Stop Building Sinking Ships

Last week esteemed fellow Comp Café writer, Stephanie Thomas, Ph.D., wrote an article asking, “Should You Scrap Your Long-Term Incentive...

Entertaining Ways to Apply Executive Pay Rules

Executive compensation is always in the spotlight. The pay levels for the highest paid executive can truly be astounding to...

Compounding Our Pay Problems

The pay ratios between CEOs and average employees are once again in the news. This is partly because proxy season...

Startup Equity: Staying Private in a Public World (Part 11 in an n part series)

It is readily accepted that an IPO is Nirvana to a startup. Of course, a fantabulous acquisition will also work...

Startup Equity: What About Performance? (Part 10 of an n part series)

“But, how do I make sure that the person is a great performer before I am forced to give them...

Startup Equity: Three Crucial Variables (Part 9 of an n part series)

Startup equity has approximately a gazillion moving parts. But three of these variables are far more important than all of...

Startup Equity: No. They Don’t Get It. (Part 8 of an n part series)

During a recent presentation I did for industry professionals, an attendee claimed that his employees didn’t need additional education on...

Startup Equity: The Most Common Mistake (Part 7 of an n part series)

Here is my 2017 gift to you. I truly believe that equity compensation helped build the technology industry, and therefore...

Startup Equity: Isn’t It Refreshing? (maybe not) – (Part 6 of an n part series)

The historically long periods between the startup and “big event” for companies has given rise to many issues that were...

Startup Equity: Synthetic Equity or Sharing Without Sharing (Part 5 of an n part series)

When you hear “equity compensation” and startups, you immediately think of stock options. More recently RSUs (restricted stock units that...