Getting Creative to Secure Top Talent

Getting Creative to Secure Top Talent

Insight from Tyler Denk

A+ teams create A+ outcomes. It’s a simple truth that’s been proven correct time and time again.

Unfortunately, especially in the early stages of building a company, you’ll often run into the roadblock of not having the budget to meet top-tier talent’s salary expectations.

The good news is that it’s not the end of the world. If you’re able to get creative with your offers, you can convince your first-choice candidates to come onboard.

One example approach: when Tyler Denk was making key early hires for Beehiiv, he couldn’t meet the salary expectations for the candidates he wanted to join. 

Current revenue couldn’t justify it, but what about future revenue?

Tyler was upfront with the candidates and let them know that he couldn’t meet their demands without putting the company at financial risk.

What he could do, however, was guarantee that they’d get compensation raises every time the company’s monthly revenue hit one of a series of predetermined milestones.

He predicted they would be at their desired salaries within 14 months, and he communicated that timeline directly to the candidates.

The result? He got exactly who he wanted for those key positions (starting at half of the base salaries they asked for), and, two years later, those employees have progressed into executive roles at the company.

Start-ups are all about the upside. What can you do to increase that upside for the candidate?

What can you do to build in guarantees of compensation increases directly tied to company success?

The lesson here is simple: don’t be afraid to think outside of the box regarding compensation. Transparency and performance-based incentives go a long way.

Learn More: Compensation strategies for startups