Comparison · In-house hire
Hire a full-time LinkedIn assistant — or skip the HR overhead.
A full-time hire costs more than the salary headline. Loaded TCO runs 1.30-1.35x base; ramp-time to consistent quality is 60-120 days; churn risk is high; and you have to pick between a junior who ships volume or a senior who calibrates voice. TTPA Discovery delivers senior-grade output at a junior’s loaded cost, with no on-costs and no churn rotation.
Four-axis cost comparison.
Sourced from Toptronic’s internal base-salary analysis. Loaded TCO multiplier 1.30-1.35x base across HK / SG / AU / NZ / UK / US / AE / CH; ranges below reflect mid-2025 advertised salary bands.
| Axis | In-house hire | TTPA Discovery |
|---|---|---|
| Loaded TCO (year 1) | Sydney AUD 110-140k base + 25-35% on-costs (super, payroll-tax, leave loading, workers-comp, insurance) + AUD 6-12k tooling (Sales Nav, design, scheduler). Total: AUD 156-201k. | Tier 1 AUD $2,550/mo = AUD $30,600/yr. No on-costs. |
| In plain English: A salary is only part of the cost. Once you add super, payroll tax, leave, insurance and the tools they need (like Sales Navigator and a scheduler), a Sydney hire really costs roughly AUD 156-201k in the first year. Our Tier 1 is about AUD 30,600 a year, with none of those extras on top. | ||
| Ramp-time to consistent quality | 60-120 days; longer if you replace someone. Includes brand-voice calibration, Sales-Nav saved-search setup, content templates, approval-workflow definition. | 15-30 days; ramp covers intake + voice-radar calibration + lint-rules-pack selection + per-partner SN saved-search setup. Documented at /how-it-works/. |
| In plain English: This is how long before a new hire is reliably good: about 2-4 months (longer if you have to replace someone), because they must learn your voice, set up your searches and templates, and agree your approval process. With us it is about 2-4 weeks. | ||
| Churn risk | Median tenure for an SDR / marketing-coordinator role in HK / SG / Sydney is 14-22 months. Each rotation costs you another 60-120 day ramp. | Single-operator binding documented at intake; contractual continuity. If the named TTPA leaves Toptronic, you receive a 30-day notice + a candidate-by-name replacement option before any handover. |
| In plain English: This is the risk they leave. People in these roles typically stay only 14-22 months, and every time one leaves you pay for another 2-4 month ramp-up. With us, one named operator is tied to your account; if they ever leave Toptronic you get 30 days’ notice and a named replacement to approve first. | ||
| Quality-quantity trade-off | You can choose either: a junior who ships 40 outputs/week at LinkedIn-default tone, OR a senior who ships 8-15 outputs/week with brand-voice calibration. Hard to get both at one salary. | You get a senior TTPA at a junior's loaded cost; cadence is 60-90 1st-connection invitations + 8-12 short posts + 4-6 long-form pieces per month. |
| In plain English: For one salary you usually have to choose: a junior who pushes out lots of posts in a generic voice, or a senior who writes fewer but in your real voice. With us you get a senior at a junior’s total cost, producing 60-90 connection invites, 8-12 short posts and 4-6 long pieces a month. | ||
Eight-city reference scenarios.
Pre-computed scenarios at Tier 1 (AUD $2,550 / month). The live calculator at /pricing/ takes your own inputs (city, base salary, on-cost multiplier) and returns a year-1 TCO + a payback estimate against TTPA Tier 1.
| City | Base salary | Loaded TCO | TTPA Tier 1 / yr | Year-1 saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | AUD $125,000 | AUD $165,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $134,400 |
| Hong Kong | AUD $105,000 | AUD $138,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $107,400 |
| Singapore | AUD $115,000 | AUD $152,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $121,400 |
| London | AUD $140,000 | AUD $184,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $153,400 |
| New York | AUD $165,000 | AUD $217,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $186,400 |
| Auckland | AUD $95,000 | AUD $125,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $94,400 |
| Dubai | AUD $120,000 | AUD $158,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $127,400 |
| Zürich | AUD $165,000 | AUD $217,000 | AUD $30,600 | AUD $186,400 |
Loaded multiplier conservative at 1.32x base. Year-1 saving excludes intangibles: zero recruitment fees, zero ramp-time productivity loss, zero rotation risk. Live calculator at /pricing/.
When TTPA is the wrong choice.
Honest comparison includes the cases TTPA does not solve. If any of the following apply, an in-house hire is the better path:
- You need a generalist. TTPA is purpose-built for LinkedIn; a generalist marketing coordinator covers email, web, paid, and events too.
- You need full-time embedded presence. An in-house hire sits in your stand-ups, attends your sales calls, and improvises in real time. TTPA is async on a planned cadence.
- You operate in a regulated language we do not yet support. Our lint-rule packs cover EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, ZH-HK, ZH-CN, AR, RU. Outside that set, an in-house native speaker is the right call.
- Your budget for the entire programme is < AUD $30k/yr. Tier 1 starts at AUD $2,550/mo (AUD $30,600/yr). Below that, a part-time in-house contractor is more cost-effective.