Startup Tech Compensation Trends: IT Manager Pay Has Nearly Doubled. Software Engineer Pay Hasn’t.
Last week, Katherine Bindley from The Wall Street Journal published an article on “The Tech Jobs That Are Safe From AI.” She reported that senior IT and computer science job postings are up YoY – while entry level postings are down – which motivated us to look whether the same was true for compensation at […]
Pay Transparency Is Exposing a Bigger Problem: Private Companies Can’t Explain Why They Pay What They Pay
In a Fortune article published this week on the pay gap and pay transparency, the takeaway wasn’t that companies aren’t sharing pay — it’s that they can’t explain it. Private companies with fewer than 200 employees need a salary structure with total cash and equity ranges. And sure, having a job architecture and salary structure […]
The Founder’s Guide to Talent, Capital & Compensation
A strong startup compensation strategy isn’t just a financing exercise — it’s how founders attract the leaders who turn science into value. In this webinar, J. Thelander Consulting founder and CEO Jody Thelander was joined by Chris Garabedian, Joanna & Ellen of JM Search, who co-lead the firm’s biopharma practice, to discuss how founders, boards, […]
The AI Equity Premium: What the Data Shows Across Private Tech and Life Science Companies
In Carta‘s State of Startup Compensation Report, they said that “the dominance of AI is shaping how founders build and compensate their teams.” AI equity compensation is rising — but is it rising equally across every industry? In Michael Bodley‘s article digging into the report, he noted that initial equity grants for individual contributors on […]
Private Company (Startup) Compensation: Equity 101
Startup equity compensation is one of the most powerful levers a private company has — and one of the easiest to get wrong if you don’t plan for it early. In this 30-minute Comp Talks session, J. Thelander Consulting founder and CEO Jody Thelander sat down with Alessandra Murata, a partner in the compensation and […]
The Option Pool Paradox: Why Higher Valuations Don’t Always Pay Off
We’re taking last week’s analysis one step further: what do those different option pool sizes actually mean in dollar terms? The short answer is that a higher valuation doesn’t automatically translate into a better outcome for founders. A smaller slice of a bigger pie can — and sometimes does — mean less money in your […]
Startup Option Pool by Valuation: How Pools Shift as Companies Grow
With the slew of new data that came out of the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor r this week, startup option pool by valuation has been on our mind. So, we dug into the Thelander Option Pool Report (available on the Thelander Platform) to see how rising valuations changed the makeup of the option pool between founders, […]
Private Company Non-Investor Board Member Compensation Data
Independent board members bring industry expertise and valuable networks to the table — and attracting the right ones means knowing what the market pays. So, how does private company non-investor board member compensation actually work? Is it a mix of cash and equity? According to Thelander, yes. And does it change as companies grow? Again, […]
Startup Compensation Strategy: A 4-Step Roadmap From Ad Hoc Offers to Defined Bands
Every founder eventually asks the same question about their startup compensation strategy: “Do I need a real compensation strategy or can I wing it?” Here’s a 4-step roadmap for when and how to move from ad hoc offers to defined bands and levels. 1. What is a “real” compensation infrastructure? A compensation infrastructure means building […]
“How big should our option pool be?”
Welcome back to the Thelander Digest. This month, we are digging into one of the most important elements for a startup: the option pool. Whether you’re setting one up for the first time, preparing for your next round of fundraising or rethinking your equity strategy as you scale, getting the option pool right has the long-term […]