Leadoers: The Startup Guys
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As we start to get our new company off the ground one of the key pieces of data that we are filling out is the hiring plan. Having been through the startup hiring cycle a few times before, I think we can avoid some of the pitfalls with some good decisioning. In the early days of the company doing things is everyone’s job. Leading is also everyone’s job. There is space for people who do without leading, but very little. In this phase is absolutely no time or space for leader, pontificators, pure strategists, etc. Everyone has to act and live like a owner/founder.
For those who may be wondering, startup hiring goes in phases:
1) Founders and founding employees: Emotionally invested and dedicated believers in the “vision” and are willing to do anything they need to do to get to the vision. I met some of my best friends from these phases at various companies in the most odd circumstances: Marketing guy sleeping on the floor of the data center because the website had to be released at 3am, graphic designer stuck under a heavy desk connecting Cat5 because he moved the furniture himself instead of waiting (or paying) for help.
These people are all classic doers and do not get political about things. Seeing through to the endgame is a good quality to have if you want to be in this category. Many of them avoid working in corporate all together.
2) Well-funded employees: These are the folks who show up after Series A, maybe after an heavy angel round if you are well connected. Usually a good set of startups on the resume, no real winners yet. Specialties abound here: specific channel marketing managers and the first dedicated PR headcount are common front-office roles in this phase. We start seeing some back-end management, the PMO may rear its head. The idea is that there is some money on the table now, and we need to get this train up to speed and put some rigor into the day-to-day. Most of these hires will fit in very well, having been immersed in the startup culture. Some will be corporate expatriates who may have some process affinities (Six Sig, Rapid Results), favorite partners (creative agencies, tech consulting) and expectations (read: skrilla).
3) Grey-hairs: So now that the board has some VCs on it, things are going to get interesting. The founders are going to start being a bit more tense before the meetings and one day they will come back with a really happy look and say something like, “I’ll get to focus on the true innovative vision!” or “I will offload some of the more management oriented duties and really get back into the guts of the company!”. This is the magical point, where money and “the vision” part ways. Sometimes it happens at 50 employees, sometimes at 100, but as soon as the professional money gets in the company account, you are on the suit invasion timeline.
The way to gauge whether the suit is going to work is whether they try to fit in. The ones that do are the ones that will fail. At a very casual, urban media startup, we had a great BD candidate come in and interview with casual clothes. He got hired and went back to his suits…and ties! Amazingly, because he didn’t try to fit in, he got his work done, when he met with the agents and music label execs, they didn’t try to shoot the shit with him, just listened to his pitch and made a decision. His deal throughput was great. At another company the founders hired a CFO from a major international bank. He came in and tried to dress down after getting the lay of the land. His entire dress down wardrobe was 4 Huxtable sweaters. That guy sucked and quit in 3 months.
What is very cool about the Mobile Money Ventures, is that we have all three categories in it from the start. Also, our angel round is Citigroup and SK Telecom. I hope we don’t ever have those sweaters.
