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Two months ago, Jacob Eiting closed the Series B for his startup RevenueCat, which makes a platform for managing in-app subscriptions. The $40 million investment was meant to grow the company and, crucially, to hire more people. The 35-person startup hopes to expand to 50 employees by the end of the year, and 100 by the end of next year. To court them, RevenueCat offers a suite of perks—unlimited vacation, a home office stipend—plus equity and salaries on par with some of the big tech companies, regardless of geography.
Such offers were less common in startups two years ago, before the pandemic. Now a competitive hiring market has driven salaries higher, beefed up benefits, and encouraged companies to offer more flexibility to job candidates. “Part of it is like, ‘How can we stand out against the Googles of the world?’” says Eiting. “We take advantage of the strengths we have. We pay well if you’re out of the Bay Area—that’s how we stand out.” (Google, among other big tech companies, has said it may reduce salaries for remote workers.)
