Sales comp plans are the single most under-designed part of most B2B SaaS revenue orgs. Founders write the first one on a napkin. Series B VPs of Sales inherit it and layer MBOs on top. Series C RevOps teams rebuild it under time pressure. Series D+ companies live with the accumulated complexity until a rep quits and reveals a plan that pays for the wrong outcomes.
The comp plan is the single most important behavioral signal you send to the sales team. It should be simple, aligned to the revenue model, and consistent enough that reps trust it.
This is how comp plans evolve — and should evolve — from Series A through IPO, with formulas, accelerators, and the RevOps checklist for design.
Bands and structures below reflect US B2B SaaS. Regional variance is minimal — comp plan design is essentially uniform across US geographies. Coastal cost-of-living adjustments apply to base salary, not to plan structure.
