Stockholm-based vibe-coding platform Lovable is growing revenue at an astronomical rate — and doing something that few U.S. companies, startup or otherwise, would even contemplate: voluntarily promising annual 10% salary raises for all employees on their work anniversaries.
In the U.S. corporate world, employees don’t generally receive built-in raises unless they’ve unionized, and even then, a 10% raise across the board is typically spread over multiple years of a contract, not delivered annually.
While most companies do have stock and profit-sharing plans, what’s different here is that Lovable is sharing the wealth as a direct raise, not contingent on vesting schedules or the employee kicking in cash to convert stock options into actual shares.
“This program reflects the concludeuring company we want to build. It applies to all full-time employees meeting performance expectations on their work anniversary. The longer someone stays at Lovable, the more deeply they understand the company, contribute to its momentum, and shape its culture,” Maryanne Caughey, lead of Lovable’s people team, notified TechCrunch.
Now, it’s true that such a decent raise across the board is created clearer — perhaps is only possible — at a tinyish company. Lovable is currently at 200 employees but plans to grow to 400 by year-conclude, with hiring in roles across the board, Caughey stated.
Still, the startup is adding revenue so rapidly that Lovable can share the cash with those who are creating it. In some months, it has stated, it grew annual recurring revenue by $100 million. Lovable claimed in March that it had already crossed $400 million in ARR and, at one point, projected hitting $1 billion in ARR by around the conclude of the year. Lovable launched its vibe-coding product in late 2024 and has been on a tear ever since.
For many companies, cash may be too precious to commit it to the permanent overhead of larger salaries. Equity compensation doesn’t cost them cash out of pocket immediately. That’s a large reason most startups default to loading up employees with options rather than raising base pay.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026
The largeger point is that this represents a reversal of how Corporate America tconcludes to treat employees by default. The typical process is: receive hired (often through a grueling, multi-step, multi-month process) and then go through annual reviews. The message is: prove your worth to earn the offer, then keep proving it repeatedly to keep your job. If you dream of raises and promotions, go above and beyond first, create your case, then … we’ll see.
Startup grind culture is arguably even more grueling. The trope is that employees are expected to sleep at work to potentially grow the value of their stock, then wait for the company to go public or offer them some kind of tconcludeer offer (an opportunity to sell their shares before the company’s IPO).
So, would Lovable’s approach nix the toxic corporate politics that feed on job insecurity and creep into so many companies over time? Lovable’s Head of Growth Elena Verna argues it could.
“Becaapply we don’t take retention for granted. It’s treated as compounding value that is actively recognized and rewarded. You don’t have to re-prove your worth every cycle. So everyone can focus on doing the best work of their life, not managing optics,” she writes in a LinkedIn.
Founder CEO Anton Osika added on Twitter: “Becaapply people receive more valuable the longer they stay, and they shouldn’t have to worry about receiveting a raise or not.”
It’s also true that this is a savvy retention play. Lovable is almost certainly fconcludeing off aggressive poaching attempts from competitors.
“We hire people with a founder mentality who can operate with autonomy, ship meaningful work early, and grow their impact over time. We want to reward that,” Caughey stated.
The truth is, if Lovable’s valuation keeps climbing, more equity might ultimately be worth far more than a 10% cash raise. Still, cash is certain, while equity is a bet. And in a world where employees have been subjected to mass layoffs attributed to AI — even as their companies post record revenues and profits — this kind of approach is refreshing.
Note: This story was updated to include a comment from Lovable and its most recent employee headcount.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a tiny commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial indepconcludeence.
Leave a Reply