To prevent engineers from gaming output-based pay, 10X assigns a "Technical Strategist" to each project. The engineer is paid for output, but the strategist is incentivized by client retention and account growth (NRR), creating a healthy tension that ensures high-quality work is delivered.

Don't assume compensation is limited to salary and equity. When a company says they're maxed out, get creative. Propose performance-based bonuses tied to revenue goals or even a company car, which might be a tax write-off for them.

When discussing compensation, frame equity as providing four things: cash flow, sale bonus, risk, and control. Most employees only want the first two and actively avoid risk and aren't getting control anyway. This simplifies the conversation and allows you to offer profit share and sale bonuses instead of actual shares.

To solve the persistent issue of sales and marketing misalignment, structure executive compensation around shared company revenue goals. When leaders' bonuses depend on overall revenue attainment rather than departmental metrics like pipeline or MQLs, it forces genuine collaboration and a unified focus on winning.

Startups aim for non-linear outcomes yet often default to conventional, linear compensation bands. To properly incentivize breakthrough performance, founders must reward employees who have a disproportionate impact with equally disproportionate pay, breaking from standard practices.

Traditional hourly billing for engineers is obsolete when AI creates 10x productivity. 10X compensates engineers based on output (story points), aligning incentives with speed and efficiency. This model allows top engineers to potentially earn over a million dollars in cash compensation annually.

To significantly increase your income, stop selling discrete skills or tasks. Instead, solve larger business problems tied to revenue and growth. Taking ownership of a client's outcome, rather than just executing instructions, makes you vastly more valuable and allows you to charge retainers instead of hourly rates.

Robinhood intentionally decouples compensation from an employee's org size. This counters the typical corporate incentive for 'empire building.' By disproportionately rewarding people who achieve high impact with the smallest possible team, they foster a culture of lean efficiency and focus.

Instead of billing hourly, consultants should use a 'calculator close' to quantify the total financial value (savings, efficiencies) their service provides. By charging a percentage of that ROI (e.g., 30%), they anchor their fee to outcomes, not time, which can double or triple revenue without needing more clients.