Definitions
What each figure means
Every number in a survey has one written definition, shown next to the answer box and fixed for the whole round. These are those definitions, word for word.
CEO annual base salary
Gross annual base salary of the CEO or most senior founder as contracted on 1 September 2026, in EUR, before income tax and before employer social charges. If paid through a personal management company, count only the fixed annual fee component.
| What to leave out | Exclude bonus, commission, dividends, profit distributions, pension contributions, expense allowances and any equity. |
|---|---|
| Period | As at 1 September 2026 |
| Unit | EUR / year |
| Asked in |
|
Highest non-founder base salary
Gross annual base salary of the highest-paid person on the payroll who is not a founder, as contracted on 1 September 2026, in EUR before income tax and employer charges. If nobody outside the founding team is employed, enter 0.
| What to include | Include this person whatever their function — commercial, engineering or executive. |
|---|---|
| What to leave out | Exclude bonus, commission, equity and benefits. |
| Period | As at 1 September 2026 |
| Unit | EUR / year |
| Asked in |
|
Leadership team size
The number of people, founders included, who sit on the leadership team that meets regularly to run the company — typically those with C-level or VP titles and functional ownership.
| What to include | Count people rather than roles, as at 1 September 2026. |
|---|---|
| What to leave out | Exclude advisors, non-executive board members and investor representatives. |
| Period | As at 1 September 2026 |
| Unit | count |
| Asked in |
|
CEO fully diluted shareholding
The CEO's personal shareholding as a percentage of fully diluted share capital on 1 September 2026, treating all issued shares, granted options, warrants and convertible instruments as if converted.
| What to include | Count only shares held by the CEO personally or through a personal holding company. |
|---|---|
| What to leave out | Exclude co-founders, family members and all investors. |
| Period | As at 1 September 2026 |
| Unit | % |
| Asked in |
|
Employee equity pool
Total employee equity as a percentage of fully diluted share capital on 1 September 2026, including both options or certificates already granted to employees and any unallocated pool formally reserved for future grants. If the company operates no employee equity scheme, enter 0.
| What to leave out | Exclude all founder shareholdings and all investor shares. |
|---|---|
| Period | As at 1 September 2026 |
| Unit | % |
| Asked in |
|
Monthly AI spend
Total monthly spend on AI in EUR: model/API usage (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), AI developer tooling subscriptions, and dedicated AI infrastructure. Excludes salaries of people working on AI and general-purpose cloud compute not attributable to AI workloads. Use last full calendar month.
| Unit | EUR / month |
|---|---|
| Asked in |
|
How the answers are checked and reported is on the methodology page.