About This Survey
In its 6th rendition, the VC Platform Global Community surveyed 600+ individuals for the 2022 VC Platform Global Compensation Survey to better understand compensation, benefits, industry trends, and emerging practices across global venture firms. The survey responses encompass “platform” focused roles. While most roles within this realm can be segmented by area of focus, title, and functional responsibilities, it is important to note that all firms are unique and operate independently.
Through a partnership with Sequoia’s Total Rewards team, VC Platform has done its best to normalize survey responses based on geography, tenure, fund size, fund type, functional role, and various compensation elements. The findings in this report may not align with the standards and practices of every firm. Through the normalization process, VC Platform and Sequoia worked hard to ensure the data and visualizations are meaningful and insightful. This required an intense data-cleaning process, including but not limited to identifying and removing duplicate responses, removing the responses of those that were identified as primarily investment-focused roles, converting global currencies, selectively removing significant outliers within the data set, standardizing geographic locations, removing incomplete responses, and accounting for unique/fill-in-the-blank responses.
While this year’s report is the largest and most accurate yet, you can access our historical reports to identify changes and trends in data:
2021 VC Platform Global Compensation Report
2020 VC Platform Global Compensation Report
2019 VC Platform Global Compensation Report
2018 VC Platform Global Compensation Report
2017 VC Platform Global Compensation Report
Thank You to Our Partner
For the 5th year, the VC Platform Global Community conducted a compensation survey to understand trends and industry standards of how platform roles are compensated at leading venture firms. Formed organically in 2012, the VC Platform Global Community is a peer-led independent group of 1000+ members who hold platform roles at 300+ firms globally.
Tyler SwansonSolutions Manager, Total Rewards
Zack RokosDirector, Total Rewards
Joe LaSorteVice President, Global Benefits
Individuals From 800+ Firms Were Invited to Participate
Representative logos include:
This Report Includes Data From...
719
Respondents
From...1,500+
VC Platform Community Members
Who Took the Survey?
Respondents
Year-over-year survey participation
Gender Identity
Gender identity breakdown of who responded
Titles
What title best matches your own?
- 12%Analyst/Associate (88)
2-5 Years of Experience - 28%Manager/Sr. Associate (202)
5-9 Years of Experience - 29%Director (210)
8-13 Years of Experience - 16%Vice President/Sr. Vice President (113)
12-18 Years of Experience - 15%Partner/CxO (106)
15-22 Years of Experience
Primary Role
Count of what is the primary focus of your role
- 19%Community & Portfolio Support (229)
- 14%Talent & Recruiting (107)
- 22%Marketing, Content , & Events (160)
- 13%Internal Operations (96)
- 11%Business Development & Partnership (79)
- 5%Investor Relations / Fundraising (36)
- 1%Investment Sourcing/Diligence (8)
- 0%
Respondents Firm Information
Mouse over sections of the pie charts to view more information
Firm Assets Under Management
- 9 (1%)We don’t manage any capital
- 120 (17%)Less Than $100M USD
- 122 (17%)$100M - $249M USD
- 84 (12%)$250M- $499M USD
- 102 (14%)$500M - $999M USD
- 148 (21%)$1.0Bn - $2.49Bn USD
- 56 (8%)$2.5Bn - $4.9Bn USD
- 78 (11%)More than $5.0Bn USD
Fund Type
- 574 (80%)Venture Capital Firm
- 47 (7%)Corporate Venture Capital Firm
- 75 (10%)Growth Equity Firm
- 75 (10%)Growth/Private Equity
- 23 (3%)Other
Investment Stage
- 35 (5%)Pre-Seed
- 424 (59%)Early Stage: Seed → Series B
- 37 (5%)Growth Stage: Series B → Series D
- 216 (30%)Multi Stage
- 2 (0%)Late Stage Growth: Series E+
- 0%
- 0%
Respondents Geography
+11%
+41%
+33%
Filters Selected
- United States
- Manager
- Years of Exp: 14-25+
Current Dataset Profile
--
Survey Participants
--
Avg Total Years of Prof Experience
- 8 (35%)Business Development
- 8 (15%)Business Development
- 8 (25%)Business Development
- 8 (25%)Business Development
- 8 (25%)Business Development
- 8 (25%)Business Development
Cash Compensation
| Market Data Percentiles | ||||||
| 10th | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th | ||
| Base Salary | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Bonus | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Total Cash | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
Carry Eligibility
- 8 (35%)Business Development
- 8 (15%)Business Development
- 8 (25%)Business Development
Carry
| Market Data Percentiles | ||||||
| 10th | 25th | 50th | 75th | 90th | ||
| Total Dollars at Work | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Max Fund Dollars at Work | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Carry % (Max if Mult. Funds) | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
Trends & Analysis
Base Salary Compensation Trends by Firm AUM
Base Salary Compensation Trends by Firm Function
Base Salary Compensation Trends by Firm Function
How does compensation vary between functions?
Bonus Compensation
Bonus as a Percentage of Base Salary
Of Respondents Receive a Bonus
Of Respondents Receive a Bonus
Of Respondants Receive a Bonus
Of Respondants Receive a Bonus
Of Respondants Receive a Bonus
- 36%0-10% of base compensation
- 41%10-20% of base compensation
- 13%20-30% of base compensation
- 0%30-40% of base compensation
- 10%40-50% of base compensation
- 0%50%+ of base compensation
How is Your Bonus Payout Determined?
- 45%0-10% of base compensation
- 54%10-20% of base compensation
- 21%20-30% of base compensation
- 10%30-40% of base compensation
- 4%40-50% of base compensation
- 4%50%+ of base compensation
How is Your Bonus Payout Determined?
- 34%0-10% of base compensation
- 50%10-20% of base compensation
- 26%20-30% of base compensation
- 9%30-40% of base compensation
- 6%40-50% of base compensation
- 7%50%+ of base compensation
How is Your Bonus Payout Determined?
- 24%0-10% of base compensation
- 48%10-20% of base compensation
- 28%20-30% of base compensation
- 12%30-40% of base compensation
- 20%40-50% of base compensation
- 10%50%+ of base compensation
How is Your Bonus Payout Determined?
- 10%0-10% of base compensation
- 35%10-20% of base compensation
- 33%20-30% of base compensation
- 13%30-40% of base compensation
- 6%40-50% of base compensation
- 21%50%+ of base compensation
How is Your Bonus Payout Determined?
How are bonus payments trending?
Carry Trends
Carry Trends by Title
Carry Trends by Title & Firm
Carry Vesting Practices
Vesting Method
- 47%Straight-line/linear vesting with a cliff (154)
- 26%Straight-line/linear vesting with no cliff (87)
- 12%Other (non-linear vesting)
(38) - 15%I’m not sure
(51)
Cliff Vesting Practices
- 9%N/A - No Cliff (18)
- 65%12 Months (129)
- 3%18 Months (5)
- 15%24 Months (30)
- 4%36 Months (8)
- 5%Other
(10)
Vesting Schedule
Vesting Method VS. Length
| Straight Line | Non-Linear | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 Years | 32 (97%) | 1 (3%) | |
| 4 Years | 59 (97%) | 2 (3%) | |
| 5 Years | 55 (93%) | 4 (7%) | |
| 6-7 Years | 57 (98%) | 1 (2%) | |
| 8-9 Years | 31 (89%) | 4 (11%) | |
| 10 Years | 57 (72%) | 22 (28%) | |
How does carry allocation adjust with firm growth?