Our unique structure as a company

We enjoy a unique structure as a founder-owned, bootstrapped technology company that's already reached profitability. We have no investors, no strategic imperative to hit compressed growth metrics or exit the business. This makes us different from almost every other startup. Traditionally, startups emphasize a reduced base salary in exchange for a significant equity package which materializes in value for the employee upon a sale or IPO of the company. Typically, the venture investors in the startup are a driving force for this exit cycle.

Since we have no venture investors, we can take a different path, and indeed we have crafted our own unique perspective and approach to compensation.

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At Demand.io, we value our ability to remain solely focused on our products, serving our customers and partners, and growing market share, revenue, and cashflow. We take a long-term view on our products. How do we build truly useful tools, without taking shortcuts, that actually become indispensable in consumers' lives, over the next decade plus?
We're currently generating in the 8-figures in revenue as a company. Our current goal is to push this to 9-figures revenue. Then beyond. And I believe we can achieve this with a very small team of leaders of perhaps 30-50 executives and IC leads (our HQ team), supported by a larger cast of functional professionals (our remote team).

My vision for the future

Over the next decade, my goal is to be operating at least two clear market-leading e-commerce digital products. SimplyCodes will be the leading AI-driven consumer service for finding coupons and deals. Product.ai will be the leading AI copilot for shopping. These products will initially reach hundreds of millions of monthly users, perhaps eventually scaling to billions. They will become indispensable sources of leads, customers, sales, and growth for e-commerce brands large and small worldwide. We will launch additional consumer-facing services.
More holistically, Demand.io will be the world's leading source of e-commerce knowledge. In an AI-driven world, companies will increasingly serve as sources of knowledge—and quality, depth, and velocity of knowledge will become the key metrics of competitiveness. Our ShopGraph platform will be a self-learning, adaptive, human-AI collaborative knowledge system that will know more about e-commerce than any other repository in the world.

Why this Partners structure?

I started my career on the finance side of technology, working in technology M&A and venture finance. In this world, top venture firms are organized as Partnerships. They are run by small, tight-knit groups of top-performing investors who become Partners in the firm, owning equity, but importantly, engaging in profit-sharing. Each Partner brings in revenue through their investment portfolios and exits, and this revenue pool is then shared amongst the Partnership. The idea is simple, each firm tries to recruit and hire the industry's best people and promote them as Partners, so those investors can bring in substantial value to the firm to the benefit of all Partners.
In much the same way, I've designed a Partners Program for a technology company that embraces similar principles. We want to hire the industry's best talent across engineering, design, marketing, and operations, that will help us to increase market share, revenue, and ultimately, profitability. We want to make these top performers Partners in our business, aligning ourselves with the most talented, committed, and high performing people we can find. We want to collaborate as a tight knit team, working as a well oiled machine, to build the world's best products, to grow those products, and to continue to build long-term, sustainable business value.
I'm well aware of the fact that this unique compensation system is somewhat of an experiment. We've seen no analogues among our peers, so we have few examples to point to to prove this scales and works well over the long term for a tech company like ours. But I've designed it around fundamental principles grounded in reality and informed by adjacent industries, so while we may continue to iterate on its details, I have confidence this system can scale and work over the long-term.
I can clearly see a future where Demand.io is run by 30-50 incredibly talented, high performing executives, each with a significant cash compensation package tied to our growing revenue pie, each enjoying economics on par with having experienced a top-tier venture exit.

The mechanics of our Partners program’s Profit-Sharing Bonus (PSB) system

The heart of our Partners compensation model is the Profit-Sharing Bonus (PSB) system. Here's how it works:

Baseline Revenue: When you join as a Partner, we establish a baseline revenue for the company. Your PSB is calculated based on the company's revenue growth from this baseline.
Partner Levels: We have 10 levels for HQ Partners, each with increasing PSB percentages. Here's the full breakdown:
Two-Tiered Structure:
- Tier 1 (higher percentage) applies to the first 30% of revenue growth, rewarding immediate impact.
- Tier 2 (lower percentage) applies to all subsequent growth, rewarding long-term value creation.
PSB Calculation: Your monthly PSB is calculated as a percentage of the company's revenue growth since you became a Partner.

Read our full guide to PSB calculation and ranges.

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Partner levels, PSB calculation ranges, and current Partners

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PSB Floors

Because PSBs are based on revenue growth, in periods of slower growth, PSB payments might be lower.
To reduce risk and income variability for newly enrolled Partners, we've implemented minimum monthly PSB payments for the early levels.
These floors ensure a guaranteed minimum cash component, even during slower growth periods.

HQ Partner Level	Monthly Floor PSB	Annual Floor PSB
1	$750	$9,000
2	$1,500	$18,000
3	$2,500	$30,000

Reporting & payment schedule

Partners are provided with monthly financial performance reports, and PSBs are paid monthly. This ensures transparency and regular rewards aligned with company growth.

Example PSB calculation

Let's say you're a Level 5 Partner and the company's monthly revenue has grown by $1,000,000 since you joined. Your PSB might be calculated as:

Tier 1 (first 30% of growth): $300,000 * 4.5% = $13,500
Tier 2 (remaining 70% of growth): $700,000 * 1.125% = $7,875
Total monthly PSB: $21,375

This system directly aligns your compensation with the company's growth, providing substantial upside potential as you advance through Partner levels and as Demand.io continues to expand.

Our PSB is unconventional. We’re transparent so you can build a map for your financial picture.

As a potential recruit or incoming employee, it may be hard to fully comprehend the value of our profit-sharing system. To many, it sounds too good to be true. And because the rewards scale over time and tenure, it's difficult for prospects to accurately value our compensation package relative to other offers.
As founder, my philosophy is simple. Pay our best people what they’re worth. Make it worth their while to stick with us for the long-term to build real sustained value.
Our PSB floors serve to provide concrete visibility into minimum bonus amounts in the early stages of Partnership. Keep in mind these are floors to account for periods of low growth. Demand.io has shown consistent growth over the years, and PSBs can greatly exceed these floors.
While we've learned that it is difficult to convey the upside potential of the PSB to new recruits, we know that as you join the company and get engaged with us, learning our systems and getting access to data, you'll start to see the potential of this system and how it can impact your financial picture.
Importantly, the Partners Program has resulted in exceptional employee retention rates - through this system we've been able to retain our best talent, creating a virtuous cycle of continued investment in our key people while their alignment with the company increases with tenure and mutual experience.

Compensation is driven by company performance + individual performance + cultural alignment

Two primary factors will drive your compensation at Demand.io, company performance and individual performance. Company performance in the form of revenue growth is the basis for PSB (profit-sharing bonus) calculations. From here, each Partner is allocated a percentage of this revenue growth as their PSB amount. This percentage is based the Partners' level within the Partners Program, which ranges from Level 1 to Level 10.

At the mid to upper Partnership levels, the PSB component will likely constitute the majority of an employee's total cash compensation, and can ultimately be many multiples of their base salary.

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Each year, every employee receives an annual performance review and is eligible for increases in base salary, equity, and Partner level and PSB percentages.
Beyond company and individual performance, cultural alignment is equally important. Our Partnership is founded on mutual trust, teamwork, and collaboration, and our cultural values provide the framework through which this ethos can exist. Culture is as important as it is fragile, so we are vigilant to ensure our culture remains strong, and that all Partners are aligned to it.
I recommend re-reading our values of the concentric circles of value, a bias towards action, and a team of deep generalists to better understand our culture. I also recommend reviewing and internalizing the seven criteria for selecting Partners to build a deeper understanding of our values.

How do you advance?

Read and understand our culture docs to make sure you understand our mission and how we work together. Then:

Be one of us. Be a do-er. Make a difference. Be a collaborator. Work hard. Work smart. Help the team level up. Have fun. Be passionate. Create results.
Ship stuff, change state, move the needle. Build a track record for execution and delivery. Produce great work. Ship stuff. Remember we define Outcomes as changes in state - meaning that your work produces a tangible difference in our products, our revenue, our metrics.
Set and achieve ambitious, clear, concrete Outcomes that help advance our business.

How to think about equity at Demand.io

Equity at Demand.io is a key component of our compensation structure. As of July 2023, our company valuation stands at $103 million. My target is to grow this to a $1 billion+ valuation. At that level, your equity could have substantial value. This isn't hyperbole - it's simple math. Top performers who accumulate equity over time have the potential for significant wealth creation.
Our trajectory is strong, and we're seeing validation from industry leaders. Our AI-driven approach to e-commerce is garnering attention from top-tier venture capital firms and investors who have backed some of the world’s most successful technology companies. This external interest validates our strategy and indicates we're on the right track in a competitive industry.
I see two potential paths forward. We could continue our independent growth, which has been our successful model so far. Alternatively, we might consider strategic opportunities like investment rounds, acquisition, or going public. While I'm oriented towards long-term independent growth, I'm open to opportunities that could accelerate our success and provide liquidity events for our equity holders. Even if we stay private, we may undergo liquidity rounds where you can cash out your equity. In either scenario, your equity gains value as the company grows.
Our compensation model combines this equity with our unique profit-sharing system. This structure offers both significant ongoing cash compensation and the potential for substantial long-term wealth. At Demand.io, you're not just an employee; you're economically aligned with our mission to become the world's leading source of e-commerce knowledge. When you consider your equity, focus on its potential value as we continue to work towards our mission as a company.