Who wouldn’t want to be rich? In Germany you need approx 5,000 euros net per month to be considered rich. That corresponds to a gross annual salary in the six-figure range – just as the two founders of Aqon Pure pay themselves. They broke the mark of 10,000 euros a month for the first time in January 2022. However, the two started with just 450 euros a month.
When the two started at Aqon Pure in 2018, “there was no money to finance higher salaries,” says founder Maximilian Wilk in an interview with Gründerszene. “So we had to bring in more money to be able to pay for it ourselves.” And that’s what they did: while sales of their product five years ago, according to their own statements, were still 50,000 euros, last year it was already over ten million euros, with a profit of over one million euros.
“High salary is justified and corresponds to work performance”
And that justifies their own high salary in the six-figure range, as the founders say. “That corresponds to our work performance and our effort,” says Maximilian Wilk. “As long as the profits continue to grow, our high salary is justified and can also be a little more generous than in a classic start-up. When bad times come, we resign or pay ourselves less salary.”