Case Studies

Case Study 1: Title Inflation Stopped Before It Hit Payroll

Company: 45-person SaaS (Series A)
Problem: Promotions granted based on tenure and negotiation skill. Titles inflated. Compensation bands inconsistent. Payroll volatility increasing.

Intervention:

  • Designed company-wide leveling framework across GTM, G&A, and Engineering

  • Installed compensation bands tied to scope and impact

  • Created promotion gates and calibration process

  • Trained managers on disciplined progression decisions

Result:

  • Eliminated reactive promotions

  • Reduced comp creep within two cycles

  • Stabilized payroll forecasting

  • Improved internal promotion credibility

EBITDA impact: Compensation drift slowed without losing retention momentum.

Case Study 2: Retention Risk in High-Impact Engineering Roles

Company: 80-person multi-state tech company
Problem: Top engineers unclear on growth path. Recruiter activity increasing. Replacement cost estimated at 1.5x salary.

Intervention:

  • Built engineering career ladder (IC + Manager tracks)

  • Defined scope-based level expectations

  • Aligned comp bands to market benchmarks

  • Rolled out manager training on career conversations

Result:

  • Reduced regretted attrition in senior IC roles

  • Improved internal mobility

  • Shifted compensation conversations from negotiation to framework

EBITDA impact: Avoided replacement costs and productivity gaps in critical roles.

Case Study 3: Preparing for Diligence

Company: 60-person PE-backed operator
Problem: No defined leveling system. Compensation inconsistent across entities. Diligence risk flagged.

Intervention:

  • Created standardized leveling architecture across entities

  • Aligned salary bands to defined scope

  • Documented promotion criteria and comp rationale

  • Built defensible compensation narrative for diligence

Result:

  • Cleaned compensation inconsistencies

  • Reduced diligence friction

  • Increased confidence in valuation narrative

EBITDA impact: Protected exit valuation from human capital discount.

Case Study 4: From Founder-Driven Promotions to Structured Progression

Company: 35-person founder-led SaaS
Problem: Founder personally approving promotions. Emotional pay decisions. No guardrails.

Intervention:

  • Designed company-wide leveling framework

  • Established promotion review cadence

  • Built functional playbooks

  • Installed cross-functional calibration process

Result:

  • Removed founder bottleneck

  • Increased promotion transparency

  • Reduced internal friction

EBITDA impact: Lowered payroll unpredictability and leadership time drain.

Case Study 5: Multi-Entity Compensation Misalignment

Company: 120-person multi-state operator
Problem: Same titles paid differently across regions. Internal equity risk and morale erosion.

Intervention:

  • Created standardized level definitions

  • Introduced salary ranges by geography

  • Implemented structured comp review process

  • Trained HR team to manage calibration cycles

Result:

  • Reduced equity exposure

  • Improved cross-entity alignment

  • Stabilized annual comp planning

EBITDA impact: Controlled comp sprawl without triggering attrition spike.

Case Study 6: Scaling Without Adding Senior HR Headcount

Company: 50-person growth-stage SaaS
Problem: No VP of People. HR Manager overwhelmed. Growth accelerating.

Intervention:

  • Designed full career architecture system

  • Built departmental playbooks

  • Delivered manager training sessions

  • Implemented rollout alongside existing HR Manager

Result:

  • HR team capable of running system independently

  • Reduced reliance on ad hoc executive decisions

  • Created predictable promotion and comp cadence

EBITDA impact: Scaled structure without adding full-time executive cost.

Get Started