Today's Edition

• Sequoia Investor Portal: Exec Benchmarking Built for VCs

• Webinar: 2025 Comp & Equity Trends

• Sequoia’s Compensation & Equity Survey

🤝 Sequoia Investor Portal: Exec Benchmarking Built for VCs

Almost daily I receive emails from VCs asking for comp & equity benchmarks. It seems there’s a ton of data out there… but it’s not always easily accessible, relevant to their vertical, or easy to decipher.

For that reason, I’m REALLY excited about this one: next Wednesday, October 30th at 11:00am PST, we’re offering an exclusive sneak peek into our new Exec Benchmarking Tool for VCs, called the Sequoia Investor Portal. With this portal, we solve for the above by offering:

• Access to real-time comp, benefits, & equity market data from Sequoia & Carta Total Comp

• Build & cost-model exec teams

• Streamline compensation requests from the your portfolio with expert Compensation Advisors

• Access to Sequoia’s Grove Community

Why it matters: 75% of a company’s spend is on its people. Maximizing the ROI on this spend means winning the war for talent. Winning the war for talent means your startup is in the best position to 100x. Understanding this and the trends around attracting talent is crucial for making informed investment decisions and advising portfolio companies. The Investor Portal offers a comprehensive view of compensation trends, helping VCs stay ahead of the curve.

Take a closer look: Check out the hype video on the webinar registration page by clicking the button below.

💻️ Webinar: 2025 Comp & Equity Trends

On Tuesday, October 29 at 10 am PT/1 pm ET, our market insights and compensation advisory teams will provide insights on how VC-backed companies are handling their compensation and equity practices heading into 2025.

Why it matters: VC-backed companies have the perpetual challenge of securing top talent while controlling burn rates and extending runway. An informed and well-optimized comp and equity practice is essential to sustainably winning the race.

Take a closer look: Leveraging key trends from our most recent compensation and equity report, they’ll cover:

• Long-term and short-term incentive plans

• Equity awards

• Compensation philosophies

• Merit pay structures

📊Sequoia’s Compensation & Equity Survey

Sequoia has announced that participation in its Compensation & Equity benchmarking survey is now open!

Why it matters: The survey provides an exclusive opportunity to access data on incentives, compensation, equity, and trends that are critical to competitive positioning and informed decision-making. By participating, you’ll receive a complimentary copy of the final report—a resource available only to survey participants.

Take a closer look: Data & analysis will include:

• Long-term Incentives

• Short-term incentives

• Merit Increases

• Salary Administration

• Sales Compensation

• Severance

• Additional Insights

What’s it in for you: Here’s what startups & VCs can expect in return for participating:

• Participant Report - full data & analysis for all sections

• Insights Edition - early participation includes insights & trends over last 12 months as well as trends to watch over the next 12-24 months

• VC Edition - additional report that VCs receive if they have 10+ portcos participate in the survey, with macro-level insights related to equity & ownership, trends, and insights broken out by valuation and funding round.

Thank you for reading and joining on this journey with me!

Please reach out with any feedback about future topics you’d like to read about.

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👋 Quick about me:

I’m Cris Cafiero, and for nearly a decade, I’ve collaborated with founders, CFOs, and people leaders of early-stage, venture-backed startups. As an ex-Zenefits, ex-ADP, and now Business Consultant for Sequoia, I help startups build scalable people management infrastructure and maximize their people investment through compensation & benefits strategies.

Based in LA, I share my life with my wife and our two dogs. I’m into NBA drama, Marvel, reading, video games, computer-building, real estate investing, and lifelong learning.

I care about helping startups build a thoughtful, people-first culture and hope you find the topic as interesting as I do.

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