Day 27: When Silence Becomes the Message
Today marks Day 27 since I requested the full methodology and report for a study published by the Nextdoor Communications team, with Jacob Chavis listed as the contact.
Twenty-seven days.
No report.
No methodology.
No acknowledgment.
Ironically, I recently received a “Thank you for sharing your thoughts” response to one of my comments from NextDoor Service. My reply was simple: Will someone finally address why Jacob Chavis has not provided the report? (See attached image.)
At this point, the larger question isn’t about the report.
It’s about leadership.
How does any manager—regardless of where they sit in the organization—allow a straightforward request to go unanswered for nearly a month?
While thinking about this, I reflected on CEO Nirav Tolia’s executive compensation disclosed in the SEC filings.
One of the performance metrics still indicated the company was operating at a loss, yet an annual bonus was awarded.
That reminded me of my years living in Las Vegas.
I’m not much of a gambler. I mostly played slot machines because they’re easy. But I understand enough Blackjack to appreciate how winning and losing work.
Imagine sitting at a Blackjack table with a $50 bet.
The dealer finishes with 20.
I finished with 18.
I lost.
Now imagine the casino sliding me $60 and saying:
“You didn’t win, but you came close. Here’s your $50 back, plus a $10 bonus.”
No casino on the Las Vegas Strip would operate that way.
Why?
Because bonuses are generally associated with achieving the positive desired outcome rather than falling short of it.
That’s why executive compensation receives so much scrutiny. Investors, employees, and customers want to understand whether incentive plans truly reward the outcomes that create long-term value.
As a shareholder, I believe communication, accountability, and executive incentives all point back to the same principle:
Results matter.
So does transparency.
I’d love to hear your perspective. Should executive bonuses primarily reward positive business outcomes, or is there a place for rewarding progress even when key financial goals haven’t yet been fully achieved?
Join the discussion at NielFlamm.com.
Following the Money: A Look at Nextdoor CEO Compensation
After not receiving the SEC disclosure information directly from Nextdoor Investor Relations despite my request, I decided to obtain the publicly available filings myself.
I reviewed the SEC disclosures and created the attached spreadsheet to better understand CEO Nirav Tolia's compensation in 2024 and 2025.
Here are a few observations:
Base Salary
2024: $334,615 (prorated due to his May 8, 2024, start date as CEO; annualized salary of $500,000)
2025: $500,000
Earned Bonus
2024: $500,000
2025: $543,367
According to the SEC disclosures, the 2024 annual incentive was weighted 50% toward achieving $235 million in revenue and 50% toward an adjusted EBITDA loss target of less than $57 million. The filings describe how these performance measures factored into the annual incentive award.
Stock & Option Awards
2024: $20,183,196 (new-hire equity grants)
2025: $2,216,555
Other Compensation
2024: $59,008
2025: $2,300
This resulted in reported total compensation of approximately:
2024: $21.08 million
2025: $3.26 million
As a shareholder, I'm not criticizing executive compensation simply because it's executive compensation.
It's about understanding how compensation aligns with company performance and shareholder outcomes.
Executive incentive plans are designed to reward specific objectives. The important questions are:
Were the performance metrics the right ones?
Did they drive long-term shareholder value?
How should investors evaluate bonuses when some company performance indicators remain challenged?
Do the incentives encourage sustainable growth, profitability, and accountability?
These are governance questions every public company investor should ask—not just about Nextdoor, but about any company they own.
That's why I continue reading the SEC filings myself. They're often one of the best ways to understand how a board evaluates leadership performance.
I'd be interested to hear how other investors evaluate executive compensation packages. What metrics do you believe matter most?
Join the discussion on NielFlamm.com.