Blog
Notes on the startup hiring market
Salary numbers pulled from live job posts, funding signals decoded for engineers, and hiring playbooks for founders. By the team that runs the board.
Where the numbers live
These notes sit on the live board. Pay, companies, and open roles each have their own page, and the research reports freeze a month of the same data.
For engineers
Reading funding signals, valuing equity, and what representation looks like done right.
Engineers · October 8, 2026
AI and LLM engineering jobs: what hiring teams want
Most AI engineering jobs are software jobs with one extra skill: making language models reliable in production. Here is the concrete checklist behind the boom.
8 min read→
Engineers · October 6, 2026
What happens to your stock options when you leave
When you quit, you keep what vested but usually have about 90 days to exercise it, and exercising costs real money and can trigger tax. Here is the math and the questions to ask first.
8 min read→
Engineers · September 30, 2026
How equity dilution works, round by round
Follow one engineer's grant through seed, A, and B: why your ownership percentage shrinks every round, and why a smaller slice can still be worth more.
9 min read→
Engineers · September 25, 2026
When to leave your engineering job
The clearest signals it is time to move, how to time your exit with the funding cycle, and how to leave without burning the bridge.
9 min read→
For founders
Hiring after a raise, choosing how to source, and writing posts that senior people answer.
Founders · October 2, 2026
Why your engineering roles are not getting applicants
Five fixable reasons strong engineers skip your job post, and the concrete change that fixes each one.
9 min read→
Founders · September 27, 2026
How to write a startup offer letter
A good engineering offer letter spells out base, equity, strike price, vesting, and start date in plain numbers, with a deadline a candidate can live with.
8 min read→
Founders · September 21, 2026
Building a diverse engineering team from the start
The first ten engineering hires set your team's defaults. Widening the pipeline early is cheaper and more effective than fixing it later.
9 min read→
Founders · September 15, 2026
How to give equity to early employees
A practical guide to sizing engineer grants, setting the option pool, and explaining a grant so a candidate can actually value it.
8 min read→
For the curious
Numbers from live roles: pay, geography, and where the roles are.
Market · October 4, 2026
The 2026 startup engineering hiring market
A grounded read on where startup engineering hiring stands in 2026: a recovering funding climate, AI demand bending comp, and what it means for engineers and founders.
9 min read→
Market · September 28, 2026
Golden handcuffs: when equity keeps you stuck
Unvested shares and a five-figure exercise bill can keep you in a job you would otherwise leave. Here is how to price the trap before it prices you.
9 min read→
Market · September 23, 2026
How to evaluate startup risk before you join
Startup risk is not one number. It is seven inputs you can mostly check yourself in an afternoon: runway, burn, market, team, traction, the funding signal, and your own fallback.
10 min read→
Market · September 17, 2026
Austin, Seattle, and Denver startup scenes compared
Austin, Seattle, and Denver each suit a different kind of engineer. Here is who is hiring, how comp tracks against cost, and which one fits you.
7 min read→
Older notes
77 more notes are on the later pages. Every note stays linked from here.
The board behind the numbers
Every figure here comes from live roles at funded startups, refreshed several times a day. Browse them, or get matched.