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Friends,
In last week’s edition I told you that in returning from holiday late-November, I’ve been caught in the juxtaposition of everyone else winding down while I feel like I’m in my ‘new year, new me’ phase. So I’ve well and truly beaten the new year resolutioners when I tell you I went to my first session with a personal trainer this week. Suffice to say, I’m writing this from the couch suffering severely from ‘delayed onset muscle soreness’, and it’s only the day after the session. Gym junkies will know the worst of it hits on day two. Wish me luck 🫠
In other news, the FNDN Series has had a ‘new year, new me’ moment of it’s own, with a whole new website now housing the editions, podcasts and resources. Some more big announcements coming the way of this platform in 2026. Stay tuned 👀
And lastly, by the time this lands, my breathe rate will be increasing as I wait for the final F1 race of the season to kick off. And with it, Australia’s chance at gaining a world championship driver. All my fingers and toes are crossed for Oscar Piastri to take the trophy (sorry to my British and Dutch readers).
Enjoy this week’s edition ✌️
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HIBOB
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If you want metrics that influence real decisions, this is the roadmap.
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Know a startup Head of People looking for answers 🙋 why not forward this to them for some instant karma? ✨
TODAY’S INTERVIEW
Custom Comp: Getting Personal During Downturns
with Chief People Officer at Vidyard, Sarika Lamont
Sarika Lamont is the Chief People Officer at Vidyard, leading HR, culture, and AI automation enablement in a fast-growing SaaS organisation. Based in Virginia (while working for a largely Canadian company), she brings deep experience in scaling people systems across borders.
Throughout her career Sarika has repeatedly scaled up rewards programs. Her emphasis on fairness and equality, and her insistence on transparency and employee voice make her a rare thinker in compensation design.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Why ‘fair ≠ equal’ is your new north star in rewards
How to build persona cards and tie offers to real preferences
The case for ‘build out loud’ transparency in benefit changes
When to scale back vs. scale up your comp practices
How to align budget constraints with trust
Questions you should be brave enough to ask employees
What trade‑offs employees will accept (and where they won’t)
My Key Takeaways:
1. Fair doesn’t mean equal
Sarika emphasises that compensation equity means aligning rewards with individual needs and business context, not distributing identical packages across roles or regions. At Vidyard, employees in Canada and the US receive different benefits tailored to legal, cultural and cost-of-living differences. The key is explaining the rationale openly so that perceived fairness matches actual intent.
2. Build comp personas like a product marketer.
Rather than relying on third-party surveys, Sarika maps employee personas internally. Inspired by marketing ICPs, she creates profiles like "Technical Tom" to reflect roles, life stages and priorities. This mapping starts with data (such as demographics, engagement surveys, comp ratios) then gets validated through employee interviews. These insights shape more targeted, effective reward strategies.
3. Ask employees what they care about. Then prioritise.
Too many leaders avoid employee feedback fearing a wishlist they can't afford. Sarika argues that wishlist data is still useful. It reveals desires, helps clarify tradeoffs, or benefits that aren’t working, and most of all, builds trust. Communicating budget constraints upfront reframes the conversation: it’s not about granting every request but investing wisely in what matters most.
4. Scale programs with discipline, then reassess often.
Sarika has built for scale and then had to unwind those systems when business needs changed. During downturns, she simplified comp models and reprioritised benefits. The key is ruthless clarity. Decide what you can fund, then be transparent with employees about why. Scale is not a one-way street.
5. Transparency starts before you're ready.
When Vidyard decided to change benefit providers, Sarika insisted on early communication, even before all the answers were available. She sees this as a core part of treating employees like adults. Letting teams know change is coming, even without full details, reduces anxiety and reinforces a culture of trust.
Where to find Sarika:
If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe.
That’s all for from me this week.
Sure, this is technically the end of the newsletter, but we don’t have to end here! I’d love this to be a two-way chat, so let me know what you found helpful, any successes you’re seeing, or any questions you have about startup compensation.
Until next week,
When you’re ready, here’s three ways I can help you:
1. Tools & resources
Resources and tools that give you what you need to build your own startup compensation practices.
2. Comp consulting
I run FNDN, a global comp consultancy that builds compensation practices that are clear, fair and competitive for startups.
3. Startup People Summit
I run the Startup People Summit, a one day annual event focused on creating the playbook for startup people practices. Grab recordings from past events, or subscribe to the newsletter to join the next event.
