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… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Operations Leadership
Signs It Is the Right Time to Hire an Operations Executive (COO or VP of Operations)
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… Continue Reading
Myths Why Startups Don’t Need COOs and Operations Executives
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… Continue Reading
What Do Operations People Do?
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,… Continue Reading
Being a CEO Is a Brutal and Lonely Job, But It Doesn’t Have To Be
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 –… Continue Reading
Building Compensation Package: Startup Equity Compensation Framework 2.0
Let me start by saying that building a total compensation package is HARD! This is an extremely important component of business planning, but many executives end up “winging” it. Instead of taking time to do the math and some modeling, we just slap something together and pray our compensation structure won’t crumble. For me personally,… Continue Reading
What To Look For In a Chief Right Hand Person (COO, VP of Operations)
Last week a founder of a software development company asked what to look for in a COO on answers.onstartups.com. Since this is a fairly common question to me, I decided to expand upon the answer I posted and further describe what attributes a great business operations leader/professional should possess. Bit of background: I have been… Continue Reading
How a Foosball Table Can Kill Your Startup – part 2
Since an article I wrote in June of 2009 called “How a foosball table can kill your startup” is still sparking attention and conversation, I think the time is ripe for me to expand on the topic. Yes, I still believe that tchotchke “benefits” do nothing but waste money. Instead, use your resources to attract… Continue Reading
How To Create a Non-Disclosure Agreement People Can Understand
Like many of you in the startup world, I have read and signed my share of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). I have reviewed, edited, and sent hundreds of them in my career, but I am yet to come across one that really serves anyone but the lawyers who charged dearly to write it. So, why don’t… Continue Reading
Time to make HR accountable! The rise of Human Capital professionals.
HR, as a profession, is on its way out. Those who claim to be “good old school HR professionals,” should start looking for a new career or drastically change their thinking. In contrast, Human Capital professionals who “get it” are on the rise. Companies are no longer willing to pay for simple paper pushers or… Continue Reading