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 Investor Option Pool: Why Valuation Matters More Than Share Size
In our last piece, we looked at how the founder share of a company’s option pool shrinks as valuations rise — and what that actually means in dollar terms. This week, we’re looking at the investor option pool: what that growth actually means, and why the dynamics of the investor pool are fundamentally different from […]
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, […]
Venture Capital Compensation Trends: Roles Funds Are Betting On
When we asked Perplexity what was going on in Venture Capital this week, it said that venture was in its “value creation” era — and when we looked at the year-over-year venture capital compensation trends on the Thelander platform, we understood why. We pulled the roles with the biggest jumps in median total cash since […]
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, […]
Investment Firm Bonus Structure
Investment firm bonus structure varies widely across PE and VC firms — and understanding how bonuses are set is critical for attracting and retaining top talent. In case you missed our IF Data Drop last week, we’re expanding on how firms structure bonuses for their investment teams. The first major consideration is whether a bonus […]
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 […]