Compensation Foundation
A lot is riding on your ability to get compensation right
When it comes to setting a strong foundation for managing people costs, Sequoia’s comp advisors are renowned for helping you design, govern, and communicate compensation strategies that scale.
Why trust your comp strategy to anyone but Sequoia?
Whether you’re a startup planning for your first strategic hires or a maturing business in need of course correction, Sequoia ensures your compensation program is aligned to your goals and helping you get the most out of your investment in people.
- Deliver on your people promise with comp advisors who help you develop a foundation that protects your runway, retains talent, and meets your board’s expectations.
- Always look through the lens of total comp and benefits so that every dollar you spend drives retention, performance, and investor confidence.
- Leverage an integrated platform that uses predictive modeling, real-time benchmarking insights, and your own program data for smarter people-spend insights.
Build a comp foundation that's scalable and balanced
Comp Philosophy
- Define the purpose and guiding principles of your compensation program
- Define your competitive labor market based on a number of factors
- Finely tune your pay and equity relative to the market
- Confidence in compliance and governance
Job Architecture
- Organize, structure, and standardize internal jobs up, down, and across the organization
- Define job functions and families
- Define career tracks and levels
- Develop assessment criteria for career pathing and evaluation
- Review and/or define current target percentiles
- Conduct informed workforce planning and succession planning with projected headcount budget
- Partner with the Compensation Committee to get buy-in and approval
Cash-Equity Balancing
- Optimize spend through a balanced approach to pay and equity
- Establish practices around the use of short- and long-term incentives
- Determine how individual and company performance come into play
- Develop equity grant guidelines for new hires and refreshes
- Request new share pool approvals from the board
- Define how to split shares for different roles
Compliance
- Stay ahead of pay regulations and governance
- Create a structured framework as the basis for equitable pay decisions
- Easily monitor pay range adherence and complete audits
- Build pay transparency into your culture
Flexible solutions for smarter compensation strategies
Sequoia delivers our compensation expertise through right-sized solutions that cater to the unique needs of investor-backed companies of all sizes – from emerging startups to global enterprises.
Advisory Solutions
Outsourcing Solutions
Platform Solutions
Impacting client success,
from emerging startup to household name
Explore how forward-thinking companies partner with Sequoia to achieve their business goals — from optimizing comp packages, to streamlining benefits administration, to elevating employee experiences.
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2025 Employee Benefits Trends for Tech Companies
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