If you were hoping for a drama-free Q1, better luck next year. 2023 is off with a bang, and it feels like an industrywide staring contest to see who blinks first. Behind the scenes though, companies are still doing what they need to do to grow and compete, and we found ourselves quite busy these last months. As we compiled all of the results from our 2022 Digital Health Compensation Study (if you missed participating in this last one, make sure to participate in the Fall!), we saw a familiar thread of confusion around equity among startup participants. So Polina Hanin took some time this quarter to unpack this elusive and yet critical component of startup compensation, in the hopes of bringing some clarity to the subject. We also dive in to some things to consider if you’re contemplating a move from a bigger company into a growth stage setting, and were also excited to sit down with Derek Baird, the CEO of our newest portfolio investment – Switchboard Health – for an exciting chat about what he’s building. If we didn’t see you at Vive, hopefully we’ll find another excuse soon!

— Tim

EQUITY: VALUE VS. VANITY

OK, we’re going to own up to something here… Every client asks us “what’s the market equity percent for this role.” Our comp study includes pages and pages of equity benchmarks sliced and diced by functions, levels, capital, etc. But the more we dug into the question and the more conversations we had, we recognized that percentages are likely not the best way to think about equity benchmarking because it sets a narrative that focuses the conversation on ownership versus value. Equity is a scarce resource for a company, no matter how much you’re sharing. Even more importantly, we’ve seen in our annual compensation study, that fewer individuals know how much they have on a percentage basis as a company grows. What matters more is the actual economic value.

An Interview with Derek Baird – CEO of SWITCHBOARD Health

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE LEAVING A BIG COMPANY FOR A START UP

Ahh, the mystique and allure of a startup.  Is it getting in on the ground floor, surrounded by brilliant people that want to hustle and change the world?  Or is it the proximity to the mission and the impact you have every single day?  The pull is strong, and understandably so – when it works, it’s a professionally transformative experience, and maybe a financially transformative one too.  But as with anything, and any career choice, understanding what you’re walking into is critical to making an informed decision and setting yourself up for success.