Friends,

I’m T-minus 4 days away from 24 hours+ in a metal tube, en-route to Europe for what is hands down THE thing I’m most looking forward to in 2025 (ok ok I’ll say that about anything, because I have ‘shiny object syndrome’).

As my last act, I’m jumping into a webinar this Tuesday with the Ravio crew, all about ‘Pay for Performance’. I would love to see you all there.

But if you’re in London and actually want to see me in person: EXCITING NEWS FOR YOU!

I’m going to be there for one. night. only.

And I’d love to meet you.

On the 11th of November, my friends at DreamTeam are hosting an incredible event for startup people leaders. No stuffy presentations. Just a chance to hang with some of the most forward thinking people in the space (and me). Check it out here and register if you can come along. I’d love to say hey.

In the meantime, enjoy this weeks edition ✌️

Matt

I’ve made the same mistake most People leaders have: trying to get buy-in for new HR tech before knowing what really matters.

It not only impacts credibility, but it hurts future business cases.

If you’ve ever struggled to turn pain points into a credible business case that your executive team understands, this session is for you.

In this 30-minute webinar, Amber Panameno, Head of People & Culture at Moore Australia will share her experience helping growing organisations translate HR pain points into compelling business cases that executives back.

You’ll walk away ready to:

PLUS: you’ll get a checklist and template to use, too.

Because at the end of the day, you’re not just buying software.

You’re investing in your people, your processes, and your future.

Interested in sponsoring the FNDN Series?

Know a startup Head of People looking for answers 🙋 why not forward this to them for some instant karma? ✨

Andrew Bartlow built his HR craft over 25 years, from foundational roles at Pepsi and GE to leading CHRO functions through IPOs, M&A, and PE-backed scaleups. He helped transform Waypoint Homes into a $20B public company and has supported over a dozen C-suites navigating high-stakes growth. Today, through Series B Consulting and People Leader Accelerator, he advises HR leaders at scaling startups on how to align people practices with strategic goals.

In this episode, Andrew pushes back on a standard practice: gauging compensation satisfaction in engagement surveys. His POV — they can mislead and distract. Instead, he offers more strategic, outcome‑oriented metrics that tie compensation directly to what your business cares about.

Comp questions routinely land at the bottom of surveys and generate mostly negative responses; then what do you do with that data? Andrew cautions that you’re unleashing a set of problems you may not be able to solve, and comp is already one of the most complex, emotionally charged areas in people ops. The lesson was clear, you’re better off not asking about comp at all, if you’re not first thoughtful about the question, and then the follow-up action.

Rather than reverse‑engineering approval or morale, start by defining why you’re doing something special with comp (e.g. for your GTM team or tech leads). With that purpose in place, you can measure whether your comp interventions moved the needle. Is positive sentiment about comp a goal? I didn’t think so. Which means measuring it only gives the wrong impression. Instead, define what you want comp to achieve for you, and track it’s success.

Ask: Did 98 % of my top performers stay the next year? Did my poorest performers improve (or exit)? This simple “traffic light” approach (red/yellow/green) reveals whether your comp design is helping retain the right people and shed under performers — versus measuring salary increases that hide the signal.

Andrew recommends making exit feedback easy: short, structured surveys instead of long interviews. Use them to signal trust and gather incremental insights. In small, highly specialised teams, however, a live conversation led by the CEO or head of function may be more revealing. Understanding the role pay plays at a critical inflection point is helpful for gauging its effectiveness. Plotting them all and identifying the role pay plays is a recipe for success.

“Above the waterline” comp should visibly support revenue, growth, product delivery, market expansion — whatever your company is optimising for. If the People team is working in a bubble, you’ll be ignored. If your comp work is explicitly tied to business objectives, you become a strategic partner. Where People teams should be.

If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe.

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.