PAUL BOUTIN — You're sucking up to the wrong people. At most companies, your boss and your boss's boss are your only worries. But if you've joined a startup, there's a ghostly trio of power players who can make or break you. We don't mean the office manager — her power's no secret.

In tech startups under 100 employees, there's a lot more lateral power than newbies expect. Your future salary and promotion path must be tacitly greenlighted by a handful of players not obvious on the org chart:

• The chief financial officer. He (or she, despite the patriarchal pronouns) might not even have a CFO title, but "the finance guy" is the needle's eye through which all spending decisions must pass. That includes your raises and budget allocations. If he likes you, he can weigh in that your salary is a bit low relative to your experience and role. If he wants you gone, he'll pull up an industry survey that proves the exact opposite. He can fast-track or delay your projects' budgets and expenses, signaling your in-house prestige to your peers.

  Winning strategy: Always file your expense reports a day early. He'll at least warn you before the next layoff.



• The sales star. Guess where your paycheck comes from? Well, no, at a startup it comes from the investors' money. But current and future investors need fast-growing sales to run up the market value of the company. Every startup has that one guy who "blows out the quarter," "walks on water," "sells ice to Eskimos," etc. If he likes you, you're a made man. Cross him, and he'll let it drop in Monday's 8am meeting that you didn't reply with those screenshots he needed for the Bank of America call. Badaboom, badabing — dead man walking.

  Winning strategy: Every time he closes a deal, walk up to his desk and shake his hand. At worst you'll end up as a sales engineer.



• The sysadmin. You know the one. Never smiles, never types in uppercase. Wake up: His "i read your email" t-shirt isn't a joke. SVUG knows more than one startup where the confidential salaries of senior staff were emailed to select underlings by an admin with a grudge. He can't make you, but if you slip up he'll gladly help break you.

  Winning strategy: You can't win with the techies, you can only not lose. Keep a Python book on your desk and hope for the best.