Three Questions About Startup Compensation Answered With Data

3 burning questions being asked around startup compensation right now...

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟭: 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴?

A: Not really. Check out the attached chart - the % change in average salary for basically every startup function was flat/down between Aug and Nov 2022. That's after some really strong growth earlier in 2022, according to Carta data.

𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝗤: 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

Bonus A: Compensation is driven primarily off of cost-of-labor rather than cost-of-living. The two often move in tandem, but this is a moment where they haven't. 😐

𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘵 - 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? https://lnkd.in/g2dM-HbG

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮: 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴?

A: New York ones! And those in Seattle. Texas startups are much more reluctant, it turns out. But remote is also dependent on industry. Biotech companies tend towards in-person cultures right now, while SaaS has more fully embraced remote.

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟯: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗹?

A: In many ways - but a few of the most salient are:

• Exec comp is a much more national market (especially Series C and beyond). Not much of a discount if you hire in Salt Lake vs SF, for instance

• Exec salaries are holding up relatively better than general salaries

• Exec comp is more often tied to the performance of the business (in a way that employee comp is not - think bonuses for specific ARR targets, etc)

These stellar inquiries were sourced from the over 230(!) submitted questions at Wednesday's State of Startup Compensation webinar. Grateful to the thousands of you who attended the webinar, read our report, and kept the conversation lively.

#cartadata #compensation #startups #salaries #remote #execsearch #inflation