pitfalls of startup team building
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Rand Fishkin's presentation from Geekwire's Startup Day, October 25, 2013TRANSCRIPT
The Pitfalls of Team Building
Rand Fishkin | October 2013
8 Painful lessons learned from hiring, firing, mentoring, managing, losing, and working with people while building Moz’s 130+ person team.
No Need to Take Notes:http://bit.ly/mozstartupteam
“You can coach the head.
You can’t coach the heart.”
#1- Avinash Kaushik
(@avinash)
Startups often make the wrong choice
Startups often make the wrong choice
Many startups incorrectly hire & keep these folks
And get rid of these folks rather than
helping them grow
Your Culture Is Not:
Ping pong tables & beer in the fridgeInside jokes you have around the officeWhere you hang out after workA list of company values posted on the wall
“Work hard. Play hard.”
Your Culture Is:
The criteria you define (or are perceived to have created) for having or earning influence
The values you choose to prioritize when things are hard (or when a value conflicts with an opportunity for revenue/funding)
Who you hire, keep, & reward vs. who you don’t promote or fire (and why)
If management is the
only way up, we’re all
f***’d.
#2
If Management is the Only Way Up, We’re All F’d
Team members at the same level should have similar salaries and influence – just different responsibilities.
http://sarahbird.me/2013/09/07/influence/
How Can I Have Influence If I’m Not a Manager?
Let your influence define your role.
Don’t let your role define your influence.
Build a recruiting brand
beyond your product
brand.
#3
Startup communities are tiny and well-connected.
If you don’t provide a great experience through this funnel…
The people who have a bad time will tell their friends, colleagues, & co-workers.
Beware of bonuses, prizes, & other
recruiting gimmicks vs. just doing the
hard work
#4
We Tried Big Referrals to Get Engineers
Original Blog Post from Our $24,000 Referral Program
It Attracted Some Wrong Kinds of People
And Worse, Created “Classes” of Employees at Moz
There’s no such thing
as
10X engineers(or 10X anything)
#5
Belief in the Mythical 10X Hire Hurts Your Team
Build a vision-based framework
that’s clear to everyone at the
company
#6
Creating a Vision-Based Framework
Create expectations for
performance, cadence, and
culture early
#7
It’s Easy to Build Process Early; Hard to Change it Later
Why?
At Minimum, Answer These Five:
2) Who makes decisions on what, and how?
3) What information will be shared about company performance, and how often?
4) How does an idea become reality here?
5) What are examples of cultural traits we encourage vs. discourage?
1) What are expectations for performance? How do we know if and when they change? And how do I know how I’m doing?
Figure out a mechanism
for regular feedback as
you scale
#8
Download the slides:http://bit.ly/mozstartupteam
Rand & Moz on the Web:We’re Hiring! http://moz.com/about/jobs
My Blog (about startup-y stuff): http://moz.com/rand
Twitter: @randfish | Google+: 111294201325870406922