Compensation, culture, and cap tables with Yuri Sagalov, General Catalyst

Build Mode is back. This season we’re breaking down what it really takes to build a world-class founding team starting with your cap table, equity structures, and startup compensation strategy. 

We kick off with Yuri Sagalov, managing director at General Catalyst and former founder, YC partner, and seed investor at Wayfinder Ventures. Yuri has worked with hundreds of pre-seed and seed-stage startups, and he shares practical advice on how early-stage founders should think about startup equity, cap table design, investor selection, and compensation structures from day one. 

He breaks down: 

• The 3 types of investors (and which one to avoid) 

• Why your cap table is part of your team 

• The 20–25% seed dilution rule 

• How to split equity with a co-founder 

• How to talk to early employees about risk and compensation 

No matter where you are in your startup journey, this episode will help you get the incentive structure right from the beginning.  

Chapters: 

00:00 - Why your first hires deserve more equity 
00:31 - Meet Yuri Sagalov (YC → General Catalyst) 
02:12 - Your cap table is part of your team 
02:50 - The 3 types of investors (avoid this one) 
05:02 - How to split equity with a co-founder 
07:55 - How much equity to give early employees 
09:37 - How to talk compensation and risk 
12:31 - Red flags in formation docs and vesting 
18:27 - Advisors for equity? Usually a mistake 
20:05 - The 20–25% seed dilution rule 
26:03 - The shift to 10-year stock options 
34:11 - Don’t scale before product-market fit 
39:23 - Final advice: Just start and choose your co-founder carefully 

New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday. Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.