Careers
Total Compensation
Total compensation is the combined annualised value of every component of a job offer — base salary, target bonus, the annualised value of equity grants, and quantifiable benefits — rather than any single component in isolation.
Base salary alone systematically misleads comparisons between a large public company and a venture-backed startup: the startup's lower base is often offset (on paper) by a much larger equity grant, whose actual realised value depends entirely on an outcome — an acquisition or IPO — that is not guaranteed.
The most common mistake in comparing offers is annualising equity using the company's own most optimistic valuation assumptions rather than a discounted, risk-adjusted one; a four-year grant at a private company's last-round valuation is a projection, not a fact.