{"id":698381,"date":"2025-11-09T12:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T09:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-startups-can-lure-good-talent-fairly-without-big-tech-bank-accounts-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T12:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T09:55:10","slug":"how-startups-can-lure-good-talent-fairly-without-big-tech-bank-accounts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-startups-can-lure-good-talent-fairly-without-big-tech-bank-accounts-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How startups can lure good talent\u00a0fairly without big tech bank accounts\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Startups have never been able to offer the same sizable salaries as big tech companies. Now with companies like Meta<\/a> and OpenAI<\/a> willing to pay million-dollar salaries amid the AI race \u2014 the compensation divide has grown even larger.<\/p>\n

Early-stage startups are not doomed though. If they develop a compensation strategy that is generous, fair, and flexible, they can offer competitive compensation packages and give themselves room to adjust their app<\/a>roach as they grow, according to founders and experts who were onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.<\/p>\n

Startups shouldn\u2019t try to compete with big tech companies anyway, Yin Wu, the co-founder and CEO of equity management software Pulley, said on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in October. She added that a stable tech company and a startup don\u2019t general<\/a>ly attract the same potential candidates to begin with.<\/p>\n

Startups should instead be as charitable as they can in their compensation packages, Wu said, regardless of their inability to match a big tech company\u2019s paycheck.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy pretty strong opinion when it comes to equity for a startup is that you should be more generous than what you think you should be,\u201d Wu said. \u201cI think it is unlikely, if the company is really successful, you\u2019re going to look back and say, \u2018man, I gave away too much equity of everyone that was at my company trying to make this company really successful.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Randi Jakubowitz, the head of talent at 645 Ventures, agreed. Jakubowitz added that when a startup is looking to make a competitive offer, they should set clear goals for the person they are hiring to ensure that hire lives up to the compensation they are getting.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake sure you\u2019re holding them accountable and make sure that you understand what the implications are from a vesting cliff standpoint,\u201d Jakubowitz said, regarding when employees gain control over their equity stakes. \u201cThat\u2019s where, if you don\u2019t move quickly if someone\u2019s underperforming, that\u2019s equity that you\u2019ll never get back if they are fully vested. Make sure that there\u2019s very clear accountability. \u201c<\/p>\n

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Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The panelists also stressed that companies don\u2019t need to get their compensation and equity strategies set in stone from the start. Startups should instead ensure their approach is fair from the beginning, so even if they do want to change, they have the proper foundation to do so without setting themselves up for legal trouble or soured office politics.<\/p>\n

For Wu, and her company Pulley, that meant setting standards around compensation packages. Wu said the company pays a set range for each role \u2014 regardless of where a potential employee is based \u2014 and consistently builds compensation packages with equity offerings in the 90th percentile.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving this framework allowed us to be able to grow and say \u2018great, as the company continues to do well, the actual number of shares you receive is going to differ because the value the companies differ, but that framework is still applied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca Lee Whiting, founder of Epigram Legal and fractional general counsel, added that having these standards will help companies avoid potential legal pitfalls down the line. For instance, it helps companies avoid offering unequal pay across candidates of different genders \u2014 which is something all companies should try to avoid ethically \u2014 but is also illegal in states like California, Whiting noted.<\/p>\n

Whiting, Wu and, Jakubowitz all agreed that as long as founders approach building their compensation packages with fair intentions, everything else can be adjusted or changed down the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really important to think about not just that process. Think about who are the people you\u2019re trying to hire and what is going to incentivize them to take that offer,\u201d Whiting said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that you have to get right out of the gate. You will likely have to do clean up post the Series<\/a> B and acknowledging that is okay. But don\u2019t try and get it perfect out of the out of the gate when you\u2019re hiring your first few people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Startups have never been able to offer the same sizable salaries as big tech companies. Now with companies like Meta and OpenAI willing to pay million-dollar salaries amid the AI race \u2014 the compensation divide has grown even larger. Early-stage startups are not doomed though. If they develop a compensation strategy that is generous, fair,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":698382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Comp-panel.jpg?resize=1200,800","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[159500,14178,79365,141199,159501,159502,70917,151454,153868,67874,151477],"class_list":["post-698381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-645-ventures","tag-equity","tag-evergreen","tag-openai","tag-pulley","tag-startup-equity","tag-startups","tag-tc","tag-techcrunch-disrupt-2025","tag-united-states","tag-venture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}