Startup Founders Who Do You Hire First

Startup founders - who do your peers hire first?

It's startup compensation week here at Carta - I've dedicated all the insights this week to the ins and outs of compensation (salary, equity, team structure, all of it).

On Wednesday, we'll release of the 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 report - 30 charts covering startup comp from every angle. Get it in your inbox here: https://lnkd.in/gNa_Dk-F

So to the chart below. We all know startups run on engineers and sales people (builder and sellers), especially in the early stages. But what about the long list of other functions?

Turns out many startups leave departments like Design, HR, Finance, and Legal unbuilt for some time.

Among startups valued from $1M-$50M using Carta Total Comp:

• Only about 37% have a dedicated Design team member

• 28% have an HR person

• 21% have a Data colleague

• Only 7.5%(!) have a Legal professional

Of course these jobs are still being done. Perhaps some full-time employees are shouldering extra responsibilities. Perhaps the company utilizes fractional execs, or consultant services.

Either way, startup org charts remain quite streamlined until valuations are already robust.

#cartadata #startups #teamsize #functions #departments