Honestly, I just found out, and I am trying to figure out when and how to bring this up. It feels like there are several good timings for bringing this up:
1. When I've just delivered something of high business value
2. When the company is really needs me to deliver something of high value
3. Annual review
4. Right before quarterly/annual budgets
5. When I have a competing offer
I've asked for a raise, not too long ago, without any information in hand about competing salaries. That conversation did not lead to a pay increase. I found out -- not long after that conversation -- that the post-funding folks make substantially more than the pre-funding folks.
Salary aside, it is an excellent job. I enjoy working there, believe in the mission, and I am relatively unlikely to leave for a more lucrative offer. I think management knows that, which is why they don't feel the need to pay myself (or other early employees) market rates. Management pays the least an employee will work for.
I gave my company a choice: raise my salary/title to reflect the new hierarchy or lose me to a competitive offer. They fed me a line about how the company was making money, but not enough to raise everyone's salary (translation: we don't think you can get a competitive offer).
I took another job 3 weeks later for 25% more money + actual equity (not bullshit stock options).
Startups can be fun, but in terms of compensation, the early employees will get screwed over.
Management is hoping to keep employees happy by maintaining them in a state of ignorance, which never works. That is not a good sign.
Think carefully and explicitly about the decision-making processes that could have plausibly created this situation where people doing the same stuff get paid substantially different amounts. Think about the values reflected by those processes, and the odds that the company does not have some major storms ahead given the people at the helm.
I've worked at a few places where it was against the rules to talk about your salary. I asked the owner why (quoting what Spolksy had said) and I was told that if the employees know what each other earned, half of them would leave. I asked why some people were being paid more than others for the same job, and the owner told me, "Some people are better at negotiating than others." And I knew for a fact that I am terrible at asking for more, so it was time to look for another job. Shame really. It was a good job, but I'd always feel like someone had negotiated better than me and was earning an extra 20%
This is why Spolksy has his tiered plans where everyone gets paid the same (hiring someone at a higher payrate means raising everyones pay)
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090401/how-hard-could-it-be-em...