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
11:21 Post-Cycle Retrospectives and Focus Groups
13:21 Testing Employee Understanding of Compensation Philosophy
14:23 Helping Employees Understand Pay Equity and Positioning
16:26 Conclusion and Key Takeaways
Connect with Vaso
Visit: ravio.com
https://linkedin.com/in/vaso-parisinou-4368b515/?originalSubdomain=uk
Company Mentioned:
Ravio - Compensation benchmarking platform where Vaso works as an expert in startup compensation cycles
Key Concepts Discussed:
Merit matrices and pay-for-performance frameworks
Compensation ratio management within salary bands
Non-monetary reward strategies including sabbaticals
Focus group methodologies for compensation retrospectives
Pay equity visualization and transparency
More FNDN Episodes:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4GeBIeZOKrFxG1oiiPxmiM
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fndn-series/id1794263484
