Public company CEOs are richly compensated. The median 2022 pay package for CEOs in the S&P 500 was $14.5 million, down slightly from the previous year, but more than double the median comp for S&P 500 CEOs in 2012. (In the same period, the federal minimum wage has remained flat, while median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers in the U.S. grew roughly 36%.)

Founders, on the other hand, may not be paying themselves enough, says Waseem Daher, cofounder and CEO of Pilot, an accounting firm that serves startups and small businesses. READ MORE