If you are searching for an experienced entrepreneur (not a good idea - see above post) you cannot expect to pay him a 2K pre-tax salary. As far as I know, an immigrant gets almost the same amount for low-level jobs. If you substract the living expenses, you will end up with almost nothing. Maybe you should try Eastern Europe countries for a salary like that, unfortunately racism is off the charts in UK lately so that's not an option. I have a business in the UK also and even though my employees from EE are really smart they are still rejected by the british community.