So now that you've got a throwaway, and have purged the most sensitive of data, what market are you in and what's the product? You should really interview at indiehackers or something similar as there's an entire community trying to do similar.

Finally: you need to hang out with different folks and get your perspective changed :)

Well I can't relate to your kicker at all. I'm worth 200k and my income is 300k pre-tax. I live in NYC on that salary and feel fabulously rich.

Nope. Try being worth -32k. And yes, it is often my job to hang out with wealthy people (in NYC, not SF).

I do believe that I will never feel as rich as I did when I went from negative net worth to zero. That liberating feeling was amazing, as it's all upside after that.

You'll get there, and it'll feel so good when you do.

Nice, that sounds pretty sweet. I'm 22 and worth < $1m. Mind if I ask some questions so I can get to where you are?

What was your role in the company? How long were you with the company for and how long after its founding did you join? Was the company ever funded or 100% bootstrapped?

After you had your exit, how did you begin investing your money and why did you decide on that mode of investment?

Do you currently work a corporate job or do you work for yourself?

Any other tips or advice?

Thank you!

So are you getting a salary of $2.5m (from a company that you do not own), or are the CEO/owner? I'm guessing this is a CEO salary in any case?

Yes, I work at a very large public tech company now (40,000+ employees). I'm a senior executive in the company but two levels below CEO.

I would guess:

  4000 people make > $500,000 / year
  1000 people make > $1,000,000 / year
  250 people make > $2,000,000 / year
  50 people make > $4,000,000 / year
  ~7 people make > $8,000,000 / year (the executive team)

This includes stock and cash and bonus. All in.

Spare some change?