Set up your organization
This guide takes you from signing up to the setup checklist that walks you through the rest. Creating the account takes about five minutes.
Before you start
- Use your work email. Addresses from free providers such as Gmail or Yahoo can't sign up, with a password or with Google.
- Only the first person from your company signs up. That person creates the organization and becomes its first admin. Everyone else joins when an admin invites them. If a colleague has already signed up, ask them to invite you.
- You don't need a credit card. Starter is free for up to 5 reps and managers, and admins are always free.
Step 1: Create your account
- Go to the sign-up page at earnestcomp.com/signup.
- If your work email is a Google account, you can click Sign up with Google. Google signs you in without a code, so go straight to Step 2 below.
- Otherwise, fill in Full name, Work email, Password and Confirm password. A password needs at least 8 characters, including 1 number and 1 symbol.
- Click Continue. Earnest emails you an 8-digit code, which works for 10 minutes.
- Type the code into Verification code and click Verify & Create Account.
No email? Check your spam folder, then click Resend code (you can send one every 30 seconds). Wrong address? Click ← Use a different email to start again.
When the code is accepted you see "Account created!" and Earnest signs you in.
Step 2: Name your organization
The first screen after signing up is Set up your organization. You can't skip it.
- Check Company name. Earnest fills in a guess from your email domain. This name appears across the app and on every statement your reps download.
- Choose a Base currency: the currency your company-wide totals are reported in. The choices are USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, JPY, CHF, AUD, CAD, INR and CNY. Reps can still be paid in other currencies.
- Click Continue.
You land on Admin Home. You can change the base currency later under Settings → Features. You can't rename the organization yourself after this, so if you need a new name, email support@earnestcomp.com.
Step 3: Follow the setup checklist
Admin Home shows a Setup progress card, and a Setup Steps checklist sits at the bottom right of every admin page. Both list the same five steps, in the order they have to happen:
| Step | Where | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Create a comp plan | Organization → Plans, Create New Plan | A plan exists. |
| 2. Create a team | Organization → Teams, Create Team | A team exists and is on a plan. |
| 3. Add your people | Organization → People, Invite User or Bulk Upload | Anyone besides you has been added. |
| 4. Import a month of deals | Data → Sales Data, Bulk Upload | Any deal exists. |
| 5. Draft your first payouts | Payouts, Draft All Payouts | Any payout exists. |
- Click Go next to a step, or the button on the Setup progress card, which always names your next step.
- The page opens with a banner reading "Setup · Step n of 5" that explains what to do there.
- When the step is done, the banner offers Next: and the next step's name. If you skipped ahead, it tells you which earlier step comes first.
- Click Back to setup, or the Earnest logo at the top left, to return to Admin Home.
Collapse the checklist and it becomes a small "Setup: n/5" pill. Click the pill to open it again.
Each step has its own guide: Create your first comp plan, Add your team (steps 2 and 3), Import your deals and Run your first payout.
Hiding and bringing back the checklist
Click Dismiss checklist at the bottom of the checklist to hide it, along with the setup banners and the Setup progress card. To bring them back, go to Settings → Features and click Reshow Checklist under Setup Checklist.
When all five steps are done, the banners and the Admin Home card go away by themselves. The checklist stays at 5/5 until you dismiss it.
Optional: Quick setup from a spreadsheet
If your roster is already in a spreadsheet, Quick setup covers all five steps in one guided flow. Admin Home offers it as Try quick setup until you've created a team or added anyone. It has four stops:
- Plan. Pick the month you're setting up for and a template such as "SaaS account executive", then fill in the annual quota, OTE and base salary. Click Save plan and continue, or Build my own to use the full plan builder.
- People. Upload a CSV or Excel file of your reps and managers (up to 1,000 rows) and match your columns to Earnest's fields. Download a template gives you the right shape. Teams named in the file are created for you. Nobody is emailed or can sign in until you invite them.
- Deals. Upload that month's closed deals, or choose Skip for now. Each deal's owner email must match someone you added.
- Review. "Your first draft" shows each person's draft payout next to what you actually paid them. These are real drafts, and reps can't see them until you publish from Payouts.
Click Exit quick setup to leave at any point.
Check it worked
- Admin Home shows Setup progress with your completed steps ticked.
- Settings → Features shows the base currency you chose.
Common problems
- "Please use your work email to sign up. Free email providers like Gmail or Yahoo are not supported." Sign up with your company address.
- "Earnest accounts use your work email. That Google account is a personal address." You used Sign up with Google with a personal account. Choose your company's Google account, or sign up with your work email.
- "Company already registered". Someone at your company already has an account. Ask them, or your sales operations or IT team, to invite you. If it was you, click Log in instead.
- "Your company already has an Earnest account, but you haven't been added to it yet." You tried Google sign-in after your company was set up. Ask an admin to invite you.
- "Unable to create account. Please try logging in or use a different email." That email already has an account. Sign in, or use Forgot password?.
- "Verification code has expired. Please request a new one." or "Invalid verification code. Please try again." Click Resend code and use the newest code.
- The sign-in page says "Your account is ready. Please sign in with your password." The account was created but the automatic sign-in didn't finish. Sign in with the password you chose.
- The checklist has disappeared. It was dismissed. Use Reshow Checklist under Settings → Features.
Go deeper
- Billing and plans: seat limits and upgrading.
- Settings, notifications and your data: every setting, including base currency.
- Multi-currency: how base, quota and payout currencies work together.
- People and teams reference: teams, titles and roster uploads in full.