Stream of Consciousness

For us, Founder Friday is more than sharing a cool founder story of going from four people sharing a loft and eating Ramen to being a unicorn. That story won’t happen all that often. That is why we try and think about the things that interest us as founders, and so we like to share lessons learned and key advice from other founders, VCs, etc. 

The above being said, today, we’re taking a closer look at team management. After all, hiring and retention are typically at the forefront of many founders’ minds. 

First up, we are sharing a 2019 Crunchbase post titled “Why Founders Should Constantly Evaluate Their Team-And Themselves.” In it, they share thoughts on…

• Titles and leveling
• Performance reviews and how often they should be done
• Founder 360s
• Being observant
• And fostering a culture of growth and evaluation

It’s a short read with some great nuggets of advice. In addition to what the article shares, here is some food for thought to help further the post’s effectiveness. 

It all ties back to empathy, communication, transparency, and culture. Try this exercise; before reading the article, answer these questions…

• How do you want your employees to describe your culture?
• Does your team understand the expectations that you have?
• Are your expectations realistic?
• What are your expectations based on
• Do we know what motivates our team (what’s most important to them)?
• Are we intentional with our praise for a job well done?
• When we communicate related to failure, how is it perceived?

No matter how bad you want something, you can’t do it without the right people. You cannot hire and retain the right people if there isn’t alignment. Evaluations can be a great tool in keeping everyone aligned and having an equitable culture. It will also help to reduce turnover.

Turnover, especially for startups, is extremely costly. The true cost has a powerful magnifier as every bad hire results in leaders working in the business and not on the business. In a 2016 Forbes article titled “The True Cost Of A Bad Hire — It’s More Than You Think,” the late great Tony Hsieh estimated that bad hires had cost Zappos over $100M.

The Forbes article also includes some great tips you can use to help make better hires. No 1 on their list is something we always tell our clients; “go with your gut.” It’s definitely worth a deeper dive.

We hope this helps a little, but if you have additional questions or need more info, don’t hesitate to let us know.