The past few months have been the most eventful ones in my adult life. Most importantly, I became a father! I have been in startups my entire career, but this new "startup," my beautiful daughter Greta, has tested my planning, troubleshooting, and iterating abilities while providing me with an incredible amount of "fire", clarity, focus, and zen-like calm. So, it is probably not surprising that this huge event has also served as a strong catalyst for several other changes.  I took two months off to be new dad and supportive partner (a luxury in the US) and also decided to … [more]

Admit it, it is hard finding talented people with a good attitude, who are not set in their own ways, and who are eager to improve their skills! Yes, we are already at a disadvantage since we don’t have the deep pockets of an IPOed company. But, we also tend to create several other self-inflicted major disadvantages: Using a fishing analogy, we “trawl” instead of using our line to fish for candidates. If your recruiting team complains about too many resumes, they either need to be re-educated or fired. We look for “Mr(s) Perfect Fit," which is just … [more]

The day-to-day execution and administration of a business often takes an excessive amount of time, so the primary reason to augment your team with an Operations Executive is to maximize your CEO's and other co-founders' contribution to the enterprise. I firmly believe that staying true to a vision is best achieved by having a founder as CEO. It is almost always preferable over "hired guns" that can help you execute on the vision but seldom understand it as well and are often too pragmatic. That said, a management hire can be very much a champion of the vision and a … [more]

Ever since I was a talent agent in the entertainment industry, I have been developing and continuously improving my patterns for detecting gifted people who are more talented than they know. One of my mentors used to say: "catch them before they have a chance to destroy themselves with swollen egos and visions of grander". After all of these years observing what kind of people do well and what kind end up bitter with their tails between their legs, I can bravely say that I got the pattern down pat. Yes, when I am seeking great people to join my … [more]

Sales is not only a science, but also an art. And we all know there are a lot of bad sales people, just like there are a bunch of lousy artists. I therefore have a great appreciation for excellent sales professionals. Plus, being an operations executive is truly a sales job, and I have to get a buy-in on any larger initiative. I also have been in sales myself, built many systems to make "sales hunting" easier, and recruited my share of sales people. So where does Darth Vader come in? Blame it on one of the Boston's best sales … [more]

As my regular readers know, I am a startup operations veteran with "battle scars" from 9 startups (co-founder in 2 and early employee in most). I have acquired a PhD in operations from the school of hard knocks after years of being around some very smart people and working on difficult problems. Today, I am going to address some common misconceptions about startup operations executives. Let’s get to it! First and foremost, let’s get the lingo and caveats out of the way, since many myths start and won’t die because of a substantial lack of clarity. What’s the … [more]

One time employee referral bonuses need to go the way of the dodo. They are an antiquated reward system that motivates the wrong things. Yes, some of the most well known companies use them, but these companies end up hurting both themselves and also the business community. Even the biggest morons can waste investor/company money, so enough with these one time referral bonuses! Before I suggest a solution, let me tell you why one time referral bonuses are a waste of money: One time large rewards do not work! The effect of the bonus wears off by the next … [more]

Your operations people are the reason customers are happy, vendors continue providing you with services, and employees have enough resources. Operations team is the "A-team" of vision logistics and their #1 mission is to take care of the organization (feed it, protect it, and maintain it). Not all small companies and startups have operations teams, since a company has to mature to have one. In addition, operations is functionally incorporated into other divisions in many companies and only officially becomes separate once the company becomes a sustainable business. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’… [more]

Ever since I discovered a phenomenal app called Evernote (it works on all my devices!!!), I have been diligently documenting the lessons I learn each day. I also write drafts of blog articles whenever inspiration hits. If you don't have Evernote, get it; it will change the way you work. That said, in the last couple of weeks, several conversations with my consulting clients and venture-running friends motivated me to dig into my notes and produce this post. Since people management seems to be the dominant discussion I am having these days (sales operations and marketing automation are a close … [more]

So here is my question for the many organizations that have an unhealthy fascination with improving the weaknesses of their talent: How was Michael Jordan in baseball?.. Exactly! I started my career as a talent agent. Yes, a talent agent in the entertainment industry. I even went to the top school in the field, Columbia College Chicago, to study under some of the luminaries. Even though I transitioned to the technology industry half way through my career, I picked up a lot of wisdom from several of my mentors/teachers including Irwin H. Steinberg (founder of Mercury Records and CEO … [more]

Folks, hate to be Mr. Pragmatic Realist, but in the emerging company world full of often deliriously optimistic people, I can't help but feel this way after a decade and a half in the "trenches". When I look at the companies myself and my fellow execs have worked in, there is one very clear trend with those still around - businesses built with resiliency, resource scarcity, team loyalty, and sub-optimal conditions in mind are still thriving, others - bankrupt. I am not preaching doom and gloom (that is for politicians), but what I am saying is that while you project … [more]

I’ve spent the last several months preparing for the birth of my first child and thinking very hard about the value of my every waking minute. If I am going to spend time away from my child, my work better be making one hell of an impact. So, I have been digging deep and thinking about what I have learned throughout my career and what I want to focus on and further improve. Managing and developing people is that highest ROI skill which you can always work to enhance. Why should you care? Well, unless you are running company … [more]

I have reached my point of saturation seeing all these quotes lately in the startup community about being faster and faster without fear and finally have to say something. Fear is good! Fear is an indicator you know the consequence of your actions, which is a sign of mental maturity. It is when we fail to heed the signs and work WITH our/business/life/etc limits that we cause massive disasters. Walter Röhrl is an auto racing legend I highly admire, because he has mastered some of the most dangerous types of auto racing and is still alive. … [more]

As I am getting ready for my daughter to be born any day now, I have been thinking a lot about my late father and the impact he had on me. He was an incredible role model and shaped my views on being a father, leader, businessman, and an active community member. As I am preparing for one of the happiest days of my life, I wanted to share a story with you about a very sad, yet inspirational, day in my life. While I was a wide-eyed teenager, eagerly soaking up my dad’s business advice, my father always … [more]

So, you got your compensation structure right and have hired a couple of good sales people (and maybe my July article even helped you do it). Congratulations! Now I truly hope you have organized a sales operations infrastructure and have metrics in place, so you can keep your sales people out of BS and help them move their leads through the funnel. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases, we hire sales people before thinking about how to best support them. We expect them to "make it rain" on their first day, but since we have enough other problems on … [more]

Who gets their head "chopped" if a company can't get traction, hit their sales numbers, find enough financing, or retain their high-performers? Who has to be the chief recruiter, fundraiser, strategist, and often makes the most expensive mistakes? Who has to listen to endless opinions and filter out all that noise? The answer is simple – the CEO! As many of my friend CEOs would attest to, being a CEO is a brutally hard and very lonely job! Add family, personal relationships, and other responsibilities to the mix and you understand why CEOs yet to cross 3-0 mark are already developing … [more]