My Formula for Compensation

The best people deserve to be financially comped in creative ways. Set them up in a way where heads? - they win ..... tails? - they don't lose.

My math formula for finding, rewarding & retaining such people is the sum of 3 parts:

1) Monthly Retainer (in ₹/$)

			+

2) Equity allocations (in % of company ownership clearly defined, not just absolute number of shares granted) - 25/25/25/25% vesting over 4 years, 1 year cliff, then monthly vesting. Close to zero strike price, 10-year window to exercise options

			+

3) Bonus Sharing from Bigger Projects (in ₹/$) - amount allocated by me, % of distributions decided on by project owner, to whoever was involved on that project.

1) solves for the daily here and now

2) solves for participation in the upside long game

3) solves for taking full ownership on key projects & driving revenue

The best people, whatever their language, ethnicity, belief system, and political ideology, speak this common language.

People don't remember what you said to them. People remember how you made them feel.

Financial upside is a great feeling, with true timelessness.

I've been lucky to attract mostly amazing people on my teams, and a few not-so-great ones (including mercenaries).

This three-part formula is my evolved thinking in discovering, rewarding and retaining long-term people playing long-term games with me.

Missionaries should get rich.