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Back Office Roundup: March
A concise roundup of events, news, data, and insights in realm of talent, compensation and benefits for early-stage startups from this past month.
Cris Cafiero
April 01, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
🌟 Today
Welcome to the new & improved version of The Back Office Newsletter. In this edition, you’ll find upcoming events, a recap of the biggest HR conference of the year, healthcare industry trends, venture capital updates, and important compensation data for startups to consider.
Table of Contents
🗓️ Upcoming Events
Webinar: Scaling Your Startup: PEO, ASO, or HRO?  Curious what HR model works for you startup? We’ll cover what each of these three HR solutions offer to startups that help drive business efficiency and provide the considerations leaders should factor in before choosing which is best for their company.
| Event: Smart AI Leadership Summit 2025: Hosted by Smart Venture Media  I’ll be speaking at Grace Gong’s Smart AI Leadership Summit next week! Join an exclusive group of AI founders, top VCs, Fortune 500 executives, and visionary industry leaders at the Smart AI Leadership Summit. Use my personal code “GUESTCAFIERO50” for 50% off your ticket
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🪩 Transform 2025 Recap
 | The Biggest Themes from a Week In Vegas with Top HR Industry Leaders: 📊 The people want data. Requests ranged from regional and functional people cost breakdowns & the need for transparency in compensation, to the impact of economic conditions on equity & refresh grants. 🤖 Agentic AI is predicted to supercharge HR workflows, helping leaner teams do more with less. 👋 HR wants demands a seat at the table. Collaboration between HR & Finance has become paramount to business success and many leaders expressed feeling left out of big decisions. |
The Sequoia booth & team in all its glory.
Most companies hand out branded water bottles, hats, socks, and t-shirts from their conference booth.
Sequoia gives away a 45-page guide for startups on how to build their total rewards program. 🔥
Wasn’t at the event and still want to read the report? Send me an email and I’ll send it your way.
🚀 What I Learned This Week…
Healthcare Costs Trend Upwards
Renewal Trends: Major medical insurance carriers for large-group employer sponsored plans are expecting 12-13% cost increases this year.
Factors Driving Increases: Prescription drug costs (particularly GLP-1) and high cost therapies such as cell & gene therapies are significant contributors to the trend.
Unexpected Stat: The average monthly cost of a GLP-1 medication prescription ranges between $1,000 - $1,500, which alone could surpass a median health insurance plan’s deductible.
“Femtech” Sees Significant Movement
Femtech Funding Surge: March 2025 saw significant funding activity in femtech startups addressing women's health. Notable deals include Ataraxis AI raising $20.4M for AI-powered breast cancer diagnostics and Afynia advancing endometriosis diagnostics with microRNA analysis. Big movement in investor interest in women's healthcare solutions.
Overall Funding to Female Founders: Companies with at least one female founder raised $38.8 billion, representing about 20% of total VC funding. However, wholly women-led startups received just 1% of VC funding.
Exit Activity: Despite limited access to early-stage funding, female-founded companies accounted for a record 24.3% of VC exits in the U.S.
🔥 In Case You Missed It…
Other news:
Retention-Focused Compensation Strategies: Sequoia's report highlights a shift in compensation strategies toward retention and engagement rather than growth. Startups are increasingly adopting performance-based short-term incentives and equity refreshes to retain employees amid a sluggish IPO market. These trends reflect the need for competitive pay packages to maintain employee morale and prevent turnover following widespread layoffs in 2024.
Geographic Adjustments in Compensation: Carta's analysis reveals that startups are increasingly adjusting compensation based on employee location, particularly among companies valued under $25 million. This trend underscores the growing importance of geographic considerations in pay structures, as startups seek to optimize hiring costs while maintaining competitive salaries in non-traditional markets like Atlanta and Sacramento.
IPO-Driven Changes in Pay Practices: WTW notes that private companies preparing for IPOs are focusing on retention incentives (63%), bonuses (50%), and base salary increases (38%). These shifts indicate how IPO readiness influences compensation strategies, with startups prioritizing incentives to retain talent during critical growth phase.
Did You Know? According to Carta's H1 2024 report, the average number of employees at a Series A company was 15.6. This represents a decline from 17.6 employees in H1 2021, reflecting a trend of leaner teams in early-stage startups.
Talk soon,