Article · 18 min read

A Primer for Startups and Job Seekers to BOTH Win the Talent War

First Round Review Free Intermediate

This is the honest-framing playbook the answer describes. It tells you to target people who want to learn and grow with a strong founding team (not the maximum-cash candidate), to educate a candidate on not just how many shares but what slice of the whole pie those shares are, and to make an explicit written commitment to correct salaries post-Series A. That last move is exactly what wins over an Indian candidate who has never held startup equity and needs to see a real path to market rate.

• Hire people motivated by learning and upside, not top-of-market cash: a below-market offer only holds if the person wants what you are actually offering.
• Explain equity fully: how many shares, what percentage of total outstanding that is, and the current valuation, so the candidate can price the tradeoff themselves.
• A company-wide below-market policy with an explicit commitment to fix comp at a named milestone (post-Series A) reads as integrity, not a lowball.