executive-compensation

name	executive-compensation
description	Canonical GTM compensation strategy — philosophy, role-by-role plans, stage- appropriate OTE, accelerators, SPIFs, and executive gates. VP/CRO offer clauses, variable gates, equity, severance, clawback, and Pavilion-style revenue-quality comp. Grounded in Sam Jacobs (Pavilion), Mark Roberge, McMahon, Bridge Group, and CRO Council benchmarks. Use when designing comp plans, OTE/quota, annual comp review, VP/CRO offers, or board comp approval. Triggers on: "GTM comp strategy", "comp plan design", "OTE calculator", "quota design", "executive comp", "CRO compensation", "VP Sales offer", "accelerators", "SPIF vs plan change", "Pavilion comp", "Sam Jacobs comp", "revenue leader compensation".
license	MIT
compatibility	Claude Code, Jesse, Codex, Hermes, Windsurf, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Copilot, Zed, VS Code, Goose
metadata	{"version":"1.2.0","author":"LeadMagic","category":"management-leadership","tags":["executive-comp","gtm-comp","cro","vp-sales","pavilion","ote","quota","equity","severance","clauses"],"related_skills":["gtm-role-descriptions","founder-comp-playbook","gtm-leadership","sales-team-building","revenue-team-onboarding","equity-management","employment-compliance","financial-modeling","board-meeting-prep","saas-outcomes"],"frameworks":["Sam Jacobs (Pavilion) — Revenue leader community and CRO comp standards","Pavilion — CRO Council compensation benchmarks","Bridge Group — SaaS leadership compensation surveys","Jason Lemkin (SaaStr) — VP Sales hiring and failure modes","Mark Roberge — Sales Acceleration Formula leadership comp","Frank Slootman — Unified exec metrics, consumption-aligned sales comp (Snowflake)","John McMahon — CRO variable tied to forecast quality and productivity per rep"]}

Executive Compensation

Overview

Canonical home for GTM compensation strategy (IC through CRO). Comp is a behavior design system, not a headline OTE. CRO packages that pay only on bookings create mercenary quarter-end deals, logo churn, and sandbagged forecasts. Pavilion's CRO Council — led by Sam Jacobs — gates variable comp on revenue quality: net new ARR, NRR, and efficiency (Rule of 40 / EBITDA), not bookings alone.

Master playbook: references/gtm-compensation-strategy.md (Pattern 35).
Role × stage matrix: references/comp-by-role-stage.md.
IC bands + templates: gtm-role-descriptions → comp-benchmarks.md.
Founder budget / negotiation: founder-comp-playbook.
Approval conversations: gtm-leadership. Legal: employment-compliance.
HR GTM ramp handoff: hr-gtm-playbook.md (Pattern 28).
Reconcile thresholds: references/benchmark-reconciliation.md.

Not legal or tax advice. Every clause requires qualified counsel; state law varies on non-compete, commission timing, and parachute taxes.

When to Use

• "Design GTM comp plan" / "OTE and quota design"
• "Annual comp review for sales team"
• "Structure CRO compensation"
• "VP Sales offer letter clauses"
• "Executive severance for sales leader"
• "Equity refresh for CRO"
• "Variable gates for VP Sales"
• "Pavilion-style exec comp"
• "Board approval package for revenue leader"

IC plan templates live in gtm-role-descriptions; strategy and worksheets live here.

Step-by-Step Process (Full GTM Comp)

Phase 0: Load Master Playbook

1. references/gtm-compensation-strategy.md — philosophy, role strategies, stage gates
2. references/comp-by-role-stage.md — matrix by ARR band
3. skills/founder-led/gtm-role-descriptions/references/comp-benchmarks.md (via gtm-role-descriptions) — H1 2026 bands
4. templates/comp-plan-design-worksheet.md — plan design