Look at the progress already happening! The number of female-founded unicorns jumped from 18 to 83 in the past year. (An increase from 11% of all unicorns to 14% of all unicorns.) What else is within our control or actionable to increase the number of women-led unicorns?I have been asking this to many smart people, looking at research, and generally pondering the topic. A few ideas to get the conversation started…
Read MoreI recently shared a bold but achievable goal for Atlanta: 10 companies with a billion+ dollar valuation, founded by women, in the next 10 years.
Sara Blakely, Kathryn Petralia, and Lynne Laube blazed the trail and built big ass companies here.
Capital and access are a key part of creating more unicorns. We have some great programs in Atlanta helping to bridge the gap for women and underrepresented founders: Launchpad2X, WEI Atlanta, It Takes a Village, Golden Seeds, Jump Fund, Goodie Nation, Startup Runway, Zane Access, and Main Street Seed Fund to name a few.
Atlanta is currently on record with 12 unicorns. (None founded by women.) This success came from incredible hard work and lots of investment, financial and psychological, from leaders and mentors.
Many seeds have been planted in the past few years and they will bloom into unicorns this decade.
Look at the progress already happening! The number of female-founded unicorns jumped from 18 to 83 in the past year. (An increase from 11% of all unicorns to 14% of all unicorns.)
What else is within our control or actionable to increase the number of women-led unicorns?
I have been asking this to many smart people, looking at research, and generally pondering the topic.
A few ideas to get the conversation started…
I’ve watched great entrepreneurs build businesses worth millions and worth billions.
Are the billion-dollar entrepreneurs 100x better than million-dollar entrepreneurs? Smarter? Harder working? More ambitious?
Nope. Not at all. Everyone is ambitious, hard-working, and extremely smart.
What’s the difference then?
Nothing is tougher than seeing an incredibly smart, talented entrepreneur focused on a small market. Or someone taking a big market and looking for a tiny niche.
They’ve already limited their growth and potential before starting!
Is this an issue unique to women? Of course not! Men go after niche markets and limit their growth potential from the outset too.
Are there badass women tackling HUGE markets? Hell. Yes.
But when we’re asking the question, how do we get more women-founded billion dollar companies, market selection is a great place to start.
The more women that play in billion dollar markets, the more big winners we’ll have.
Shout out to the brilliant and talented Kara Brown for this astute insight:
Talk about revenue more.
As soon as she pointed it out, I immediately understood.
When someone talks about how much money their company is making, I notice. Even if it’s currently a small amount of revenue, it shows they care about objective growth, they know the data, and they want to win.
Kaitlin Lutz had the great suggestion that pre-revenue accelerators be focused on “making your first dollar.” Making money as a business is a signal of SO MANY THINGS – value creation, authentic demand, customer fit, sales chops, and more.
Revenue is the universal love language of businesses. It’s the benchmark for prestigious organizations and a source of friendly competition. Embrace the benefits of competition!
Why talking about revenue is awesome:
Why founders - especially women – may not be talking about revenue:
Those are hypotheses. What I know for sure is that men are talking about their revenue and experienced women founders are too. There’s no reason not to!
I’ve started to ask more women founders, what’s your revenue? (with an explanation of why I’m asking.)
How many more unicorns could we create if we normalized the conversation around revenue, friendly competition, and growing high-value businesses among women?
Did you know working women, especially mothers, are still doing the bulk of household management? Women spend 4 hrs/day on unpaid work while men spend 2.5 hrs/day.
Put another way – that’s 546 fewer hours per year to start and grow their unicorn.
This “second shift” takes time and mental energy, and outsourcing this work is expensive. (Salary.com estimated it would take $178,201 to outsource a stay-at-home parent’s work.)
Imagine what we could unlock with affordable, trusted options for:
SHOUTOUT to MyPanda helping to solve this exact problem. Thank you, Tamara Lucas!
More convenient and affordable caretaker and home management options would help women — and men — start more billion dollar companies!
If you’ve known me for a bit, you’ve probably seen me share or talk about this research:
The Real Reason Female Founders Get Less Funding
What I love is that with preparation and understanding, you can overcome downside questions and turn them to your advantage!
You can raise 14x more money – regardless of gender – if you answer downside questions with upside answers.
It’s a fantastic sales and leadership skill to see and explain things in a simple, positive, big picture way.
I immediately notice when someone explains their business confidently and concisely in an easy to understand way. Or when they have clear, forward-looking responses to typical “downside” questions from investors.
Listen carefully for great sound bites from others and practice your own!
Want to go even deeper? Mark your cal for July 13 for a fun workshop with Women + Tech where we practice upside/downside scenarios in all areas of life. (Men welcome! It’s a universal topic.)
I had an interesting conversation with an extremely talented, ambitious woman who had already been successful in corporate America, a high growth startup, and her first entrepreneurial venture.
I asked her about her goals and she said she’d love to start and grow a company of 100 employees.
Why not bigger, I asked.
She said she was worried about the responsibility: “I wouldn’t want so many people’s livelihoods dependent on me.”
We talked about the potential to help thousands instead of hundreds by creating meaningful work and good paying jobs. And just by asking the question, she started to rethink her goal from “no more than one hundred” to “why not thousands?”
Does she have to create a unicorn to make a meaningful contribution to the world? Of course not! She’s already touched hundreds if not thousands of lives with her work.
But if she’s going to start a 100 person business, why not make it a unicorn? ;)
To the loyal readers who know that Friday (FriDaily, if you will) is our normal publishing day, thanks for checking in.
Action-packed startup content will be in back in your inbox next week!
Need vacation inspiration? Here’s Tom and Donna:
It’s Women’s History Month and The O’Daily is all in. We’re building on last week’s career wisdom with 13 fantastic book recommendations from women leaders. Check out what the best CEOs, investors, innovators, and global leaders are reading and why.
Read MoreIt’s Women’s History Month and The O’Daily is all in. We’re building on last week’s career wisdom with 13 fantastic book recommendations from women leaders. Check out what the best CEOs, investors, innovators, and global leaders are reading and why.
By Tara Brach
So much of the startup experience for me has been managing my emotions, energy.... existence, really. Getting (and staying) over the sense that I'm not good enough, in all of the many ways that fear shows up, is one of the biggest unlocks I've found as a founder.
- Angela Ferrante, CEO of Laudable
By James Clear
This book changed the way I thought about setting goals. Instead of simply setting a goal, I now set habits that will help me achieve that goal. I encourage friends and family to write down a description of the person they want to be a year from now and then write down that person's habits. What time do they wake up? What's their morning routine? Then, slowly start to adopt those habits and watch your life transform.
- Shante Frazier, CEO of WellCapped
(Kathryn: +100. Atomic Habits is one of the goal-domination strategies here.)
By Britt Bennett
A favorite since I started reading more during the pandemic. It's a great story about different perceptions and perspectives of race and identity.
- Eileen Lee, Co-founder of The Lola
By Gino Wickman
Must read for any entrepreneur! Practical, tactical advice to building and leading a scaling, sustainable business.
- Karen Houghton, CEO of Infinite Giving
By Elizabeth Lesser
This book made me realize that so much of how society and business is shaped is deeply rooted in history, biology, and more. Sometimes systems need to be rocked. Lesser’s message is "when women are the storytellers, the human story changes."
- Sara Saxner-Coughlin, Head of Platform at Overline
By Michael Gelb
Fantastic book on the creative and learning process.
- Amelia Schaffner, Director of Emory Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
By Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Inspiring stories about women’s rights across the globe.
- Elizabeth Feidler, Principal at Noro-Moseley
By Margaret Heffernan
She’s also a TedTalk speaker and it’s funny as all get out!
- Jacqui Chew, CMO at Liquid
By Brene Brown
The most real assessment of the human condition and what it means to be living your best life.
- Angela Fusaro, CEO of Physician360
By John Doerr
This is by far the best book I have ever read on strategic planning and should be on the shelves of anyone who leads a team.
- Sarah Saadatjoo, Global Head of Quality & Customer Insights at Wix
By Jen Sincero
Loved the message of empowerment!
- Allyson Eman, CEO of Venture Atlanta
By Adrienne Maree Brown
Brown comes at change leadership with so much humanity.
- Blanca Catalina Garcia, CEO of BCG Innovation
By Tim Templeton
An easy read on how to leverage and grow your network.
- Lauren Kane, CEO of VC Worthy Business
Did you update your reading list?!? Same. Such a good mix of business, life, growth, celebration, and story.
Thank you to these amazing women for taking the time to share what transforms and inspires them.
What’s the book that’s been most impactful on your life?
To celebrate Women’s History Month, The O’Daily is tapping into the collective wisdom and badassery of women leaders in the Atlanta startup ecosystem and asking: What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
Read MoreTo celebrate Women’s History Month, The O’Daily is tapping into the collective wisdom and badassery of women leaders in the Atlanta startup ecosystem and asking:
What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
“Seek support from the networks you have at every opportunity and build relationships that can be mutually rewarding— you always have meaningful perspective to share up and down the organization ladder!”
-Susan Nethero, Co-Chair of Golden Seeds Atlanta + CEO Emerita of Intimacy
“Always be open to opportunities that don’t fit into your specific line of work. It’s amazing the connections you can make when you are open and not too rigid in life and work.”
- Amelia Schaffner, Founding Director of Emory Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
“Make choices now based on how you may feel about them in 20 years. It will help you live a life without regrets.”
- Karen Houghton, CEO of Infinite Giving
“Don’t be afraid to ask. The worst someone can do is say no.”
- Jennifer Singh, Co-founder of Understory
“Great leadership starts from within. You have to do the work to authentically stand in your power.”
- Blanca Catalina Garcia, CEO of BCG Innovation
“When you're meeting new people, ask how you can best help them in reaching their goals. Without expecting something in return.”
- Aly Merritt, Managing Director of Atlanta Tech Village
“The first decade or so of your career should be spent collecting experiences and tools for your toolbox. Your first job isn't your last, so don't put pressure on yourself to have the perfect job, performance, or work environment. Your career is a story comprised of many chapters.”
- Sara Saxner-Coughlin, Head of Platform at Overline
“Make your passion your vocation.”
- Jacqui Chew, CMO at Liquid + Licensee of TedxAtlanta
Best of all was the tongue-in-cheek advice from Amy Love, Director at Boomtown Accelerators:
“Be careful who you get career advice from.”
What other great career advice have you gotten? Bonus points if it’s from a woman who is making history!
You’ve found yourself on a startup rocketship ride! Woohoo! Whether you’re the founder CEO or early employee, if you’re fortunate enough to be part of a fast growing company, there’s amazing opportunity ahead. But there’s also doubt, uncertainty, and constant chaos. You’ve never done this before. How do you continue to add value and be the leader or employee your company needs as it continually evolves?
Read MoreYou’ve found yourself on a startup rocketship ride! Woohoo!
Whether you’re the founder CEO or early employee, if you’re fortunate enough to be part of a fast growing company, there’s amazing opportunity ahead.
But there’s also doubt, uncertainty, and constant chaos. You’ve never done this before. How do you continue to add value and be the leader or employee your company needs as it continually evolves?
Give Away Your Legos and Other Commandments For Scaling Startups is one of the best articles on the mental game of scaling.
Giving Your Legos = handing off your current responsibilities so you can take on new challenges.
Sometimes that means trusting a junior person to take over (and supporting them as they make mistakes and learn!) Sometimes it is bringing in someone who is more experienced and qualified than you.
Both scenarios take trust, low ego, and a willingness to put company over self.
At Rigor, “Legos” became a safe code word to check-in with each other:
“Is it time for me to give up my Legos?
“Am I holding on to my Legos too much?”
Talking about “Legos” openly and frequently, including in a team setting, enables people to prepare and be comfortable with the process.
Kyle Porter, CEO of Salesloft, shared this advice at Salesloft in the Studio (43:00) and David Cummings’ also recounted it.
How do you do this?
It’s easy to get bogged down with problems, Imposter Syndrome, or non-stop stress.
How do you keep perspective?
Want specifics? Have fun in <1 minute per day:
Maintaining your physical and mental health is key for the long haul. How do you stay with the company over many years? Don’t burn out!
You also have to be in a good place personally to be a good leader. Staying positive, maintaining composure, and making thoughtful decisions require a strong foundation.
This means taking care of your body, mind, soul, and relationships.
Figure out what your personal anchors are and stick to those consistently.
I know CEOs who:
…all while running a company.
Do they do all of these at once? Nope. Do they pick the most important ones and protect them in their schedule? Absolutely.
And if a CEO can do it, so can everyone!
Being part of a startup journey over many years is an incredible experience. You meet fantastic people, no day is the same, and you learn even more than you realize!
What have you noticed about the people that grow with the company, including the founders? Any suggestions from personal experience?
The Atlanta tech scene is booming. With thousands of startups, 10+ unicorns, and more funding than ever before, it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur in Atlanta. Entrepreneurs are scrappy, always learning, and keep an eye on budget. That’s why I pulled together some great *FREE* resources for the Atlanta-preneurs out there.
Read MoreThe Atlanta tech scene is booming. With thousands of startups, 10+ unicorns, and more funding than ever before, it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur in Atlanta.
Entrepreneurs are scrappy, always learning, and keep an eye on budget. That’s why I pulled together some great *FREE* resources for the Atlanta-preneurs out there.
What’s an entrepreneur’s favorite price?
Free.99
With no further jokes (ever), here’s 4 fantastic free resources for entrepreneurs in Atlanta.
A digital guide to learn about Atlanta-based:
This is the go-to resource for if you’re wondering what is “out there” or looking for a directory of options.
A 9-week course to learn how to launch a startup. Topics include:
Each class is taught by an industry expert with many years of startup experience. It’s a fantastic primer and overview.
The Atlanta Tech Village has other great programs and events too. All open to the public at low or no cost.
A database of Atlanta’s tech ecosystem with a focus on specific companies.
…with powerful search, data visualizations, and filtering.
By WEI Atlanta
A platform with learning content, recorded roundtables, and resource lists for areas like:
Focused on women but open to all!
With Atlanta’s dynamic tech scene, it’s helpful to have great options and resources for Atlanta-based entrepreneurs.
But wait. There’s more!
Next up: *FREE* resources for all entrepreneurs, homegrown in Atlanta.
Think:
Please shoot me a note if you have one in mind!
You’ve moved beyond the super early stages of your Customer Success team. You’re planning for the future. The company is growing quickly with aggressive sales targets this year. How do you plan your hiring for Customer Success?
Read MoreYou’ve moved beyond the super early stages of your Customer Success team. You’re planning for the future. The company is growing quickly with aggressive sales targets this year.
How do you plan your hiring for Customer Success?
Sometimes Customer Success means “Customer Success Managers (CSMs)” but for many startups, it includes a range of roles: onboarding/implementation, technical support, professional services, and account managers (aka CSMs).
It’s a complex equation with nuanced variables. What’s the right number of people to hire and when do you bring them on?
Here are 6 factors to consider when planning your hiring and growth strategy for Customer Success.
When deals get to the demo stage, how many are likely to close? Once you have a proposal sent to a customer, what % of those convert to new business?
The goal is to understand when new customers are (most likely) coming on board and what the impact will be to Customer Success.
Ways to track this:
Make sure you have key information like:
**BONUS** Keep an eye on the sales hiring.
Hiring sales reps directly impacts hitting sales targets. If there’s a big lift or lag in sales hiring, expect to see that downstream in a few months with customer count and Customer Success hiring.
How many customers or how much renewal revenue can one team member handle? If you have implementation separated from technical support, what are the ballpark ratios for each role?
Example:
An implementation specialist has 20-30 dedicated accounts they’re onboarding at a time, while a support team of 3 can handle tickets from 300 accounts.
A sales rep quota is 6 accounts per quarter so 1 implementation specialist per 4 sales reps is about right.
For support, add one support rep per 100 customers. If you have 15 sales reps each adding 6 customers per quarter, hire a new support person per quarter. This will be a moving target as the sales team grows.
Start with a guess - ahem - I mean, scientific hypothesis based on your unique business and customer. Adjust over time as you learn more.
Use the Customer-Success-to-Customer ratio plus the sales hiring, targets, and pipeline to estimate your team growth needs.
Have you filled your open roles? Amazing! Keep having conversations with great candidates.
Be transparent that you’re not hiring now so you set expectations and build long term trust. Emphasize that you’re growing quickly, hiring will ramp again soon, and their resume looked great so you wanted to talk to them asap!
Things change pretty fast at a startup. You never know when you’ll need 10 people yesterday so keep the pipeline full.
I’m not saying only have one person when you need 12. And definitely DO NOT scrimp or wait to hire Customer Success. (Saastr says so, too.) But if you’re not sure if you need 8 or 10, hold at 8.
When your team is a tad small, you can:
If you hire to the max and sales numbers come up short, you are in layoff territory which sucks personally and for team morale. It’s way better to be stretched because of growth!
Building a great customer experience and Customer Success team is not just about the people. Continually evaluate repetitive or manual tasks. What could be automated? Should this be self-serve within the tool? Do we need to update our internal tools or documentation?
Examples:
Would customers buy more if they could upgrade within the app instead of going through an account manager?
Could Calendly save 30 minutes per day scheduling client meetings?
What about a Zapier Zap to push usage info to CRM so we can proactively reach out to at-risk accounts?
Keep a running list of ideas to improve your team’s output and efficiency, quantifying the time spent and revenue implications of improvements.
Then spend time thinking through or discussing the budget, time, and impact tradeoffs of different solutions. Some common approaches are:
Over time, your Customer-Success-to-Customer ratios should improve as you gain more efficiency and automation in your processes.
If you have seasonal busyness or you need help today but aren’t sure of the long term picture, can you go with a more flexible option than a full-time hire?
Examples:
Your team is writing help articles and blogs → hire a part-time copywriter.
Making custom training slide decks for each client → engage a contractor or design freelancer.
Booking travel to client sites takes up several hours per week → outsource to a virtual assistant.
Updating metrics manually on a spreadsheet → Interns to the rescue. (Who will promptly figure out how to automate because they are smart like that! 🤯 )
I love this idea from Levels where “part of onboarding is finding a part of one's job and delegating it to a VA.”
Scaling a Customer Success team is both art and science. You’re looking at your company, team, customers, business economics, and trajectory, while juggling the day-to-day, and watching the chess board and pieces change constantly. There’s no perfect formula. It’s a fun process of tweaking and learning as you go.
What lessons or insights have been helpful as you’ve planned hiring and growth for Customer Success?
Acquisitions and mergers create amazing opportunities for all involved. They also bring a lot of change, uncertainty, and compromise. If you have an acquisition now, soon, or one day, here are 6 strategies to maximize the opportunity ahead.
Read MoreThis awesome Linkedin post from Laura Horton triggered a trip down memory lane. Pardot early days → growing like crazy → being acquired by ExactTarget → being acquired by Salesforce 10 months later.
We were fortunate to be acquired by two great companies, and Adam Blitzer, Pardot COO, was a tremendous leader throughout the experience. It was a wild ride with tons of learning along the way.
Acquisitions and mergers create amazing opportunities for all involved. They also bring a lot of change, uncertainty, and compromise.
If you have an acquisition now, soon, or one day, here are 6 strategies to maximize the opportunity ahead.
Don’t fight the wave! Lean into the opportunities afforded by a big company.
There’s more resources: people to help, budget for hiring or special initiatives, business infrastructure, global reach, potential to scale quickly.
And more expertise: financial gurus, product geniuses, business veterans, industry thought leaders.
It’s easy to say, “Our way has been working. Leave us alone.” But then you miss out on the advantages of the acquisition!
Adam Blitzer embraced and articulated this approach within Pardot and it created more openness and collaboration. It felt better and drove better results.
Use your time as the “new kid” to connect with anyone and everyone. People are eager to learn what you do and understand your company and product.
Dave Duke shared this advice during the ExactTarget acquisition. He was right and I’ve shared it many times since.
Even at the largest companies, relationships are key. Build those relationships early and often. Go for quantity to start and meet people at all levels, in all departments.
To share about yourself:
To build rapport:
Don’t be shy about reaching out to people more senior than you, especially one level up. I was hesitant to “bother” certain folks and missed out on building key relationships. A lesson I learned so you don’t have to!
Figure out as quickly as you can:
Observe, ask questions, and compare notes with others. Meeting lots of people will help with this.
Who is well-respected and a top performer? Who is awesome at getting shit done despite big company pace and politics? Who do you want to learn from? Who has been there a long time and knows everyone? Who can give you the backstory when something seems odd?
Find these people! Hitch your wagon to them. Meet with them regularly. Learn everything you can.
Some people will love and thrive in the new environment. Others will get frustrated and want to get back to startup life.
Each of those things is okay. Yes, we always want to retain top talent but the most important thing is that people are happy in their careers, wherever that may be. It’s also playing the long game since you may work with them again one day.
Adam Blitzer would jokingly say, “If it stinks, don’t stay. I’ll help you find something else. I’ll also leave if it stinks.” (He stayed 8 years. 😀)
Giving people freedom and support instead of hollow claims of “nothing will change” was powerful. Those that moved on left on great terms and many Pardot alums stay in touch or work together today.
Yes, there was autonomy, camaraderie, ping pong tournaments, and hoodies.
But there was also constant worry over the competitor with 10x more funding, an infinite product backlog, and only one marketing person.
If the company had grown organically, things would have changed anyway. Bigger teams, more rules, slower pace, and more structure come with scale. Also, good things like new roles, better benefits, more office locations, and more stability. It’s the nature of growth.
Have you been through an acquisition? What advice or learnings do you have?
You’ve brought on your paying first customers. Woohoo! You’re a dream team of one: sales rep, implementation specialist, and technical support combined. Things are going great. So great, in fact, it’s time to make “Customer Success” an official thing. Where do you begin??
Read MoreYou’ve brought on your paying first customers. Woohoo! You’re a dream team of one: sales rep, implementation specialist, and technical support combined. Things are going great. So great, in fact, it’s time to make “Customer Success” an official thing.
Where do you begin??
Here are 4 great resources to help you start your Customer Success department with confidence.
This article from Atlanta Ventures (written by yours truly 😉) covers:
Why this book is great:
Hundreds of Customer Success hires at Pardot, Salesforce, Rigor, and beyond have been trained from variations of this deck. It’s fun, practical, and specific.
Feel free to copy and make it your own!
It covers:
This podcast is a perfect overview for someone who likes to understand the big picture before diving into details.
Francis Cordon is a Customer Success visionary whose philosophy and tactics apply to all companies, big and small. (He’s been wildly successful at both.)
Learn why Francis advocates for:
Any other recommendations for founders who are ramping up their Customer Success function? What else should be included in this Customer Success Starter Pack??
In this undefined world, how do you know if you’re on track? What’s a normal ramp time at a startup and how long does it feel “overwhelming” before it becomes “hectic-but-manageable”? If you’re the manager of a rockstar new hire, how can you support them and set their expectations? Here are the 4 stages I’ve seen many teammates go through or have even experienced myself on the startup journey!
Read MoreYou get a job offer from an awesome, early stage company. You’re pumped to get in there, learn a bunch, and make an impact.
The company has been clear – it’s a little chaotic right now. But that’s also why they need you so desperately! There’s no job description, performance metrics, or 90 day plan. It’s a “get in and figure it out” scenario.
Or maybe there’s some general guidance but no training, systems, or documentation. Information on customers or the product? It’s passed down from generation to generation, ahem, person to person, via Slack messages or meetings.
In this undefined world, how do you know if you’re on track? What’s a normal ramp time at a startup and how long does it feel “overwhelming” before it becomes “hectic-but-manageable”?
If you’re the manager of a rockstar new hire, how can you support them and set their expectations?
Here are the 4 stages I’ve seen many teammates go through or have even experienced myself on the startup journey!
📅 Month 0-3
You were hired to do customer success but what exactly does that mean? There’s 500 things that need attention! As you talk to different people around the company, they offer differing advice or priorities. New caveats and resources are shared daily. “How will I ever learn it all,” you say.
Never fear. IT’S TOTALLY NORMAL! It’s not a reflection on you or the company. Onboarding at even the most organized startups feels chaotic. Lean into the learning and enjoy the new relationships and knowledge!
#ManagerTip
Set expectations that it’s normal for things to feel hard or confusing at first. They will get more clear over time! Top performers are always eager to make an impact. Point out wins or things they are doing well to emphasize that. If there’s any behavior isn’t aligned with company values, correct it kindly and immediately.
📅 Month 3-6
You’ve figured out the elevator pitch and maybe had a small win or two. You’ve listened, learned, and assimilated info for 3 months. And you finally feel like you know what your job is! Yay! Time to start focusing on the priorities and honing your skills in those areas.
#ManagerTip
Now is a good time to revisit early expectations on performance or priorities. Your new hire will still be asking a lot of questions but they should be “new” rather than “repeat” ones. If they’re struggling with the same things over and over, review their learning and documentation strategies.
📅 Month 6-12
You’re starting to get an effective playbook in place, official or unofficial. You’re getting good feedback from customers or teammates. You look back and say, “Wow, I can’t believe how far I’ve come since 6 months ago! It feels like a lifetime.” You’re in a groove and it feels so good. 💃🏻
#ManagerTip
Evaluate the first six months. If you’re not really excited about this person, give specific feedback on how to improve. They’re over the early learning hump and should be contributing. If they’re crushing it, think about what’s next for them. What will keep them engaged? How can they add even more value?
📅 Month 12-24
You feel pretty confident in your current skills and want to expand further. Whether it’s training new hires, taking on special projects, testing new strategies, or moving into a new role, you’re ready for the next challenge.
Now is when you’re SO GLAD you joined a startup! The early uncertainty was worth it. Fast company growth means lots of personal and professional opportunity. Make the most of the rocket ship. 🚀
#ManagerTip
Have conversations about areas of interest and growth. Brainstorm ways someone could spread their wings. Are they interested in managing? They could mentor or train new hires. Do they want to try a new role? Have them do special projects with a different team to explore the work and potential fit.
Joining a startup is tremendously fun and rewarding. Knowing what to expect can be helpful as you jump in the deep end and learn to swim at the same time. Be kind to yourself, stay positive, and embrace the opportunity before you!
Do these stages resonate with you? What other stages have you experienced when joining startups?
Want to stay up to date? New blogs come out weekly.
