Designing Your First Compensation Cycle with Vaso Parisinou

Nov 3, 2025

17:14

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Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we continue our deep dive into startup compensation with industry leaders from across the startup world. In our conversation with Vaso Parisinou we tackle one of the most challenging aspects of early-stage people operations: designing and executing your first compensation cycle. We explore the critical steps from data preparation to employee communication, discussing how to build sustainable frameworks that reward performance while maintaining fairness and transparency. Vaso shares practical strategies for creating merit matrices, handling high performers at the top of salary bands, and incorporating non-monetary rewards like sabbaticals. Keep watching to discover the essential roadmap for getting your startup's first compensation cycle right and setting the foundation for future success.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to FNDN Series and Today's Topic

01:12 The Challenge of First Compensation Cycles: Getting Support

01:47 Key Milestones for Compensation Cycle Planning

01:58 Starting with Clean Data and Proper Scaffolding

05:03 Creating Merit Matrices for Pay-for-Performance Philosophy

05:59 Handling Different Performance Levels and Band Positions

06:45 Breaking Salary Bands: When and Why It Makes Sense

07:44 Avoiding Performance Demotivation Through Rigid Limits

08:00 Balancing Egalitarian Values with Performance Rewards

09:07 Non-Monetary Rewards: Spot Bonuses and Sabbaticals

10:15 Offering Choice: Tailoring Rewards to Individual Preferences