methodology
Before we dig into the data, some notes on the information collected:
This data was drawn from nearly 200 VCs in the EVCA community. If you’re new to the venture capital community, I highly recommend applying to join!
All of the respondents are analysts, associates, senior associates, vice presidents, principals, or new partners (new this year!) on the investments team at institutional, corporate, or crossover (private & public) funds.
Cash compensation refers to salary + bonus.
Carry points refer to percentage points (i.e., 1.00 point = 1% of the carry).
The data has been classified by stage (which often drives fund size), defined as:
Pre-seed / Seed
Early-stage: Seed to Series B
Growth-stage: Series C to IPO
Stage Agnostic: Seed to IPO
The output of the information has been broken down by role.
And with all that being said, let’s get started.
Analysts
Analysts are entry-level roles with 1-3 years of experience, with at least a year in venture on average.
Total cash compensation: Average about $100k, which has come down from prior years.
Carried interest: About a third of analysts actually received carry, which is slightly up from prior years.
Associates
Associates usually have 2-5 years of experience, depending on the firm, with about half of this coming in venture.
Total cash compensation: This is where you’ll really start to see a difference in compensation due to stage and total fund size. Early stage investors can expect compensation $135-170k, while associates at larger, growth funds can expect compensation in the $237.5k range.
Carried interest: More associates are receiving carry as of late, but again, the amount in most cases is small.
Senior Associates
Senior associates usually have 4-8 years of experience depending on the firm (with slightly less pure VC experience).
Total cash compensation: Hovers around $150-205k (a significant bump from associate) for early stage investors, with later stage investors grossing between $250k (only slightly more than associates, typically due to varying titles at this level).
Carried interest: The majority of senior associates will receive carry (usually around 1-2%).
Vice Presidents
Vice Presidents tend to have 8+ years of experience with 4+ years in venture.
Total cash compensation: Compensation is between $235-275k for pre-seed/seed/early-stage firms, and between $320-350k for growth-stage/crossover investors.
Carried interest: Most receive carry, typically around 2-3% or less. Although, at pre-seed/seed funds, this can be higher (~5% +/-), as it’s often paired with lower cash compensation.
Principals
Principals tend to have similar experience to VPs (just a bit older) with 10+ years of total experience and 4+ years in venture.
Total cash compensation: As a result of more experience, compensation is in generally the same range ($245-275k) for pre-seed/seed/early-stage firms, and near the higher end of the range ~$340k for growth-stage/crossover investors.
Carried interest: Most receive carry, typically around 4-5%. Although, again, at pre-seed/seed funds, this can be higher (upwards of ~7%), for the same lower cash compensation reasoning.
New Partners
The coolest part of this group has been watching it grow.
In the early days, this didn’t include partners. In fact, as recent as last year, it didn’t include partner compensation. But, as its members have grown, this report has expanded. We now have many members who have made it to partner. It’s awesome to see.
New partners tend to have 10+ years of experience and 7+ years in venture. They’ve grinded it out and have likely seen whether some of their investments have succeeded (or not).
Total cash compensation: As a result of their experience and (more importantly) performance, compensation is much higher ($400-450k). This could be significantly high depending on the size and stage of the fund, but it’s the data we have today.
Carried interest: Again, most are receiving carry, typically around 7-9%. For those not receiving carry, this may be more of a “presenting title” vs. actually being a senior investor.
Putting it into context.
Now that we have the latest information in regards to compensation, we’re going to layer in some additional context.
In the following issues, I’ll share some of the overarching trends as well as what this means as you start recruiting for full-time roles. Although venture funds are locked into multi-year cycles, the ways in which they approach roles, titles, and compensation can fluctuate year to year.
It’s important to have an understanding of this context as you navigate and negotiate potential offers. My hope is that this information (combined with the appropriate context) will help give you a better foundation for securing a full-time role in venture.
