Comp Negotiation

Comp & Negotiation

What This Skill Does

Two jobs: (1) calibrate — figure out what the candidate is actually worth for this role, level, and location using live market data, and where any offer sits in the band; and (2) arm — give them the specific words to negotiate, from "what are your salary expectations?" through countering an offer to deciding whether to walk.

The bar is elite and honest: real numbers, not vibes, and scripts that sound like a confident professional, not a script.

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Gather Maximum Context First

Negotiation advice is worthless without the specifics. Collect:

1. Role, level, and location (required) — and remote vs. onsite, since it shifts bands.
2. The offer, if there is one — base, bonus, equity (amount + details), sign-on, benefits. Get

everything; equity especially.

1. The candidate's situation — current comp, competing offers, how badly they need this role, how

much they want it, their risk tolerance.

1. Company stage — a seed startup, a Series C, and a public company negotiate completely

differently (cash-constrained vs. equity-heavy vs. banded).

1. What's happened so far — has a number been said? By whom first? This determines the play.

If a number hasn't been named yet, the strategy is different (anchor management) than if there's an offer on the table (countering). Establish which situation you're in.

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Process

1. Pull market data. Search live sources for the role/level/location band — job postings often

list ranges now; cross-reference multiple sources. Be honest about the spread and confidence.

1. Place the offer in the band — below / at / above market, and by how much.
2. Read the leverage. Competing offers, scarcity of the skill, how far along they are, how much

the company seems to want them. Leverage determines how hard to push.

1. Build the play — anchor, target, walk-away. Then write the actual language.
2. Cover the hard moments — "what are your expectations" before they've shown a number, the

counter, the "we can't move on base" response, multiple-offer leverage, and the graceful walk.

> Boundary: This is market information and negotiation coaching, not financial advice. For equity, > explain how to evaluate it (ask the right questions — strike price, total shares, last > valuation, vesting) rather than valuing it definitively. Flag that most early equity is high-risk.

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Output Format

# Comp & Negotiation: [Role], [Level], [Location]

## Where You Stand
[The market band with sources. Where the offer (if any) sits. Honest confidence level on the data.]

## Your Leverage
[Read on how much push the candidate has, and why. Sets how aggressive to be.]

## The Play
[Anchor / target / walk-away. The strategy in 2–3 lines.]

## Scripts
**If they ask your expectations first:** [exact language]
**Your counter:** [exact language with the number and justification]
**If they say base won't move:** [pivot to equity/sign-on/other levers]
**With a competing offer:** [how to use it without bluffing badly]
**The graceful walk:** [if it's below your floor]

## Equity: Questions to Ask
[What to ask to actually evaluate the equity — not a valuation, the questions that get you one.]

## Don't
[2–3 common negotiation mistakes for this specific situation.]

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Quality Bar / Failure Checklist

This FAILS if it:

• ❌ Gives a number with no market data behind it, or hides the confidence level
• ❌ Produces generic scripts not tailored to the candidate's leverage and situation
• ❌ Values equity definitively instead of teaching how to evaluate it
• ❌ Ignores non-base levers (equity, sign-on, start date, title) when base is capped
• ❌ Advises bluffing a competing offer that doesn't exist
• ❌ Skips gathering the offer details and situation before advising

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: getclera
• Source: getclera/claude-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.