Equity For Salary Bridge

A novel concept for helping talented engineers transition from high-paying tech jobs to startups by bridging the salary gap through equity arrangements.

Core Concept

• Fund bridges compensation difference between big tech and startup salaries
• Engineers give up startup equity in exchange for salary supplementation
• Helps solve the problem of talent being "trapped" in big tech due to high salaries
• Creates win-win-win for engineers, startups, and the fund

How It Works

• Engineer takes pay cut to join startup (e.g. $600k → $300k)
• Fund covers the salary difference ($300k gap)
• Engineer provides startup equity to fund as compensation
• Startup gets talent without increasing burn rate
• Fund builds portfolio of startup equity across companies

Benefits

For Engineers:

• Maintains high compensation while working at startups
• Reduces financial risk of leaving big tech
• Enables pursuit of more exciting/meaningful work

For Startups:

• Access to top talent without increased cash burn
• More competitive with FAANG for recruiting
• Pay market rates through combination of cash + equity

For the Fund:

• Gets equity in promising startups
• Portfolio approach across multiple companies
• Aligned incentives with both parties
• Way to get shares in companies that may be hard to invest in directly

Key Innovation

• Creates financial bridge between big tech and startup compensation
• Uses equity as currency to enable transitions
• Helps solve structural problem holding back startup ecosystem
• Provides liquidity solution for talent allocation