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Founder@ Interview
Interview with Kaitlyn Knopp
“If it delivers “delicious” value, it doesn’t have to be beautiful to start. You can make it “beautiful and delicious” (or BAD as the Pequity team calls it) later – but first prove it can sell, by starting out UBD, Ugly But Delicious..” – Kaitlyn Knopp
Today we feature Kaitlyn Knopp, the founder at Pequity. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
My name is Kaitlyn, co-founder and CEO of Pequity. Our business is creating smarter, more equitable compensation workflows for companies.
My background is in HR and compensation, where I’ve led programs and teams at companies like Google, Cruise Automation, and Instacart.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
After running compensation programs at multiple enterprise companies, I began consulting with startups on their pay structures and programs. I realized very quickly that I was brought in to repeatedly solve the same needless pain points, using spreadsheets, emails and duct tape — and many of those pain points were costing companies money, time and talent. These same pain points were also leading to inequitable pay decisions.
I saw a clear path to solve these pain points at scale, so Warren (cofounder) and I built a team and product that systematizes better compensation decisions across offers, promotions, transfers and merit increases. Pequity was born!
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
Pequity takes in a company’s ranges, employee data, and pay philosophy, and configures an automated workflow to manage the various compensation lifecycle processes (offers, promotions, etc). Teams collaborate within the workflow on compensation decisions, and admins can limit who sees what using robust permissions and approvals.
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Every decision is tracked, and is exportable or visualized in an analytics dashboard that shows how the company’s pay decisions compare to their ranges, budgets, and competitors.
Headquartered in the Bay Area, Pequity is fully distributed with team members across North America and Europe.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
I always wanted to start and build my own business. I was born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, and grew up in a small family business. We owned a general store, a sporting goods store, and multiple rental units.
My grandparents built their business with no education, and a belief that you had to leave the world better than you found it. They inspired me to want to create something that helped others, and to take risks when it seemed impossible.
I have a strong determination to not just live, but to thrive. At 13, I was in a car accident, where I was life-flighted with multiple injuries including a 4-inch laceration that had metal a hair’s width from my brain (my head is 40% covered in scars that healed quite nicely)! When I woke up, I made up my mind that with my second chance at life, I wouldn’t be a victim; I would survive.
It physically hurt, but to my doctor’s amazement, I was walking within days, and when they put me in the car to ride home, I sat in the same seat I had crashed in; I wasn’t going to let one moment define me or stop me from living. That’s a level of grit that never subsided and that I fall back on through tough days at Pequity. It’s what pushed me to get 2 degrees and a Masters in 4 years in college; it’s what pushed me to move across the country and get a job at Google; it’s why I solo traveled through Asia; it’s why I took multiple risks founding other companies until I came up with Pequity.
You have to be willing to question, defy, and remake the plans others have made for you, and press forward no matter how painful the work is.
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
Do it for the journey, as much as the destination. You’ll run across so many ragged souls who are sprinting towards some end goal — an IPO, an acquisition, or just another funding round — and it can be too easy to adopt their energy.
If you aren’t enjoying the day to day, you will miss key business decisions; if you aren’t focused on the end destination you’ll meander from the path. It’s a balance and you will feel like you are see-sawing most days, but that’s also how you’ll move forward. So stop every so often to remember where you were last year.
Also, don’t make the end-goal some big liquidation event. Money will come if you are doing something of value. So make value your goal, and you will surround yourself with great customers, motivation, and an endless opportunity.
Hire the best legal and accounting firms. If you try to save money on good lawyers or accountants early on, you will have to pay much more later to fix it.
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
Question the blueprints of your life. We all are born with a blueprint that our parents and social circles give us. They tell us what beliefs we should have, the customs we practice, and how our life should go – but we have a choice to create our own blueprint.
It’s harder to create than to copy, but you can take inspiration from blueprints you admire. Just don’t accept that the blueprint you’re given is the only blueprint that exists.
Celebrate the small things – even if it seems silly or if you’re celebrating alone. Go to graduation, hang up your diploma, do the cheesy photos, and be someone who celebrates. You need to have everyday magic or it’ll be a very long road.
Cultivate yourself in every way possible. Learn as much as you can. You are allowed to be multi-faceted; some people enjoy going deep in a single space, but you can go deep in a few spaces and stay broadly interested in many others. Be creative, it helps more in business than you’d think.
https://www.getpequity.com/
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
People (not exactly tools, but can’t do anything meaningful without them). Hire experts. Hire adults. Fire people who are not experts or who do not act like adults.
Humor. You need a lot of it because when things break down, it’s going to feel rotten, and you’ve got to be able to find the humor in it to move forward.
Unshakeable belief that people are inherently good, even when you have a hard time making good decisions. You can’t take it personally, you can only take it as part of life.
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
Hire the best legal and accounting firms. If you try to save money on good lawyers or accountants early on, you will have to pay much more later to fix it.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
When we launched to our first customers. Our team was exhausted but thrilled; Warren and I couldn’t believe that we had started to build something and actually sold it. It was a dream come true and I was hooked from the feeling of pride for the team, and what we had come together to do so quickly.
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
I have a vision of building multiple businesses, and helping others start their own. I want to write and publish a book — fiction preferably! — with at least 2 jack russell terriers, and friends and family coming by every weekend.
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
We have a team expression that comes from my passion for baking: “Make it ugly but delicious.”
I baked for my family business, as a pastry chef in college, and also ran a pop-up bakery in SF – and the one lesson you learn is that it’s not ideal if your baked good is ugly, but people will continue to buy if it’s delicious. The same goes for any other products.
If it delivers “delicious” value, it doesn’t have to be beautiful to start. You can make it “beautiful and delicious” (or BAD as the Pequity team calls it) later – but first prove it can sell, by starting out UBD, Ugly But Delicious.
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Pequity”
To learn more about Pequity Visit https://www.getpequity.com/
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