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Quick thread today on the biggest hurdle after your seed raise
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1) One of the things that throws entrepreneurs for a loop is just how quickly you need to level up on new skills that you knew nothing about before and now all of a sudden have to know.
2) In the beginning, it's learning almost *all* skills because it's just you or you and your co-founder(s).
So you have to be reasonably ok at sales / mktg / prod / engr / and get all the legal & admin stuff figured out.
So you have to be reasonably ok at sales / mktg / prod / engr / and get all the legal & admin stuff figured out.
3) And while this is never easy, ppl who can learn new skills quickly and are scrappy doers can generally adapt.
All of these are blocking & tackling skills for building a business. So in some sense, while they are all different things, they are all indiv contributor skills.
All of these are blocking & tackling skills for building a business. So in some sense, while they are all different things, they are all indiv contributor skills.
4) Then let's say you raise some money - a pre-seed or a seed round. Great!
But, what most ppl don't realize is this is the beginning of the first major hurdle that trips up a lot of ppl. And many entrepreneurs cannot get over this hurdle -- team building.
But, what most ppl don't realize is this is the beginning of the first major hurdle that trips up a lot of ppl. And many entrepreneurs cannot get over this hurdle -- team building.
5) Hiring and managing ppl is insanely hard for ppl who have never done it before.
Making the switch from individual contributor (IC) to mgr is really challenging for many ppl. It certainly was for me.
Making the switch from individual contributor (IC) to mgr is really challenging for many ppl. It certainly was for me.
6) We are not even talking about a big team here. Just hiring a couple of ppl.
I think many ppl vastly underestimate how hard it is to hire and have the team work well together and keep morale up.
I think many ppl vastly underestimate how hard it is to hire and have the team work well together and keep morale up.
7) Here are some pitfalls:
-CEO continues to be an IC instead of moving into ppl mgmt / fundraising
-Team has culture issues
-Team morale is low but the co-founders don't know
-CEO / co-founders don't spend enough time interviewing
-Co-founders don't fire fast enough
etc...
-CEO continues to be an IC instead of moving into ppl mgmt / fundraising
-Team has culture issues
-Team morale is low but the co-founders don't know
-CEO / co-founders don't spend enough time interviewing
-Co-founders don't fire fast enough
etc...
8) Each of these bullets could be turned into an essay, but the strategy after you raise a seed is that you need to switch your mode of thinking as the CEO.
This starts by building a playbook of what you have been doing - what has been working (& documenting what hasn't).
This starts by building a playbook of what you have been doing - what has been working (& documenting what hasn't).
9) Playbooks are a way to scale - if best practices are your mind, no one else knows.
Writing / creating videos are time consuming, but it's the only way to get thoughts out there to your team / future team.
Writing / creating videos are time consuming, but it's the only way to get thoughts out there to your team / future team.
10) At my startup @launchbit, for example, my co-founder was insanely good at writing down every process that our acquirer @BuySellAds was able to read that on day 1 post-acquisition and know exactly what to do in literally any scenario.
That is the level of detail you need.
That is the level of detail you need.
11) That playbook writing process should start immediately after you raise a round.
Then you should hand that off to your first hire. Employee #1 should be able to read that and know exactly what to do. If something is unclear, you need to edit the playbook until it is clear.
Then you should hand that off to your first hire. Employee #1 should be able to read that and know exactly what to do. If something is unclear, you need to edit the playbook until it is clear.
12) In essence, as a CEO, you need to learn how to put yourself out of a job so other ppl can do what you are doing that works and you can move on to solving the next problem.
13) Next, after you have a playbook, you need to focus much of your time on hiring - this is hard because you are still an IC. so most ppl get stuck here because they are spinning their wheels doing IC work and have no one to hand it off to because they haven't hired!
14) You have to get ahead of this & interview ALL THE TIME. Have an interview goal in your OKRs - even if you don't have many open roles.
We do this @HustleFundVC - we are constantly mtg ppl for down the road of who we would want to bring onto the team for when we have a role.
We do this @HustleFundVC - we are constantly mtg ppl for down the road of who we would want to bring onto the team for when we have a role.
15) Hiring - you will make mistakes. You will hire the wrong ppl. You need to fire quickly. Ppl know usually within the first month if they have made a mistake.
But they often don't fire fast enough because they feel bad. Don't drag it out. Offer severance to make it easier.
But they often don't fire fast enough because they feel bad. Don't drag it out. Offer severance to make it easier.
16) Lastly, morale - this is your #1 job as CEO - keeping morale up. It usually is tied to money (raising money / or figuring out how to increase sales). But often employees won't tell you when they are unhappy. Your employees need to feel comfy voicing concerns or unhappiness.
