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Matt McFarlane and Nav Rao deep dive into the often-overlooked topic of burnout among startup employees, moving beyond just founders. Nav candidly shares his personal experiences with chronic depression and burning out across six organizations, distinguishing burnout from mere tiredness. They discuss catalysts such as bureaucracy, apathy, and the pressure of chronic positivity, emphasizing both personal ambition and organizational culture in preventing exhaustion in high-pressure startup environments. The conversation also highlights the critical need to support all employees, not just founders.
Description: 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 Shelley Johnson, Founder of Boldside and former HR leader, we explore how to build effective leadership capabilities from the ground up - both for developing yourself as a leader and creating systems to develop others. We dive deep into why most HR issues are actually upstream leadership problems, the importance of l...
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 Sarika Lamont, VP of People and Culture at Vidyard, we tackle the most challenging compensation conversations that people leaders face. From delivering "no raise" news to high performers during budget constraints, to navigating pay transparency questions about salary differences between new hires and existing employees, Sarika sh...
Description: 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 Sarika Lamont, Vice President of People & Culture at Vidyard, we explore how to customize and personalize compensation in today's challenging economic environment. We dive into the art of persona mapping for compensation design, discuss how five generations in the workforce have vastly different priorities, and e...
Description: Welcome back to the FNDN Series, join us as we continue our deep dive into startup compensation with industry leaders from across the startup world. In our conversation with Sarika Lamont, VP of People and Culture at Vidyard, we explore how AI is transforming the people function beyond just tools and automation. Sarika shares her unique journey from leading people operations to spearheading AI adoption across her entire organization, revealing practical strategies for reducing admin...
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 ...
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 Shirley Baumer, Co-Founder at Dream Team, we explore how to transform people's team by applying product-led principles in practice. We discuss practical strategies for starting small with MVPs, implementing agile ceremonies for HR teams, and leveraging AI to free up time for strategic impact. Shirley shares actionable frameworks ...
Why the Best People Teams Think Like Product Teams - Part 1 with Shirley Baumer Co-founder at Dream Team Description: Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we continue our deep dive into startup people topics with industry leaders from across the startup world. In our conversation with Shirley Baumer, Co-founder at Dream Team and former Product Manager at Monday.com, we explore how people teams can adopt product-led thinking to drive real business impact. Shirley shares insights from her journe...
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 Andrew Bartlow, HR Executive and Consultant with 30 years of experience, we tackle the controversial question of whether engagement surveys are effective tools for measuring compensation satisfaction. Andrew shares his candid perspective on why asking compensation questions in engagement surveys creates more problems than solutio...
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 Andrew, an HR veteran with 30 years of experience including CHRO roles at S&P 500 companies, we explore how to maximize compensation impact when resources are constrained. Andrew shares his insights on the power of differentiation in compensation, the importance of realistic performance distributions, and why tough conversati...
Description: 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 Andrew Bartlow, a seasoned HR professional with 30 years of experience and current PE operating partner, we demystify how private equity really works and explore the powerful but lesser-known world of profit interests. Andrew breaks down common PE misconceptions, explains how profit interests differ from traditional ...
Most startups treat their compensation philosophy like a finished product once it’s written. But what happens after the doc is done? In this episode of the FNDN Series, Matt McFarlane speaks with Vaso, Chief People Officer at Ravio, about the real work of operationalising comp philosophies — turning them into systems employees actually experience and understand. Drawing from her time scaling Deliveroo and TrueLayer, Vaso shares frameworks for handling exceptions, building manager muscle, correct...
Description: Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we continue our deep dive into startup compensation with industry leaders from across the startup world. In third conversation with Aubrey Blanche-Serellano, Founder of The MathPath and former VP at Culture Amp, we tackle the uncomfortable truth that most companies either lack a compensation philosophy or have one that's completely ineffective. Aubrey breaks down why most comp philosophies fail, how to design one that actually attracts and reta...
Will AI Fix Compensation — or Just Make It Worse, Faster? with Aubrey Blanche-Serellano, Founder at The MathPath Description: 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 Aubrey Blanche-Serellano, Founder of The MathPath and former VP at Culture Amp, we explore the transformative potential of AI in compensation—and its risks. We dive into how AI could revolutionize pay equi...
Description: 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 Aubrey Blanche- Serellano, Founder of MathPath and former VP at Culture Amp, we unpack the critical misconceptions around the gender pay gap and explore what it actually measures versus what most people think it represents. We dive deep into Culture Amp's achievement of having the smallest gender pay gap among their ...
We explore how storytelling transforms compensation strategy in our third conversation with Naomi Trickey, Chief People Officer at Mews. Discover why compensation isn't just spreadsheets and numbers—it's about creating a narrative that builds trust, drives engagement, and makes complex compensation frameworks resonate with employees. Learn how infusing empathy and strategic storytelling into your compensation approach can help navigate difficult conversations and create a more human-centered pay...
Description: Join Matt McFarlane in this FNDN Series as he delves into the second conversation with Naomi Trickey, Chief People Officer at Mews. In this informative episode, they discuss the challenges of sustaining effective compensation practices during rapid growth phases, the importance of creating robust compensation frameworks, indicators of when compensation structures need reevaluation, and the strategic relationship between compensation transparency and employee trust. This episode prov...
Description: 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 Naomi Trickey, Chief People Officer at Mews, we explore how ERG (Employee Resource Group) work drives long-term business value, especially as ESGDI initiatives face increasing scrutiny. We examine how compensation structures must align with business objectives and the critical importance of building a solid business ...
Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we continue our exploration of startup compensation with Melissa Theiss, Head of People at Kit and founder of Fledge. In this fourth episode of our conversation, we dive deep into one of the most operationally critical yet often overlooked responsibilities for people leaders—budgeting for the annual compensation cycle. We break down the five essential compensation buckets every startup should consider, discuss how to build a strong partnership with your fin...
Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we continue our deep dive into startup compensation with Melissa Theiss, Head of People at Kit and founder of Fledge. In this third episode of our conversation, we unpack a hot topic in the startup world—are personal bonuses worth the trouble they cause? We explore how to transform bonuses from expected entitlements into true motivators, design programs that drive performance without creating resentment, and implement profit-sharing that connects employee s...
Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we continue our discussions with Melissa Theiss, Head of People at Kit and founder of Fledge. In this second episode, we dig deep into one of the thorniest challenges startups face as they grow—how to build a job structure that scales without killing agility. We explore progression steps, title frameworks, when to introduce levels, and practical strategies for implementing job architecture while managing expectations. If you enjoyed our previous conversatio...
Welcome back to the FNDN Series, where we dive deep into startup compensation with industry leaders from across the startup world. In this episode, we yarn with Melissa Theiss, Head of People at Kit and founder of Fledge, an HR consultancy helping people leaders think like business leaders. We explore how startups can reject cookie-cutter compensation models, build a comp philosophy that's truly fit for purpose, and implement principle-led decision making. Melissa brings her sharp commercial len...
Description Welcome back to the FNDN Series, join us as we speak with Adam Horne, co-founder of OpenOrg, about how transparency can transform company culture. With 14+ years of experience building startups, Adam shares practical insights on implementing pay transparency, connecting performance to compensation, and building trust through clear communication. In this episode, we explore why both young and experienced employees value transparency, how to handle pay equity challenges, and simple ste...
In this episode of the FNDN Series, we delve into startup compensation strategies with guest Jessica Zwaan, a seasoned COO and author of 'Built for People.' We examine how applying product management principles can revolutionise People operations. Jesse shares insights from practical experiences, emphasising the importance of a market-informed approach to compensation and the dangers of freezing compensation in times of financial strain. We discuss ways to build compensation models that foster t...
Learn how Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn's first CHRO, scaled the company from 400 to 4,000 employees in 3.5 years by redefining startup compensation, cultivating a standout culture, and outmaneuvering Silicon Valley's biggest talent competitors.
Discover how Immutable's Head of People, Ami Patel, tackled startup compensation challenges by blending transparency, data-driven strategies, and a pay-for-talent philosophy to build trust and support a high-performance culture — as well as what to do when your nascent industry has no benchmarking data.
In this interview, Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta, shares his expert insights on building effective startup equity programs, navigating global compensation challenges, and the evolving role of People Operations in driving transparency and alignment in today’s economic landscape.
Mark Frein, COO of Oyster HR, shares his insights on building transparent, fair, and scalable compensation frameworks for startups, emphasising the importance of clear communication and alignment with company values.
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...
