Both Sides of the Table

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Startup Mantra: Hire Fast, Fire Fast

Both Sides of the Table

There is an old management adage that says, “Hire slowly, fire fast.” Hire Slowly? I also subscribe to the views that you should always be recruiting (ABR) and when great people pop up you hire them and then find a way to make the role fit. Only Hire A+ People. Hiring at a Startup. Attitude over Aptitude.

Hiring 335
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Startup Sales – Why Hiring Seasoned Reps May Not Work

Both Sides of the Table

Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage startups making is hiring “seasoned&# sales professionals or hiring people too senior, too early.

Hiring 346
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Whom Should You Hire at a Startup? (Attitude Over Aptitude)

Both Sides of the Table

Whatever you’re working on now, the half-life of innovation is so rapid now that your product will soon be out-of-date. In this globally connected world product leads disappear in nano-seconds. Only hire A players. Don’t hire too quickly just because you raised money or because you feel pressure to make things happen.

Hiring 399
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Why Entrepreneurs Should Be Respected More Than Loved

Both Sides of the Table

Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. You hire great people. You motivate, cajole, reassign tasks, hire, fire and push the organization forward. And then there’s product management. You set direction.

CTO Hire 385
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What Happens When Startups Turn from Their Innovation Stage to Operational Excellence?

Both Sides of the Table

An alternate outcome that I also unfortunately observe in some cases are companies who had extreme early success with an initial product adoption but failed in key areas that limited the growth and therefore the ultimate financial outcomes. How profitable is my product or service? As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

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Helping Startups Understand Salespeople & the Sales Culture

Both Sides of the Table

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. ” So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. That doesn’t make them bad – it just means that they know that they are “hired guns” and they act accordingly.

Sales 382
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How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle and Avoid Wasting Time

Both Sides of the Table

One of the questions I’m most often asked by CEOs is how to hire sales people. I’ve written a lot about recruiting and hiring at startups including my controversial post on whom not to hire and my rapid response to the flame war. Call high, and get passed down or; B. The Case for Calling Low.