Contrasting Compensation Practices in Startups and Venture Capital

Jess Blomfield, Head of People at Airtree, shares insights on compensation practices in startups and VC-backed companies.

She highlights the importance of fairness, competitive market rates, regular salary reviews, legal compliance, and financial sustainability as critical considerations in startup compensation practices.

Jess also emphasises the need for flexibility, aligning compensation with performance, and adopting a total rewards approach. She talks about the importance for Heads of People to start building and iterating good compensation practices from day one and to consider the trade-offs of flexible compensation models.