Paying founders more than anyone else is a bad choice.
Generally, the best compensated (cash) person should be commissioned sales (if that exists); otherwise, probably a head of engineering, in the current market, at least up to a reasonable size (25-50 people). An exception is if you have to hire a "professional CEO" or something, but that means you've fucked up somehow too.
I see they say +20k for "non-founder, C-level", but really, it should be more like founders, $40k in their formula. Then add the multipliers on top of that.
I do like the idea of transparency with salaries in general, but there is the concept of "don't try to innovate on anything non-critical" in a startup. OTOH, outside of startups, salaries are fairly well known in many sectors, so I don't think transparency is without precedent.
Great point and actually, I totally agree. The funny thing is that founders aren't the highest paid people at Buffer - and it's actually just like you say with engineering being on the higher side.
Generally, the best compensated (cash) person should be commissioned sales (if that exists); otherwise, probably a head of engineering, in the current market, at least up to a reasonable size (25-50 people). An exception is if you have to hire a "professional CEO" or something, but that means you've fucked up somehow too.
I see they say +20k for "non-founder, C-level", but really, it should be more like founders, $40k in their formula. Then add the multipliers on top of that.
I do like the idea of transparency with salaries in general, but there is the concept of "don't try to innovate on anything non-critical" in a startup. OTOH, outside of startups, salaries are fairly well known in many sectors, so I don't think transparency is without precedent.