Comp Philosophy
- In startups, it is cliche to talk about the importance of your people and your culture. We not only agree with this cliche, but we actually think it is more true than most people appreciate, because it is a cliche. Because many companies emphasize the importance of hiring and retaining the best people, we know that it is not enough for us to agree with everyone. To be top 1%, we have to do something different. There is no magic formula or silver bullet, but we seek to differentiate ourselves by putting more thought and effort into our team and culture than others. Having a transparent, fair, and simple compensation philosophy is one part of that.
- We’re building an all-star team, so we are generous with compensation. Our goal is to achieve as much as possible with as few teammates as possible – maintaining a leaner team allows us to move quickly and pay well.
- Our philosophy is that base compensation is for living and equity is for upside. We work hard and want the best people, so we want you to be able to live comfortably and give your all to Nourish without worrying about living expenses. And then we want to be extra generous with equity so you can share in the success of Nourish — we know that’s part of the excitement of joining a startup.
- Therefore, we anchor above market on cash for startups at our stage (75th percentile). For equity, we also go above and beyond what’s normal (75th percentile). Tactically, our process when making offers is to pull comp data for your role and experience for startups at our stage / valuation / funding. We pick ~75th percentile on cash and ~75th percentile+ on equity.
- We really encourage you to do your own research and find data points for similar startups to see for yourself whether our offer is fair. And if you’re seeing something different or have preferences that we should consider, let us know! This is part art, part science.
- Once you are with Nourish, we give generous raises to top performers — retaining Nourishers is as important (if not more important) as bringing in new Nourishers. Inevitably, we will not be perfect at hiring; in cases where it is not a good fit, we seek to part ways amicably and quickly — this means providing generous severance and support in finding another role.
- We believe employment offers should represent how we value each individual’s skill set and experience, not based on a person's negotiating skills. We bias toward being very generous with equity — startups are risky, and we want you to share in the upside. We know equity can be confusing, so we want to make sure you understand how options / vesting / dilution / liquidity work — let’s discuss, and don’t be shy to ask questions!
Benefits