The startup I work for as a low level executive just closed Series B in the past 3 months after a successful series A last year or the year before.
Our customer base has grown about 800% and along with that so have the amount I have to work, manage, and responsibilities.
I’m already getting paid pretty well, maybe 50k less than market - but would it be appropriate to ask for a compensation review after Series B? Or do boards / investors not like to see new Series money going to increasing existing engineers / executives pay?
I’m just working so much (10-12hr days, 6-7 days a week) and pretty much on call 24/7 which has only grown with our growth.
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If you joined this startup now, what would you expect?
Whenever asking for salary adjustments what you should make a list of your accomplishments since last time and how they have contributed to the company success. Be as specific as possible with what your contribution was.
You want them to realize that spending $100k on you makes them 5x that much.
Also, maybe document inflation as well if they haven’t adjusted for that in a while.
50K less than market is well?
For a startup it is
Get as much as possible. VC is a gun to your head.
I know this doesn’t answer your question (others have nailed it already- you should get a bump with new funding, especially if you’re under market already) but I would highly recommend cutting back the hours.
Its a delicate balance to reel it back in (as shitty as it sounds, some will see you go from 12 hours to 8 hours and feel like you’re checked out) but its so worth it.
I work in enterprise saas sales. Its can be a brutal grind. I did the 12 hours a day thing and about 3 years ago, I supernova’d. It has (not joking) taken me 2 years to get back to the point where I feel unstressed and able to enjoy life.
So, just chiming in to say- don’t work yourself to death for any amount of money, take your vacations, and don’t forget to enjoy life. 😊
It’s absolutely worth the request. Can’t guarantee the outcome. But if things are up and to the right, investors don’t have a lot of reason to apply pressure about these things. They’re just along for the ride.
Whatever financial models and hiring plans they reviewed in due diligence before investing likely already forecasted internal promotions into that plan. In fact, if the founders didn’t for some reason, that would be a good opportunity for an investor to demonstrate value but dropping a lecture on the importance of team culture and employee retention, even if its only lip service to them in practice.
The bigger issue you’re likely to run into is that your HR team is likely young and small… two, maybe three people now? They likely have to double or triple the organization’s headcount with this round of funding. Their first goal will be to formalize new employee onboarding, then secondly make high priority hires, and thirdly standardize promotion schedules.
Either way its probably a good time to make the inquiry, but it could be another 6-12 months before they get their ducks in a row and you get your pay bump.