Chro Advisor
Structures compensation philosophy, salary bands, equity, and refresh processes when you are hiring or formalizing pay as an indie-founded company.
Overview
chro-advisor is an agent skill most often used in Operate (also Grow, Validate) that guides salary bands, equity design, total comp modeling, and comp philosophy for small companies.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills --skill chro-advisorWhat is this skill?
- Defines five comp-philosophy decisions including market percentile targets P25 through P90+
- Models total comp components: base, variable, equity, benefits, L&D, and remote allowances
- Recommends internal pay-band transparency and annual or six-month band refreshes
- Covers salary bands, equity design, total comp modeling, and raise or refresh processes
- Frames ambiguity in comp philosophy as pay-equity and trust risk
- Five comp-philosophy decisions framework
Adoption & trust: 527 installs on skills.sh; 17.5k GitHub stars; 2/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You are hiring or scaling a team but lack a written comp philosophy, bands, and refresh rules, so offers feel arbitrary and equity risk grows.
Who is it for?
Indie founders who just started hiring employees or contractors at scale and need structured compensation decisions.
Skip if: Solo builders with no plans to hire who only need product pricing pages or freelance invoice rates without org comp design.
When should I use this skill?
Designing or updating compensation philosophy, salary bands, equity packages, or raise and refresh processes for a hiring team.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get explicit comp philosophy choices, band structure, and refresh guidance your agent can turn into internal policy drafts.
- Comp philosophy outline
- Salary band and equity design drafts
- Raise or refresh process checklist
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Compensation frameworks matter most in Operate when you run a growing team and must keep bands fair, documented, and legally defensible. Iterate is where org design, pay equity, and comp refresh cycles are adjusted as the business scales beyond solo founder mode.
Where it fits
Draft internal pay bands and transparency policy before your fifth hire.
Model refresh and raise rules to reduce flight risk after 18 months.
Sanity-check whether planned headcount fits margin assumptions before full build.
How it compares
Use for compensation strategy reference, not automated payroll APIs or generic startup brainstorming.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is chro-advisor for?
Founders and operators at small companies who need compensation philosophy, bands, equity design, and refresh processes spelled out for agent-assisted drafting.
When should I use chro-advisor?
In Operate when iterating hiring and pay systems, in Grow when retention and total comp affect growth, and in Validate when modeling whether you can afford planned roles.
Is chro-advisor safe to install?
Treat comp advice as sensitive; review the Security Audits panel on this page and never paste live salary or equity data into untrusted workflows.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Chro Advisor
# Compensation Frameworks Reference Salary bands, equity design, total comp modeling, comp philosophy, and raise/refresh processes. --- ## Comp Philosophy — The Foundation Before building bands, define your philosophy. Ambiguity in comp philosophy = pay equity lawsuits and trust erosion. **The five decisions:** ### 1. What market percentile do you target? - **P25 (below market):** Only viable with exceptional mission, equity, or growth opportunity. Flight risk is high after 18 months. - **P50 (market median):** Standard for most Series A–B companies. Competitive without premium. - **P75 (above market):** Premium talent strategy. Used by high-margin or talent-intensive businesses. Netflix model. - **P90+:** Top-of-market for specific functions (ML at AI companies, senior engineers at FAANG feeders). **Common hybrid:** P50 base + above-market equity = total comp at P65–75. ### 2. What's in your total comp package? Define each component explicitly: - **Base salary** — cash, market-benchmarked - **Variable / bonus** — % of base, tied to what criteria - **Equity** — options vs. RSUs, vesting schedule, refresh cadence - **Benefits** — health, retirement, PTO policy - **Learning & development budget** - **Remote/location allowances** ### 3. Are bands public internally? Recommended: Yes. Pay transparency reduces equity complaints, builds trust, and forces you to maintain clean bands. ### 4. How often do you refresh bands? Minimum: annually. High-growth markets: every 6 months (engineering specifically in hot markets). ### 5. How do you handle individual negotiation? Options: - **Fixed bands, no negotiation** (Buffer model) — simple, fair, loses some candidates - **Band range with manager discretion** — most common, requires calibration guardrails - **Individual negotiation within band** — flexible, creates pay equity drift over time --- ## Salary Bands: Construction ### Step 1: Define levels Standard IC levels (adapt to company): | Level | Title example | Scope | |-------|--------------|-------| | L1 | Junior / Associate | Execution with guidance | | L2 | Mid-level | Independent execution | | L3 | Senior | Leads workstreams, mentors L1-L2 | | L4 | Staff / Principal | Cross-team technical leadership | | L5 | Distinguished / Fellow | Company-wide technical direction | Management track: | Level | Title | Scope | |-------|-------|-------| | M1 | Manager | Team of 4–8 ICs | | M2 | Senior Manager | Manager of managers or larger team | | M3 | Director | Function or large org | | M4 | VP | Business unit, company-wide | | M5 | SVP / C-Suite | Executive | ### Step 2: Gather market data **Data sources (by quality):** 1. **Radford / Aon** — Gold standard. Expensive ($10K+/year). Worth it at Series B+. 2. **Levels.fyi** — Excellent for engineering. Free. Self-reported but large sample. 3. **Glassdoor Salary** — Broad coverage. Less precise for startups. 4. **Pave / Carta Total Comp** — VC-backed companies. Good peer benchmarking. 5. **LinkedIn Salary** — Free tier. Reasonable signal for G&A roles. 6. **Offer letter data** — What candidates are bringing from other companies. Real-time signal. **What to pull:** P25, P50, P75, P90 for each role × level × geography. ### Step 3: Set band structure **Band width (range within a level):** - IC bands: 80–120% of midpoint (i.e., ±20% from center) - Manager bands: 85–115% of midpoint - Wider bands allow room for differentiation within level; narrower bands reduce pay equity drift **Band overlap between levels:** - 10–20% overlap is normal (top of L2 overlaps with bottom of L3) - > 30% overlap: your levels are too close together - No overlap: new hires jump too much between levels (compression risk) **Example engineering band structure (US, Series B company, P50 target):** | Level | Band Min | Midpoint | Band Max | |-------|----------|----------|----------| | L1 Software Engineer | $90K | $105K | $125K | | L2 Software Engineer | $115K | $135K | $160K | | L3 Senior SWE | $150K | $175K |