The word compensation typically refers to financial compensation which is in most basic form is exchanging money or financial instruments for the services rendered or items provided.
The financial compensation in business sense has several meanings as well:
Salary from Wikipedia which is also typically equated to Wage:
A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis.
Executive Compensation from Wikipedia:
Executive pay is financial compensation received by an officer of a firm, often as a mixture of salary, bonuses, shares of and/or call options on the company stock, etc. Over the past three decades, executive pay has risen dramatically beyond the rising levels of an average worker's wage. Executive pay is an important part of corporate governance, and is often determined by a company's board of directors.
In terms of startups it is more typical to see the discussion of compensation of employees or contractors which would be salaries or providing people with financial instruments giving them part ownership of the company and also compensation for the equity held in the company if the company or it's founders or owners should decide to buy the shares back from the people who hold them. The issue of compensation comes into play because the most of the startups are not publicly traded and hence cannot valuate shares at the market prices since no market exist for them.
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