Patent Baristas

The 2009 survey of equity and cash compensation for top management at private companies is now underway by CompStudy.  The survey covers more than 25,000 executives at 5,000 private companies (including venture, angel or private equity-backed) in the technology and life sciences industries.

This year’s survey covers a variety of industry segments including software, communications, computer hardware/semiconductors/electronics, it services/consulting/systems integration, content/information provider, cleantech, biopharmaceuticals/pharmaceuticals, platform technology/tools, bioinformatics, device and diagnostic, and specialty pharmaceutical.

One interesting point from last year’s survey is that for the equivalent role in a life science company, compensation is higher than found in a technology company.  This “Kelly Bluebook” of start-up executive compensation is in its 10th year and has been expanded to include surveys in China, India, Israel and the UK as well as the US.

To complete the survey you will need to have access to the following information:

• Basic company information including address, industry, revenue, headcount, etc.,
• Compensation including base salary, cash bonus and equity for each executive on the management team,
• Basic executive background including founder status, join dates and professional/academic background,
• Details of financing rounds including investors, amount invested, valuations, etc.,
• The complete capitalization table including amount held by each executive, including board members.

If you are C-level executive of a start-up company in these industries then you should participate in the survey.  It should only take 30-60 minutes to complete the survey and there is no cost to participate. But, the only way to access the full results of the survey is through participation.  Archived copies of past editions are available for download here.

CompStudy is produced by J. Robert Scott, Ernst & Young, and WilmerHale in collaboration with Dr. Noam Wasserman, Professor at the Harvard Business School.