The Series A Leadership Context
Series A companies in the US technology sector raised an average of $12M–$18M in their most recent primary funding round in 2025–2026. Post-raise headcount is typically 20–60 people. The leadership team at the time of Series A close is usually 2–4 people (CEO, CTO/co-founder, and 0–2 early VPs), and the typical Series A company will double its leadership team to 4–8 people within the 18 months following the raise.
The benchmarks below reflect what Majhi Group observes across Series A placements and market assessments, combined with publicly-available data from Y Combinator's salary database, compensation benchmarking platforms, and sector-specific research. These are starting points for calibration — individual company situations vary significantly based on sector, revenue model, and founder background.
Median Series A Leadership Team at 12 Months Post-Raise
Team size: 4–6 leadership team members. Typically CEO, CTO or VP Engineering, VP Sales, VP Marketing or VP Product, and VP People or Chief of Staff.
Total leadership compensation budget: $900K–$1.4M annually in base salaries. Represents 15–25% of total payroll at a 40–60 person company.
Equity pool allocated to leadership: 3–5% of fully diluted shares, representing the cumulative equity grants of the leadership team assembled at and after the Series A close.
Average leadership tenure at 12 months: 70–80% of the leadership team hired at or immediately after Series A close is still in role at 12 months. Below 70% is a signal of cultural or structural problems in the leadership hiring approach.
Top Quartile vs Median: What Separates Them
Profile specificity in hiring: Top-quartile Series A companies hire against profiles that are specific about stage fit, operating context, and success definition. Median Series A companies hire against job descriptions that could apply to companies at almost any stage. The specificity difference translates into better shortlists, faster searches, and lower failure rates.
First VP hire timing: Top-quartile Series A companies make their first VP hire within 60 days of the funding close. Median companies wait 90–120 days. The delay has two costs: the company operates without senior functional leadership during the highest-energy post-raise period, and the talent market learns the company is funded (through LinkedIn announcements, press releases, and investor social posts) before the company is ready to move on candidates. Strong candidates who were available at funding close may be unavailable 90 days later.
CEO involvement in the search: Top-quartile Series A CEOs are personally involved in the search process — not just in the final stage interview, but in profile definition, candidate evaluation, and offer process. Median Series A companies delegate the search to HR or a recruiter after the profile is defined and are surprised when the process moves slowly or produces inadequate candidates. Executive search at the VP level requires CEO-level engagement to close strong candidates who have multiple options.
Common Series A Leadership Team Mistakes
Over-hiring for prestige, under-hiring for fit: The Series A company that hires a VP Sales who was Director at Salesforce is making a prestige hire. The Series A company that hires a VP Sales who was VP Sales at a comparable-stage company that scaled through $20M ARR is making a fit hire. The prestige hire looks better on the company's LinkedIn page. The fit hire performs better at the 12-month mark.
Skipping the VP People hire: The most commonly skipped Series A leadership hire is VP People — because it feels like an administrative function compared to the revenue-generating priority of VP Sales and the execution priority of VP Engineering. The consequence is that the company's recruiting velocity, manager quality, and compensation consistency degrade during the period of highest hiring demand. By the time the VP People is hired, the company has made dozens of hiring decisions without strategic people leadership — some of which will need to be reversed.
Failing to define authority boundaries before the hire joins: The authority transfer problem affects a significant proportion of Series A leadership hires — particularly founder-led companies where the founder is accustomed to making decisions across all functions. The VP who joins without clearly-defined authority boundaries either avoids making decisions (waiting for permission that was never explicitly granted) or makes decisions the founder then overrides (creating relationship damage that compounds over the first six months).
"41 days. A $275K search. Two firms failed in 60+ days. That's not luck — that's a different system."
— Majhi Group case study. Read the full case study →