Startup Compensation Benchmarks: The 7 Hires You Need to Get Right
A few weeks ago, we read an a16z newsletter on the “7 hires a hardware startup needs to get right” that outlined the seven functions (besides engineering) that determines whether a “great product ever becomes a great business.” Which include: Manufacturing, Deployments, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales, Policy and Marketing. And while the piece described how to find […]
What does a Chief of Staff make at Venture Capital firms?
If you’ve been scrolling LinkedIn and you’re in the private capital market, chances are you’ve seen firms hiring for a Chief of Staff (CoS). Since we added the title into the Thelander-PitchBook Investment Firm Compensation Survey in 2023, not only have we seen the number of respondents surge, but the compensation too. At what point […]
QSBS Eligibility: How Investment Firms Track It
Carried Interest & Management Fees Report Have you participated in the Thelander-PitchBook Investment Firm Compensation Survey yet? Secure your complimentary Carried Interest & Management Fees Report when you complete your response by August 17th. Click here to participate. Exclusive Preview From the 2026 Report So far, more than half of respondents keep track of which investments […]
Biotech CEO Compensation: The Real Inflection Point
The real inflection point in biotech CEO compensation isn’t between early and late clinical trials. It’s the leap from pre-clinical to clinical. In this data drop, pulled directly from the Thelander Platform, we looked at how median total cash, founder and non-founder equity changes across biotech stages of development. Pre-Clinical → ClinicalMedian total cash: $329,067 […]
AI in Venture Capital and Private Equity: How Firms Differ
Using data from the Thelander AI in VC report (available on the Thelander Platform for no charge), we looked at how AI in venture capital and private equity is being used in very different ways — and the data shows a clean split by firm type. VC firms are more likely to use AI for […]
Venture Capital Compensation by Role: What the Data Actually Shows
Any day Thelander data is used in a Halle Tecco, MPH, MBA blog post is a good day. Halle updated her post on “The Many Roles at a Venture Fund — And How to Land Them” with real-time (& exclusive) compensation data from the Thelander platform for six job titles. We customized the data by […]
Investment Firm Compensation: What Associates and Managing Directors Are Making
In honor of America’s 250th birthday, we’re sharing real-time comp data (straight from the Thelander platform) for all investment firms with $250 – $499M AUM and a most recent fund of $250 – $499M. Here’s what Associates & Managing Directors / Partners are making: Chart #1: AssociatesTotal cash ranges from $133,750 at the 25th percentile […]
Operations Managers Pay is Up 31% – Here’s Why
As venture rounds get bigger and the sub-$5M round disappears (PitchBook), it’s changed the way that companies recruit and retain talent – and the YoY compensation data is changing as a result. Take Operations Managers at companies that have raised less than $15 Million. Median total cash compensation has increased from $87,500 in 2022 to […]
What Talent Partners at Venture Capital Firms Are Making
Venture capital firms are increasingly building out dedicated talent teams to help portfolio companies hire executives and scale their teams, a model long used by CVC Units. As these roles have become more strategic, compensation has followed. We dug into the Thelander YoY dataset (available through an investment firm subscription) to see what Talent Partners […]
Private company M&A activity is up. Is your company prepared? Find out in 2 charts.
Global M&A hit a historic milestone in Q1 2026. According to PitchBook, “total deal value reaching an estimated $1.6 trillion—a new quarterly record—up 50.6% YoY despite a backdrop of trade policy uncertainty, geopolitical tension, and AI-driven disruption risk.” North America led the way, and “liquidity remains abundant with buyers and sellers finding terms.” With M&A […]