Justin Kan

Founder of Twitch

(sold to Amazon for $970M)

"I sought out Gerta's consult on negotiating a multi-million dollar deal. Her guidance was very thoughtful and advanced, prioritizing my relationship with the other party, taking cultural layers into account I hadn't thought of, and devising a strategy that anticipated multiple moves in advance.

For example, she helped me structure the deal to better align incentives with the other party, and noticed that one of my moves was essentially me negotiating against myself.

I highly recommend working with her."

Our Promise

Have confidence you haven't left any money on the table in your next job offer while preserving, or even strengthening, your candidacy and the relationship with the company. We’ll be in the trenches with you throughout the entire negotiation process in the background.

FAQs about our philosophy

Why shouldn’t I share my salary expectations or a number?

Because you never know the company’s true budget. Sharing a number can only hurt: if it’s too low, you undersell yourself; if it’s too high, you risk scaring them off. The best move is to preserve leverage by deflecting.

On the “scaring them off” part, there’s some nuance. They might read it as entitlement, or they might simply think you won’t be happy there if your expectations are meaningfully higher.

There’s also the part of WHEN you share the high expectations. If it’s very early in the process, they’re not invested so they may rule you out more easily. Versus if you share it after you have an official offer, it may land softer. Though it’s still not strategically wise.

What if they keep pressing me for a number?

Stay firm on not giving one. We prepare clients with multiple ways of navigating this in their own voice so they feel confident under pressure.

HOW do I stay firm and keep dodging “what’s your preferred number” or other questions that I shouldn’t answer? Isn’t it rude?

First, here’s some context you may not be aware of. In many states in the US, including CA and NY, it’s illegal for companies to ask you about salary history because that typically disadvantages the job applicant. Your next salary should be related to the demands of the role and market dynamics, not on how much you made at previous jobs, which is irrelevant.

But now that companies are legally NOT allowed to ask you about salary history, they have found roundabout ways to anchor you to a number (which is disadvantageous to you for the above reason).

Namely, at some point in the job application process (sometimes as early as in the online application or as late as during the verbal offer) they’ll push hard for you to share your preferred salary.

You may have heard of anchoring in Negotiation 101. It means whatever number is thrown out first, it will shape the rest of the negotiation and will inform the ultimate number you end up with.

However, anchoring is a lot more complex in job offer negotiations.

A few things to keep in mind: the deal is not happening in vacuum. There are other variables to consider, such as if they have internal reasons to pay significantly below or above market rates.

• I.e. regardless of how high you anchor them, they may have internal reasons (like not having enough budget approved) to pay at or around the high anchor.

There’s another legal aspect to consider too. In many states in the US, companies are mandated to share a salary range in the job posting.

How to start thinking about that range is a whole other post but TLDR: the range is almost always inaccurate, of course. And by design. (Quick first-principles test: if the range was truthful, wouldn’t everyone ask for the top of the range? Including the current employees.)

What to do with all this? Take the posted range as a small, mostly random, data point, but don’t let it inform much of your negotiation strategy.

TLDR: repeat variations of “I don’t have a number in mind yet.” We have most of our clients practice with us delivering this with confidence, in a natural voice, and most importantly while preserving the relationship i.e. not coming off as playing games.

So is it rude to not respond to a question that’s meant to disadvantage you?

We hope you now agree that the answer is logically no. Though of course as with most things, delivery matters.

And should you worry about missing out on anchoring them high by not answering?

Also no. You’re operating in the blind. Your high might not be their high. Or it might be way too high, and you risk the offer.

What happens if I’ve already given a number or range?

It’s not ideal, but we help clients reframe and reset the negotiation. Circumstances can change during the interview process. The important thing is to avoid repeating the mistake going forward.

FAQs about our support

What does support look like?

Gerta and Alex will be your negotiations partners and strategize with you at every step, including devising your strategy, preparing for calls, practicing live negotiations, and more. We'll also co-draft all your emails and written communications, using our scripts and templates for every stage of the process, which we update regularly based on what’s working in today’s market.

You'll know exactly what to do and say with every company until you sign an offer, no matter how long it takes.

Who is this for?

We primarily work with mid-career professionals all the way to senior executives across a wide range of industries, including tech, tech-adjacent sectors (biotech, fintech, etc), finance (investment banking, investment management, family offices), legal, and more.

We work with both ICs and managers, and essentially all functions, whether technical or non-technical (engineers, product managers, marketers, designers, lawyers, sales, strategy & ops, consultants, and more)

When should I work with you?

Today. It’s cheaper for you even if you get the same results earlier vs. later because:

• We increase our prices if we work with you after you’ve gotten an offer (it’s more work for us to undo your earlier mistakes).

• You’ll most likely get better results. Even the best negotiators give away a lot of leverage along the way. It’s a system designed to extract leverage without you even knowing, e.g.: online application asks what your preferred salary is, first call with the recruiter asks what your preferred salary is or “How does our salary range sound?”

What if I’m already near the end of the negotiation process?

Many of our clients approach us in the final stages, often only a couple of days before the negotiations end. It's not about the time spent working together, but about us knowing the levers to ensure you don't leave money on the table.

We can still add value, but earlier involvement is always better. Every conversation is an opportunity to gain or lose leverage.

My negotiations will probably move too fast where it doesn’t make sense for us to work together.

We save bandwidth every day for clients with urgent/time-sensitive needs, so we can begin working with you immediately.

Do you help with equity offers or just salary?

We support clients on all elements of compensation, including equity, bonuses, benefits, and more. Many clients underestimate how much these can be negotiated.

Note that we also help you negotiate with all the companies you’re talking to, whether that’s two or 10 companies. We want to support you thoroughly throughout your negotiation journey.

I’m primarily looking to negotiate non-quantifiable components, not necessarily maximizing my comp (e.g. how to bring up that I was laid off, my visa situation, I’m pregnant, I want to relocate/stay where I am/be remote, etc).

We help you negotiate anything and everything that is a priority, even non-quantifiable components such as work location, number of days in office, leveling/title, specific perks and benefits you care about, and more. The benefit to you is that our success fee is only based on the quantifiable difference between the initial and final offer, but we’ll still help you negotiate anything you care about.

I’m applying to a startup where they don’t know how much to pay me / asked me to come up with the role. What should I do in this case?

Even the earliest stage startup has access to better market data than you. They have investors, cofounders, lawyers, advisors, etc. They should be able to put together an initial compensation package.

I’m concerned about the equity component of success fee, since I’m applying to startups the equity is illiquid/potentially worth nothing (i.e. monopoly money).

Depending on your situation, we could adjust the fee such that the success fee only applies to non-equity components, in which case we’d need to increase the success fee a bit to make up for that.