Wanted! Comp Benchmark Participants
Wanted! Comp Benchmark Participants
Return Path is looking to benchmark our compensation structure with those of peer companies. We would like to organize a project where an independent consultant gathers and compiles the data from a group of 10-20 companies and shares the aggregated results with individual benchmarks back with participants (the data will be anonymous on a per-company basis).
The data we'd need from participating companies (for all positions) is: Title and summary of the job description; Base Salary; Bonus; and Location.
The criteria for "peer company" is one that is comparable in size (50-250 people), geography (not rural, at least some in NY/Chicago/SF/LA), and industry (anything tech/Internet/services).
We will act as the project manager. Participating companies will mainly just have to provide the data. The cost of the consultant will be approximately $1,000-2,000 per participating company. This is a small fraction of what a similar study would cost from one of the big HR/benefits consultancies -- and should be much more targeted and useful as well.
If you are interested in participating please email us at comp.benchmark@gmail.com. VCs out there -- please circulate this to your CEOs and CFOs!
Matt, Noam Wasserman of the Harvard Business School pointed out your latest entry to me. We have collaborated with him over the last few years on two annual private company compensation studies, one in Information Technology and one in Life Sciences. Our data is targeted at the executive level (top 10-13 positions) and includes base and bonus compensation, equity, severance, Board of Directors comp; these are each further split by financing stage, geography, business segment, headcount, company revenue and founder status.
Our 2005 IT Compensation Report included 263 private companies, which would give you a much broader set of data points. A free, abridged copy of the most recent (2005) study is available at http://www.compstudy.com. The full/unabridged Report is free to all survey participants; we'll be kicking off the 2006 survey in about a month.
I would be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the survey or the data. Noam also has a blog related to his research on private company compensation dynamics, particularly as it relates to Founders (http://founderresearch.blogspot.com). His most recent paper on the "Founder Discount" is based on the data from the compstudy.com surveys over the past several years.
Continued best of luck at Return Path!
Regards,
Mike DiPierro
mike.dipierro@fmr.com
Posted by: Mike DiPierro | November 30, 2005 at 11:25 AM
The punctuation was included in the links above...the direct links are:
http://www.compstudy.com
http://founderresearch.blogspot.com
Posted by: Mike DiPierro | November 30, 2005 at 11:47 AM
May I ask, what will you do with the data?
I'm guessing (at least most companies) would attempt to use the data to make sure their own internal compensation structures fell in line with the industry.
This reminds me of people who I work with sometimes, who are always trying to figure out what other people in the co. make.
As if... their compensation depends entirely on other peer's, as opposed to their own performance.
Best.
Posted by: Shanti Braford | November 30, 2005 at 05:55 PM