Amit Pandya

A good read if you are an early stage founder/HR leader navigating compensation! These highlights stood out for me: - The first 10 hires should collectively receive no more than 10% of the total equity pool. Remember, a late-stage company might offer around 1% to its CEO — so extending a similar stake to every early employee is a lot of equity.   - It’s not sustainable to overpay. Your average compensation shouldn’t exceed that of late-stage companies like Google or Amazon. Align compensation with your revenue generation and growth capacity.   - Define compensation philosophy at the earliest; enhances decision making through data, replicate your company values to the comp philosophy, define for scale. - Leave room to reward on impact; top performers will move up quicker than you anticipate.

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GTM Compensation Benchmarks 2025: 46 page report 📝 A Strategic Report for Talent Acquisition Leaders️ We just published a new report built for People and Talent leaders who need clarity on what to pay, and why it’s shifting fast. WHY YOU'D CARE: - Benchmarking comp for SDRs, AEs, CSMs, RevOps, Sales Engineers, Growth marketers - Navigating equity vs. cash trade-offs based on stage and geography - Adjusting for the impact of AI on GTM roles and comp structures - Staying ahead of pay transparency laws and market-driven expectations - Making strategic GTM hires with data-backed compensation plans Get the report 👉 here https://lnkd.in/eTXtcyh6 P.S. if you drop a comment, this will increase reach and more people in the community will get this free, comprehensive report, Just comment "Grabbed it" or something ✌️

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AI Transformation with Shiran Yaroslavsky - On the latest The Chad & Cheese Podcast, we sit down with Shiran, SVP of Product at SmartRecruiters to talk: 🤖 Conversational AI in recruiting 📅 Calendar tools that actually work 🚀 HR automation that doesn’t suck 👋 Why onboarding shouldn’t feel like a DMV visit From candidate experience to interview bots, this one’s a banger. Listen in or risk hiring like it’s 2009. Full Madrid AI Talks playlist on Youtube: https://lnkd.in/dzJtUpz8

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Your first 90 days as a Head of Talent Acquisition aren’t about big wins. They’re about building trust. Ben Chung, Director of TA at Dialogue, joined us on Open Source Hiring to break down how he approaches those first months and what builds trust fast (hint: it’s not big wins). His 3-pillar approach: 🧠 Ask questions constantly “I parked myself by the coffee machine and booked as many 1:1s as I could. You don’t get the first 90 days back.” 🍽️ Meet everyone “Lunch with a different team each time. That trust is built in casual conversations.” 📈 Structure your leadership 1:1s Ask: – What’s been your experience with hiring? – What’s your biggest challenge this year? – How do you see us working together? And one habit that sets you apart? Close the loop. “Tell them what you’ll do. Do it. Then report back. Most people skip the last step—that’s how trust erodes.” We also dig into: – How to hire great recruiters (and avoid the common traps) – Mock intake calls and scenario-based assessments – TA market signals and how his team stays lean and effective 🎧 Full episode in comments

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Incidents like this never cease to amaze me. Beyond the day-to-day responsibilities, HR professionals are expected to maintain a broad understanding of both federal and state employment laws—and for good reason. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) exists, yet age discrimination continues to surface far too often. When high-profile companies like Coca-Cola and BMW make missteps, it’s hard to understand why smaller businesses believe they can navigate these complex legal requirements without proper guidance or experienced expertise on their team.

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I teamed up with Michael Day to tackle the 'AI Arms Race' in talent acquisition. We argue that hiring is splitting into two paths. Read the full joint article here: https://lnkd.in/eicnFBWN

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If you want to see AI in recruiting done right, look no further than what our team has accomplished with Metaview. At Cockroach Labs, we’re not just adopting tools. We’re using them to elevate how we operate. Our recruiting team has harnessed AI to drive efficiency, unlock deeper insights, and make space for more strategic, human-centered hiring. Absolutely wonderful work: Lynette Estrada, Andrew Delabar, Megan Mueller, Leslie Niiro, and the entire team for leading the way. You're defining what high-impact recruiting looks like in 2025 and beyond. #recruiting #aiinrecruiting #peoplefirst #CockroachLabs 🚀 🌟

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I've warned of "contextual blind spots" in generic AI systems, as quoted in this article, which explains how these overhyped, versatile systems fail to address nuanced recruiting needs, risking outcomes like those in the Mobley v. Workday lawsuit. @FindemAI #BestWorkerAdvocacy

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Hiring looks different in 2025 — but the momentum is still there. Our new report at Mercury, The New Economics of Starting Up, found that 61% of early-stage companies are actively hiring, despite rising talent costs. As someone who thinks daily about how teams are built, that stat really stuck with me. Growth is good, but growth done thoughtfully is what really lasts. The best companies aren’t just scaling — they’re scaling with more intention than ever: raising the bar on talent, being selective with tools, and balancing full-time hires with flexible talent models. If you’re building a team, this report is a worthwhile read. It’s full of data on how founders are growing, spending, and adapting to a changing market. 👇 Link in comments.

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What if Your Hiring Model Was Built on Retention? 👀 Most systems still measure success by number of hires. But what if the real win is who’s still on the floor in 6 months? Aprende’s model is designed around retention from Day 1: Pre-screened, pre-trained candidates Community-based, bilingual, career-driven This isn’t staffing. It’s sustainable workforce design. Let’s show you the numbers: https://lnkd.in/eamEwZXk #RetentionModel #HealthcareHiring #FutureOfWork #TalentRetention

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🎉 You can now approve off-cycle comp requests directly from your inbox with Pequity. Approvers get a one-click approval experience, saving executives valuable time and helping talent teams send offers faster than ever. ⚡ Check out the video below to see it in action. We’re excited to hear your feedback! #talent #compensation #hr #approvals

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I’ve just started dipping into AI for Total Rewards and, like most of us, I’m excited about the potential efficiency gains while cautious about a fast adoption without properly considering the output and validating that it is working flawlessly. I’ve read mixed reviews about the launch of Anthropic Claude’s HR plugin, which is able to support a number of time-consuming HR tasks such as recruiting, workflow optimisation, onboarding, performance reviews, compensation analysis, policy guidance, and even job description creation. After an eye opening article by Erik van Vulpen, I really appreciate Mattias Ehnhage digging deeper and validating our assumptions that, in order for AI to tackle large datasets, it still needs to be taught carefully and fed just the essential data. Personally, I believe tools like these will increasingly become part of the HR toolkit and we must adopt it as Total Rewards leaders and experts as soon as possible, otherwise we will fall behind. At the same time, many of us are understandably cautious when it comes to using AI for sensitive areas like compensation or employee data, where mistakes can have reputational or compliance implications. Of course, it can sometimes feel safer to rely on tools and frameworks built by people who specialize in AI, as that may help mitigate some of the risks and make adoption easier within our organizations. I’m curious to understand if anyone has had similar results (and in which tool) or whether the tests you’ve run are still proving that we are a long way from using it consistently for Compensation data. My initial findings are that it shows potential ando need to learn more on the ideal prompts.

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Building the Future of Compensation Tech: Lessons from Pequity's Journey We spoke with Warren Lebovics, co-founder of Pequity, about building a new category in HR tech. Here are the key go-to-market lessons from their journey: → Validate through high-ticket consulting. Pequity started by offering $20K consulting projects, using each engagement to deeply understand market needs before building software. → Challenge B2B design conventions. They rejected the industry norm of clunky enterprise software, bringing B2C-grade user experience to HR tech. As Warren notes, "B to C feels amazing... why should it be that when they're spending eight or more hours at work, it just feels like crap?" → Target systemic impact points. By focusing on mid-market companies (500-5000 employees), they discovered where compensation decisions create industry-wide ripple effects. → Bridge system gaps intentionally. Instead of building another HR tool, they created solutions that connect isolated data between applicant tracking and HR information systems. → Let competitors validate pricing. Rather than competing on price, they focused on product excellence. Customers who initially chose cheaper alternatives often returned after experiencing limitations. → Build expertise into software. They combined compensation software with market insights, helping companies execute strategy faster with built-in best practices. These insights from Pequity show how deep market understanding and unconventional thinking can create new categories in crowded markets. Listen to the full conversation with Warren Lebovics on Category Visionaries to learn more about their approach to transforming compensation tech here: https://lnkd.in/epCbp6Ki #B2B #StartupGrowth #ProductStrategy #HRTech

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I love working with early-stage founders🌱 They have some of the most unique and misunderstood hiring challenges in the entire Tech ecosystem. Over the last six months, I’ve seen a large uptick in seed through series A companies asking advice from external recruiters. This was BAU in 2021, but far less common in the recent climate. What's changed? ➡️Founders know that just ‘making the hire’ won’t move their business forward. ➡️They need the right talent, in the right sequence, with the right mindset for the (organized) chaos and creativity of the early years, and the margin for error is thin. That hard-won funding needs to be protected, and investors are looking for businesses that can prove their ability to scale effectively, without relying on doubling headcount. Here’s the advice we’re giving founders right now: ⚡Early-stage roles sit in the grey space. Your Head of Sales is both designing strategy and cold calling. Your VP Engineering still writes code. If someone can’t operate without established workflows/resources/playbooks, they’re not right for you (and you’re not right for them). Don’t be dazzled by logos. Dig into their ability to get down and dirty. ⚡You can’t afford mismatches. Nearly every founder I’ve chatted with recently has said some version of: “We want to do more with less.” We’ve been supporting founders with competency scorecards, interview design, and deeper calibration calls than ever before, because at this stage, good recruitment is risk mitigation. ⚡Clarity matters more than pedigree. Hiring well means defining the role through a business lens, not a wish list. What will this hire deliver within 90 / 180 / 365 days? You need to know your non-negotiables and be honest about the realities of the role. Then, test for what success in the position actually require. 🎯The need for now and next year is to build lean, resilient teams.

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A Coastal 🌊 first. We’re partnering with a (soon-to-be-announced) unicorn in NYC, and what started as building out their IC Engineering and GTM teams has now expanded into Engineering Leadership hiring. This is exactly how we aim to work with founders. Not transactional. Not one-off roles. But growing alongside companies from Seed → Series A → Series B and beyond, helping build: --> Core IC Engineering teams --> High-performing GTM orgs --> And now, Engineering leadership Over time, we’ve become a trusted partner across the full buildout, from first hires to leadership layers. That continuity matters. Over time, you just get a much better understanding of the business, the bar, and what “great” actually looks like for that team. Makes everything work better. More exciting news coming.

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Early-stage companies in San Francisco and New York are feeling a talent squeeze right now! If you are serious about attracting the best talent to your company, you need to get serious about a relocation package. We've seen high demand for roles like founding AEs, frontline managers, and VPs of Sales and Product Marketers; these people are in short supply in the coastal cities. If you're requiring employees in the office, you’re not just selling your company, you're selling your office space, your city, and even your state. That means: ✅ $5K–$15K relocation stipends and moving coverage ✅ Temporary housing (1–3 months) ✅ House-hunting travel coverage (covering partial realtor and commission fees) ✅ Being thoughtful about your office environment and culture ✅ Cost-of-living salary adjustments ✅ Local culture perks + “welcome” experiences ✅ Support for partners, kids etc ✅ Visa, lease, and tax guidance If you're trying to sell the dream, you might need to go beyond just options and equity to truly get the best out there. #relocation #salary

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If your company's team building exercises are so cutthroat that payoffs are involved...you might be doing it wrong. This week on The New Talent Playbook Podcast, David Goldstein, Founder of TeamBonding, shares with us how the right team building exercises can unlock better collaboration, improve alignment, and create the kind of team chemistry that shows up in day-to-day performance. Catch the episode to hear David Goldstein share with Rob Levin: ✔️ Why the “trust falls” era of team building is long gone ✔️ How the power of play strengthens culture and retention ✔️ The biggest mistakes companies make when planning team events ✔️ How to integrate remote and international team members so they truly feel included If building a stronger, more connected team is on your 2026 agenda, you’ll want to hear this conversation. Don’t miss this week's episode of 🎙️ The New Talent Playbook Podcast: “Beyond Trust Falls: Team Building with the Power of Play” 🎧 Search for it on your favorite podcast platform. #podcast #newtalentplaybook #leadership #teambuilding

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The war no one talks about in recruiting: PRICE. An organization has challenges identifying, recruiting, or retaining top talent. A recruiting partner presents a solution that directly addresses those issues. The organization agrees… Then asks for that solution at the same rate as the underperforming provider. Hard stop. That’s not a partnership — that’s a race to the bottom. In recruiting, discounted fees don’t support proper sourcing, screening, or long-term fit. The result? The same problems… just with a different résumé. I saw this play out just this week and chose to step away. An organization’s most valuable asset is its people — and it shows in how they invest in finding them and keeping them. Curious how others are navigating this. Have you seen price-matching actually solve the problem… or just delay it? #AceEveryHire #Recruiting

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Huge thank you to ✌️Brandon Jeffs for hosting me on his "Building the Talent Machine" podcast to discuss "How HR Becomes a Revenue Engine" Controversial opinion incoming 🧨 >> Your product isn’t what’s slowing you down. Your people strategy is. Every scaling startup goes through the same identity crisis: the business evolves at the speed of revenue targets, but the org underneath evolves at the speed of hope. 🙏 Hope that the current team can stretch one more cycle. 🙏 Hope that the leaders who were perfect at 25 people can magically scale to 100. 🙏 Hope that a few mis-hires won’t tank a quarter. 🙏 Hope can be VERY VERY EXPENSIVE And it’s usually the reason execution stalls while no one realizes what’s actually breaking. Brandon and I get into the truth most founders feel but can’t name: when your internal architecture doesn’t match the business you’re trying to run, revenue leaks, velocity drops, and friction becomes your silent killer. We dig into: ✔️ Why People teams must operate like owners—not administrators ✔️ How to catch talent misalignment months before it detonates ✔️ The traits that actually scale in a 6–18 month reinvention cycle ✔️ The hidden bottlenecks founders create without realizing it (and how to unwind them fast) If you’re on a growth curve/scaling a company, this isn’t feel-good HR content. It’s a business conversation about protecting enterprise value before internal debt compounds. 🫠 And if this hit a nerve, that’s a sign for us to talk before another quarter slips away! Book time here: https://lnkd.in/eRcdh3Gi 👉 Watch or listen to the podcast here. https://lnkd.in/gb8_8myC Big thanks to Wellfound for sponsoring this convo! And hats off to my super supportive friends Eric Friedman of Graph Advisors (Solving financial and operational challenges for VC funds, startups, and family offices) and M. Fazal Yameen, a dangerously sharp Product leader and former founder who may or may not be plotting a return to startup life! 😬 Holler at him! (Pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to say that…i guess we’ll find out. Forgiveness > Permission 😂 ) #Startups #PeopleOps #TalentStrategy #ExecutionRisk #ScaleUp #Leadership #OrganizationalDesign #RevenueEngine #FounderLife #Velocity #FractionalCPO

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