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 […]
What’s the Difference Between Founder Shares and Founder Shares for Current Job at a Startup?
One of our most frequently asked questions is about founder shares — specifically, what’s the difference between founder shares and equity granted for current job?In this week’s PC Data Drop, we’re giving you the answer using a real-time CEO data table pulled directly from the Thelander platform — filtered for companies with $50M–$89.9M in total […]
AI Pay Premiums in 3 Charts: How To Compensate Top AI Talent
AI Pay Premiums for Software Engineers and Data Scientists: 2026 Data
CMO Compensation at Private Companies: What It Takes to Land a Top Chief Medical Officer
CMO compensation at private companies is climbing as the role becomes one of the most competitive executive searches in life science. What’s a trending role for private life science companies right now? CMOs. Last week, we hosted a Lunch & Learn webinar (video below) with Cissy Young, PhD (楊 詩華), Managing Director True Search, and […]
Equity Refresh Grants: When and How Often to Refresh Options
Equity is one of the most powerful compensation levers available to privately held companies AKA startups. We get asked weekly: How do equity refreshes work? In this week’s PC data drop, we’re breaking down what equity refresh grants are, when companies actually use them, and how to make them sustainable and strategic. All data is […]