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FNDN
• Building startup compensation practices that clear, fair and competitive.

FNDN Series
• Insights and interviews showcasing startup people and compensation excellence.

Startup People Summit
• The 1-day virtual summit delivering the playbook on modern practices for building and scaling your startup people practice.

How to Become a HR Consultant
• Sharing every detail of taking a business from zero to $500k in revenue per year.

Matt McFarlane

In 2023 I left my job. In 2024 I started a HR consultancy. In 2025 I earned more money than I've ever made in my life.
 
If you're questioning whether the traditional career path is right for you, you're increasingly not alone.
 
Ever since starting my business, I have had People professionals reach out asking me how they can do the same.
 
I wrote a piece at the end of 2024 that is still my most read thing ever.
- Ten's of thousands of reads
- Dozens of emails and messages
- Who knows how many calls.
 
So I decided to take this as a sign that more people are either doing this, or interested — but they want to know how.
 
I don't have the playbook btw.
But I know what I did to get where I am today.
 
I know what worked for me, and I'm about to start sharing that in deeply transparent detail — down to every dollar I spend and earn. Where, when, and why.
 
My latest newsletter is here, and it's called 'How to Become a HR Consultant'.
 
The first edition to follow-up that original piece is coming out Sunday.
 
Get it hot off the press here: https://lnkd.in/gCrNXM-n

Building startup compensation practices 👉 Compensation Philosophy + Job levels + Salary bands.

Here's every salary I ever earned, and the 2 things it taught me companies get wrong with how they pay.
 
Job 1: HR Assistant — $50,000
Job 2: HR Coordinator — $57,000
Job 3: HR Coordinator — $60,000
Job 4: HR Business Partner — $68,000
Job 5: People & Culture Advisor — $66,000
Job 6: Senior People Operations Advisor — $95,000
Job 7: People & Culture Manager — $88,000
Job 8: People & Culture Director — $165,000
Job 9: Head of People — $150,000
Job 10: Senior Director of People Operations — $170,000
Job 11: Director of People Operations — $200,000
Job 12: Senior Director of People Experience — $230,000
 
When I reflect on these roles and the salary I earned, I think of two things.
 
1. Money definitely isn't everything (I took pay cuts for jobs).
 
2. I wouldn't have achieved the heights in salary I did, if I didn't change employer — frequently.
 
Time and time again, I see companies get this wrong by doing the following things:
They don't realise that salary gets people in the door, but growth keeps them there.

Their pay practices for current people doesn't keep pace with the pay practices for new people.
 
I took lower paying jobs because I felt like I'd stagnated. 

'One step back, two steps forward' was my thinking.
 
I also took jobs because I got fed up with 1-2% pay increase year-on-year, when the market (and my value) were moving faster.
 
The two work in tandem.
 
Money isn't everything, but that doesn't mean you can take your eye off it.
 
What role does salary play for you in your career?

Here's the roadmap every Head of People needs to grow their compensation practices and scale their startup (incl. some free resources).
 
Compensation is easily one of the most critical enablers of your business, which means it's a critical focus for you as Head of People.
 
Here is the maturity model you can follow for growing your compensation practices and scaling your company.
 
<50 people:
 
You're likely not in need of a lot of structure, but you do need to know the salary you have to offer to get people in the door.
 
– Here's 20+ free compensation benchmarks to start pricing those roles: https://lnkd.in/gnHDSVt3
 
50-100 people:
 
You're starting to mature and you need to define how you want to pay as an organisation.

You need a compensation philosophy to define your market position.
 
– Here's 20+ compensation philosophies you can use as inspiration for yours: https://lnkd.in/gSSHpyqV
 
– Need help actually building it? Here's the only playbook you'll need: https://lnkd.in/gNNch7m4
 
You need a job level framework to help you define and plan your org.
 
– Read how to develop one here: https://lnkd.in/gZZkPDVU
 
🪴 100-250 people:
 
Time to get serious about how you benchmark, and use something more robust to find the right salary.
 
– Here's every benchmark provider you need to know about: https://lnkd.in/gWNcYWN6
 
– But there's a lot, so if you need help actually choosing one, here's the playbook for that: https://lnkd.in/gQuMuMc4
 
🌲 250+ people:
 
You're getting to the meaty part of compensation management, with a significant cohort and higher expectations.
 
Time to consider getting out of spreadsheets and leveraging software that can help you administer compensation fairly and accurately.
 
Consider the following tools:
• Some of the vendors in the previous step handle compensation management, like Ravio or Pave
• HRIS like HiBob have a great integrated compensation module
 
Or, use a point solution like:
– CandorIQ, or
– Stello Inc.
 
Which stage are you at and what has been most important for you?

My brain on

31st Dec: health and wellbeing should be a priority next year
1st Jan: why aren't you a millionaire yet? time to hustle b*tch

It's the start of the year. If you're like most of us, you're starting to think about what you get paid and how to have that conversation with your manager.
 
Just in time for 2026, I jumped on the This is Work podcast with Shelley Johnson to chat about everything to do with:
- Your pay,
- Your benefits, and
- How to actually have a conversation about your value (oof)

We tackle a heap of other topics too, including job hugging (what even is it?), why it's dangerous for employee and companies alike, and crucially, what everyone can do about it.
 
We also talk about why pay conversations are such a drag and how to make them that much more manageable.
 
If you're questioning your worth, or your employees are questioning theirs AND you want to know how to deal with it, this will be worth a listen.
 
And you're in luck, This is Work is on YouTube and Spotify, so if you tire of seeing my face (understandable) you can switch to my dulcet tone's, instead.
 
Spotify: 
https://lnkd.in/giZY9pAB 

YouTube: 
https://lnkd.in/gPwtG5fh

Skills based compensation is becoming more popular, but there’s one skill I’m yet to see, and its paid more than AI engineers.

Put your hand up if you know how to fold a fitted sheet? 

That’s right. You don’t. 

And if you think you do. You don’t. 

But the people with this skill set are arguably worth top 1% compensation. 

Check this out. 

I’d pay $100 for someone to fold my fitted sheet. 

That takes them max a minute (probably 10 seconds realistically) 

$100 a minute 
x 60 minutes an hour
x 38 hours per week
x 52 weeks a year 

= $12.48 million per year. 

So stop trying to climb the corporate ladder like a schmuck. 

Learn how to fold a fitted sheet.

If you're a People person and in Melbourne (or going to be) on the 12th of February, I'd love to meet you IRL.
 
I'll be speaking at HiBob's launch of In Good Company — a community for those in the People profession, spanning all geographies and industries.
 
You'll also be treated to a fireside chat with Elise Morris and Jodi Rosenthal, discussing the key trends shaping the People profession (and how to adapt).
 
So if you're in Melbourne on the 12th, register here: https://lnkd.in/gmVsXhh3
 
If you're not in Melbourne but interested in the community, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gbUWzCZu
 
Hope to see you there!

Me coming into that meeting on Friday afternoon

There's 7 steps you can use to improve your problem solving by 430% and productivity by 500%. Oh, and it has absolutely nothing to do with AI.

You've heard of it before, but I doubt you often *actually* get there.

It's called being in flow state.

And in the upcoming edition of the FNDN Series, legendary flow state practitioner Dave Murphy is breaking down exactly how you can get there.

Dave has helped companies like Blackbird, Boston Consulting Group and TikTok leverage flow state for their success.

And I can attest to this myself. 

Creating an environment that enables flow state is exactly how I've built a solopreneur business that earns me double what my last salary was.

I credit a lot of that to the things Dave is going to cover in this edition.

Head over to FNDN Series to subscribe, and it'll be in inbox for you to read over your Sunday morning coffee.

One of the things I’ve inadvertently started this year is resetting my YouTube feed to only insightful or helpful videos. 

A couple of weeks ago I switched from my personal account to my work account, and suddenly my whole feed was almost entirely videos about things like:
- improving productivity, or 
- using AI better, or
- being healthier. 

All stuff I want to be focus on improving. 

So now I’ve set myself a goal. How long can I stay on this account only. 

Can I fill my time by learning something instead of doomscrolling or mindless entertainment?

Can I watch deeper videos instead of shorts (this one will be the hardest). 

Don’t get me wrong, I know this probably sounds business wanky, and fuelled by a mix of start of the year energy and hubris, but I’m keen to see if I can keep it rolling. 

How long do you think I’ll last?

I help scaling companies actually use AI to get work done, not just talk about it.

I’m Matt, Founder of PxAI, a modern People Ops and AI enablement consultancy working with startups, scaleups, and PE-backed teams (UK, Europe, US).

Most companies aren’t blocked by tools. They’re blocked by:
🤯 messy workflows
😬 inconsistent manager habits
🧩 unclear ownership
🗂️ scattered policies and knowledge
📉 “we tried AI once, it didn’t stick”

That’s where I come in. I help CPOs, CHROs, COOs, and VC/PE platform teams build simple, stage-appropriate systems that scale.

What I work on:
⚙️ AI maturity + workflow audits (heatmaps, bottlenecks, ROI, 30/60/90 plans)
🧠 AI enablement programmes (behaviour change, training, champions, comms, governance)
🤖 Automation and agentic workflows (n8n, Make, Zapier, OpenAI), designed to run in production
📌 People foundations that stop “People Debt” building up (levelling, performance, onboarding, hiring ops, comp, policies)

My background is 16+ years across recruitment and tech, building and implementing Talent and People Ops strategies inside fast-moving companies.

If you’re trying to scale without adding unnecessary headcount, and you want AI to improve throughput, quality, and consistency, message me.

Matt Bradburn

🥲 A few weeks ago a People leader told me something which shocked me:

"We are moving everyone over to Claude, but the team are worried it won't be as good as Chatgpt. You know what you're talking about so can you share something to show how it's more useful for them to calm them?"

👉 Here's what they are missing:

👀 They are used to using AI. They weren't used to a system where they could build their capabilities alongside it to leverage it.

---

❤️ Here's what I shared with them:

Instead of asking Claude one-off questions, you can create a "People Ops Command Center" Project.

Inside it:
→ Their employee handbook
→ Their leveling framework
→ Their Reward Philosophy 
→ Past job descriptions
etc etc etc

👉 Then I showed them how to create a set of custom skills, to use in projects and CoWork mode

Then add them to the project.

🔥 Then I showed them how to do something most people never do:

Let Claude ask THEM questions first.

Not "write me a job description."

But "Before I help, let me ask you 7 questions about your hiring philosophy, company tone, and what makes a great JD vs a bad one."

This surfaced knowledge they'd never written down.

Then they used "devil's advocate mode."

Claude pushed back: "Here's where this will fail. Here's what's too generic. Here's what you're missing."

V2 was bulletproof.

---

Now, a few weeks later:

→ Their JDs take 30 minutes instead of 3 hours
→ Their performance reviews are 80% mapped out on first draft
→ Their team saves 15+ hours per week
→ Their skills get smarter every time they use them

The difference between "using AI" and "building capabilities" is this:

One saves time once.
The other compounds forever.

---

👉 I just wrote everything they learned into two comprehensive guides:

🧠 Building Your People Ops AI Brain
→ Complete methodology
→ Real examples
→ Advanced techniques

⚡️ Quick-Start Templates
→ 10 copy-paste templates
→ 45-minute build plan
→ Worked examples

Free. Ready to use today.

🔗 If you want the links to my People Ops command center - drop me a comment with "AI Brain" 🔗

---

If you want to learn with me directly - come and join the Feb 9th or Mar 16th 4 week, AI powered People Ops course on Maven -> https://lnkd.in/efifaQQ7

Like most children I had a dream. But my dream was different. My dream was to reach 20,000 followers on LinkedIn. 

LinkedIn tells me I'm well on my way to reaching my dream. And LinkedIn is my gospel. 

So I'm here to tell you never give up on your dreams.

Without dreams, life is nothing.

Without life you cannot dream.

Your dreams are where your brain is allowed to soar.

Where your mind can always be free.

If you're lucky I will one day teach you about how to dream.

But for now I just want to share my journey towards mine with all of those who made it possible.

I can't go on, i'm sorry... 🤪

P.S. I really don't care but I do enjoy all of the people that go and post about how many followers they've reached...

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Matt McFarlane

Matt Bradburn

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taplio

The Battle

Matt McFarlane

Matt Bradburn

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Matt McFarlane's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreMatt McFarlane's LinkedIn Performance