Comments on: Do startups need VPs?

By: Michael O'Connor

Michael O'Connor — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:36:36 +0000

Great thought provoking topic, Scott. It seems each startup I’ve worked with in the past has had a different view about this. The successful ones put people into senior positions who had prior startup experience, and they had clear expectations and directives for them. They may have joined with a VP title, but everyone could tell they were not afraid to roll up their sleeves or wear multiple hats – in fact they seemed to thrive on it.

On the other hand, I’ve seen executives join a small team who are not as used to rolling up their sleeves or did not realize the level of cross-departmental collaboration that is so critical for startups to succeed. Those were…ugly experiences.

Still others, with the understandable desire to bring leaders into a growing team, have brought very experienced and excited individuals on board without first planning out exactly how they’ll be contributing. Even if such individuals have applicable and valuable startup experience, bringing them on “just for the sake of having them” is probably the kind of luxury a startup should not pursue.

By: Scott Olson

Scott Olson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:55:40 +0000

Thanks for the comment Craig. Overall I think this is the right approach. Pre-revenue, seeking out VPs just doesn't make much sense. You need your whole team engaged in customer discovery mode and that is best accomplished with your early entrepreneurial team. I came across this other good blog by Sean Ellis that relates to this topic "Founders Make the Best Startup Leaders".

By: Craig Rowland

Craig Rowland — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:38:28 +0000

No they don’t need VPs. They need cash and people doing the work to get the product to market ASAP. This means mostly technical people, founder/president and perhaps a good marketing person who can help focus product requirements and work with prospective customers to refine and prioritize features and prepare for the product launch. Bringing in VPs too early means they will be spending their time trying to build their fiefdoms and may get in the way of productive development efforts. They could also land you in a situation where they hire too many people before they are needed and make labor burn rates are far too high.

I don’t think I’d get a VP of anything until version 1.0 of the product was entering Beta and getting close to ship. Even then I’d be careful. Maybe you can make an exception for hiring a VP of engineering early to lead a larger development/engineering team. Even then, I’d be very careful and would ensure they have a very specific purpose in the organization that needs to be filled.

I also agree with Ken that one bad hire can wreck a company. Bad hires happen. They should be dealt with quickly and decisively before they cause too much damage. I’d rather have nobody in a job than someone causing problems for the team.

Great blog, Scott! Thanks for the interesting articles.

By: Ken Westin

Ken Westin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:15:22 +0000

Good points. Getting the right folks on board early is critical, as I have learned one bad early hire can destroy a company. Seasoned and experienced folks who have build start-ups are important to the success of the business, in some areas you don’t have time to learn from mistakes, so I see where you are coming from.

By: Scott Olson

Scott Olson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:08:29 +0000

Thanks for the comments. Ken, when I said titles come with seasoned veterans I did not mean those with big company experience. If you are trying to get someone on board with your company who has been a VP or C-level executive who has been successful at other startups, most likely you will need to bring them on at an executive level. In addition, if you can find the right person who is passionate about your company and is willing to be a contributor while your company grows, you shouldn’t be afraid of giving them a VP title if it is appropriate.

Hiring yourself out of a job as the company grows is absolutely the right way to go and the needs will become evident.

By: Ken Westin

Ken Westin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:55:52 +0000

I think experience means more than titles. A VP with a big resume working for a lot of large companies and no start-up experience is a red flag, of course there are exceptions. I could see someone like that more with a board seat and could come on board once you hit a certain size. A start-up team is a different breed, driven more by adrenalin, risk and the passion to build something from nothing, folks used to doing a lot with little. That being said a start-up team may or not be the right team once a company hits a certain size as it requires a different skill set that a more seasoned executive can better manage. I may be speaking for myself here, but I believe the goal of a founder is to hire himself out of a job, replacing himself with people smarter than themselves in key areas in order to build the company.

By: Scott Waddell

Scott Waddell — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:24:18 +0000

True, small companies shouldn’t be mgmt top heavy, but a few experienced execs who can help find investors and roll up their sleeves as needed can make a big difference. Feels to me a lot like conversations around development process (Agile vs XP vs …). It’s not so much whether to adopt a process as it is how much process makes sense right now for the business. Ditto for executive leadership roles. If you’re still meeting in the founders’ living rooms, you probably don’t need VPs. If you’re starting to gen some revenue and it’s time to step on the gas, you probably do.