Part 1: Compensation for start ups: A leveling matrix that scales

👋Hi! I'm Molly. This is where I share the lessons I’ve learned from building fast-moving, messy, ambitious companies. For more from me, you can also find me on the WorkLife Podcast, on LinkedIn, and in Glue Club, a community for leaders who care about building great companies.

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This article is part of a series on compensation for startups. It covers implementing a leveling system. The four parts are: 

1. Implementing a leveling system 

2. Designing your compensation philosophy 

3. Implementing and defending your compensation system

4. Designing and implementing a performance management system

If you are actively designing and implementing any of these systems, we also have video courses and dozens of templates available for paid subscribers.

A while ago (feels like 100 years, was actually only 8), I wrote a basic compensation guide for a founder I was helping out who was struggling to manage one-off requests for raises. I also handed it over to First Round who published it. 

I’ve been meaning to expand it and update it for a while, so this is the start of doing that in pieces. 

Today, I wanted to share a pretty basic tool but one that every start up searches for or creates at some point: a Leveling Matrix. 

I’m going to tl;dr this post because I’m guessing some of you are well versed in levels. If you want a basic leveling framework for your start up that will last you til you are at least 1,000 employees, I’ve adapted one here. You should be able to copy it if you’re logged in to your Google account. I’ve adapted this framework through working with many companies over the last bunch of years; many smarter brains than mine are behind many of the words and ideas but feel free to blame me if you don’t like it. It is a good idea to read through it and change it for what you need at your company, but hopefully, it’s an easy starting place for many of you. 

So first, what are Levels?