Tech & Startups payroll schedules
Venture-backed startups and software companies overwhelmingly run semi-monthly payroll because compensation is salary-heavy and equity grants vest on calendar boundaries. Biweekly is sometimes used to align engineering payroll with overtime exempt classifications under the FLSA.
Recommended cadence
Tech & Startups-specific payroll considerations
Software startups and venture-backed companies overwhelmingly choose semi-monthly payroll. The reasons compound: compensation is salary-heavy, equity grants vest on calendar boundaries (typically the 1st and 15th, or the 15th and last day of the month, mirroring the pay schedule), and finance teams forecasting cash burn against fundraised capital prefer the predictability of 24 equal paychecks. The 27th-paycheck risk inherent to biweekly is exactly the kind of surprise startup CFOs work hard to avoid.
The trade-off is overtime exposure. Most engineering and product staff are correctly classified as exempt under the FLSA executive, administrative, or professional exemption, but mistakes are common — especially around junior support, QA contractors, and customer-facing roles. If your headcount includes any non-exempt employees, check that semi-monthly periods don't obscure overtime owed under the standard seven-day workweek calculation.
Where to look next
Pick the frequency that fits your workforce, then jump to the calendar for your state and year. The schedules already account for federal holiday observance and weekend bank closures.