Produced by W2D1 Media. Work with us →
Matt McFarlane

Matt McFarlane

Founder and Director at FNDN

Matt McFarlane is the Founder and Director of FNDN, a compensation consultancy helping startups and scaling tech companies build pay practices that are clear, fair and competitive. He previously led People Operations functions at companies including Oyster, a global employment platform, where he was Senior Director of People Experience. Matt also publishes the FNDN Series newsletter and podcast, co-founded the Startup People Summit, and was named to the 2026 HR Influence Awards Top 12 for ANZ and LinkedIn's Top Voices Australia.
Watch the latest episode Jump to key moments LinkedIn ↗

Career

  1. Now Founder and Director · FNDN
  2. Earlier · Scale-up Senior Director of People Experience (progressing from Direc · Oyster
  3. Earlier Director of People Operations · Rheinmetall

Sources: oysterhr.com, newinasia.com

Key moments

Jump straight to the part of Nobody Knows What to Pay Anymore: A Building Tech Teams Best-Of you want.

  1. 0:00 Cold open: what should a 10x engineer be paid?
  2. 0:19 Nathan Hill: quantifying what AI is actually worth
  3. 1:05 Million-dollar salaries as a bet on future ROI
  4. 1:28 Adam Witanowski: nine companies, seven offers, real numbers
  5. 2:35 US$500k in the US vs $220k here: which one would you choose?
  6. 3:50 Why the gap is structural: funding, hyperscalers, enterprise mindset
  7. 5:37 Claudia Barriga-Larriviere: more productive, or just faster?
  8. 6:15 "What you don't measure, you can't change"
  9. 7:26 Matt McFarlane: the jump is too big, because you've been underpaying
  10. 8:32 Tokens are eating the people budget

Heard on

▶
Building Tech Teams · 26 August 2026 Nobody Knows What to Pay Anymore: A Building Tech Teams Best-Of With Nathan Hill, Adam Witanowski, Claudia Barriga-Larriviere, Cloë Stanbridge
▶
Building Tech Teams · 19 August 2026 Why "The Number Is Never the Problem": Matt McFarlane, Founder of FNDN

FNDN on Day One

FNDN FNDN is an Australian compensation consultancy, founded and directed by Matt McFarlane, that helps Series A-D startups (roughly 50-500 people) build clear, fair and… 1 person · 2 episodes →

Connections

Spot something wrong? Suggest a correction Updated 25 September 2026

Produced by W2D1 Media

Want a show of your own?

W2D1 Media — the team behind the Day One Network, which helped build Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts — builds and produces podcasts for funds, founders and operators. If you want a show built around your brand, let's talk.

Start a show →
—