Optimize Startup Team Composition and Hiring

Plans team composition, hiring, compensation, and equity for early-stage startups by funding stage. At pre-seed (0 to $500K ARR, 2-5 people) the focus is founders plus a possible first engineer validating product-market fit; at seed ($500K-2M ARR, 5-15 people) it's an engineering lead, first sales hire, product manager, and marketing/growth lead; at Series A ($2M-10M ARR, 15-50 people) it prescribes a department split - Engineering 40%, Sales & Marketing 30%, Customer Success 10%, G&A 10%, Product 10%. For each function it gives stage-by-stage role lists with 2024 US base-salary bands, such as a Series A VP Engineering at $180K-$250K plus equity or a Seed-stage first Product Manager at $120K-$150K.

Compensation guidance covers a fully-loaded cost formula (base salary times 1.3-1.4 for payroll tax, benefits, and overhead), geographic adjustments (SF/NYC +20-30%, Seattle/Boston/LA +10-20%, remote -10-20%), and equity allocation by role and stage - founders (40-60% for the first founder down to 10-20% for a third, four-year vesting with a one-year cliff), early employees (0.25-2.0%), and Series A hires (C-level 1.0-3.0% down to junior 0.005-0.05%) - plus option-pool sizing (10-15% reserved per round). It also frames total compensation as a share of revenue by stage - 120-150% of revenue at seed (a company still burning cash to grow) narrowing to 70-100% of revenue at Series A - broken down further by department (engineering roughly 50-60% of comp spend at seed versus 35-45% at Series A, sales 30-40% versus 25-35%).

Pre-money: $10M
Investors want 15% option pool post-money

Calculation:
Post-money: $15M ($10M + $5M investment)
Option pool: $2.25M (15% x $15M)
Founders diluted by pool creation before new money

Use it when planning hiring, compensation, or equity for a pre-seed, seed, or Series A startup, designing an org chart and reporting structure, or deciding full-time versus contractor for a given role. Not a fit for later-stage or public companies where these benchmarks and equity ranges no longer apply.

Input: a startup's current stage, revenue, and headcount plan. Output: a role-by-role hiring plan with salary bands, a total-compensation and headcount budget with a worked formula example, an equity allocation table by role and stage, an org chart with manager-to-report ratios (first-line managers 4-8 reports, VPs 3-5), and a realistic hiring-velocity timeline - junior roles take 6-8 weeks to hire, executives 16-24 weeks, plus a recommended 2-3 month planning buffer.

Ships companion reference files (references/compensation-benchmarks.md, references/equity-calculator.md) and worked examples (examples/seed-stage-hiring-plan.md, examples/org-chart-evolution.md covering growth from 5 to 50 people).

Founders and early startup operators planning headcount, compensation, and equity from pre-seed through Series A who need concrete benchmarks rather than generic hiring advice.

It also weighs full-time against contract staffing directly: full-time for core product work, revenue-generating sales roles, and institutional-knowledge positions, versus contractors for specialized short-term needs, variable workload, or testing a role before committing to a full-time hire.