Talking to leadership before accepting another offer
Long post; sorry in advance. Hoping I can get some insight from someone who's been here before and want to give enough context.
I'm a creative media producer on the marketing team at a small design startup (Company A). I have ~5 YOE, and make $70k total comp in a MCOL city. I've been at Company A for 2.5 years (first salaried job out of college, graduated 2024) but have never gotten a raise or COL increase, and have never even had a discussion explicitly about it. I love the work, we have a great team of ~12 people, and we do something I believe in. Over time though, I've felt the opportunity to grow here fading.
Company A had a great year revenue-wise in 2024 Q3+4 and 2025 Q1 and upper leadership (most of whom have since departed) spent like we were going to keep that trajectory forever (lease on a massive warehouse, hiring sprees, crazy xmas bonuses, big licensing deals, company vehicles, etc.). As a result, our OpEx failed to keep up with revenue once we came back down to earth. Earlier this year we stabilized and cut costs to match our actual revenue targets (something our president has called a "recalibration"). My impression is that the over-leveraging we had has led to no real raises for anyone and I'm starting to feel stuck and like there's no room to grow here. My quarterly reviews have always gone well, but nothing ever comes from them.
Recently received an offer at a company in the hospitality industry (Company B) in the same city, for the same role at $80k total comp and the benefits are roughly equal. Is the work there as rewarding as what I'm doing now? Probably a little less so. I think I'd enjoy it fine, but at Company A, I get to have a big hand in really cool stuff that I really love and care about in a way I couldn't see being the case at Company B. The job seems good though – everyone at Company B has left a good impression on me, the business seems more than healthy, and they've expressed that they're eager to have me. And a 14% raise early in my career is nothing to scoff at.
On the other hand, Company A is on the brink of a round of funding that could mean growth but I've been given no indication that leadership has plans for me in that regard, if that makes sense (those good quarterly reviews haven't yielded anything but a "you're killing it" and "keep up the good work.") so I'm planning on going to bat for myself this coming week.
I put together a document outlining what a promotion for myself would look like – a title bump, new responsibilities, comp up to match my other offer, and other things like getting an intern to work under me – that I plan on showing to leadership. I don't plan on telling them at ALL about my other offer. I've always sort of struggled with advocating for myself, so this feels like a giant step for myself.
Is that the right move? If anyone has had a situation similar to this I'd love to hear any advice you'd have for someone early in their career. Thanks yall!