Stop looking for "The Number." It doesn't exist.
- Scott Hoffhines
- Jan 14
- 2 min read
"Market Rate" is a misleading term.
It implies there is a specific sticker price for talent. Like a gallon of milk. Leaders often think they can just look up "VP of Engineering" and find a single answer.
But in the real world, compensation data isn't a price tag. It is a scatter plot.
If you pull the raw data, you will see a massive range for the exact same job title. Why? Because the "market" is a messy mix of bootstrapped startups (paying in equity) and Big Tech giants (paying in cash).
If you average them all together, you get a number that is meaningless to everyone.
The Reality: You don't find your market rate. You choose it based on your stage.
Here is the "Stage-Based" cheat sheet to help you pick your lane:
The Builders (Seed - Series A) Philosophy: High Upside The Target: Low Cash (25th %) | High Equity (75th %) The Why: You aren't hiring for safety; you are hiring missionaries who want the exit.
The Scalers (Series B - C) Philosophy: Stability The Target: Balanced (50th % on Cash & Equity) The Why: You need to hire people with mortgages who can't take a pay cut, but still want skin in the game.
The Giants (Late Stage / Public) Philosophy: Retention The Target: High Cash (75th %) | Steady Equity The Why: Your equity doesn't have 10x potential anymore, so you have to compete on salary.
The Bottom Line: If you are a Series A startup trying to compete with Netflix on base salary, you will burn out. If you are a Public company trying to pay Series A salaries, you will lose your talent.
Stop asking "What does the market pay?" Start asking "Where do we play?"
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