HOW TO BE A GOOD CEO
1.
BE A KEEPER OF THE COMPANY VISION
The CEO is
the keeper of the company’s overall vision. I’m not talking about the vision
for the next few months, but the larger road ahead. The CEO needs to be able to
keep things on course for the current quarter to make sure that the large
overarching vision of the company can be achieved. The takeover the world
vision of a startup usually can’t be achieved in one year or even in some
cases, like Google, in a decade. It takes a great startup CEO to keep the
company on track to achieve that vision. A great startup CEO will often judge
upcoming initiatives to see if they fit in as a piece of the large puzzle for
the bigger vision.
2.
ABSORB THE PAIN FOR THE TEAM
A startup CEO needs to be the personal voodoo
doll for a startup. They need to be able to take on a strong burden of
stress, pain, and torture all while makinglevel headed decisions. You
can’t have the troops stressing and worrying about the difficult challenges at
hand. A good startup CEO will absorb the stress, so the rest of the team can
carry on. He also needs to be able to mask this pain and stress. Not that he
should hide or lie to the team- I’m not encouraging that. Most of the day to
day nuances+stresses of a startup aren’t worth having the entire team worry about
and the CEO needs to bear that pain.
3.
FIND THE SMARTEST PEOPLE AND DEFER ON DOMAIN EXPERTISE
A startup CEO has a great knack for finding talent.
The key is finding people that are smarter than you on specific
topics. It might be technical team members/leaders or it might be a new VP
of Biz Dev. A startup CEO has to have the ability to find these people and make
relatively fast decisions to hire them. They also have to be able to show the
fire and passion to convince them to leave what is most likely a better paying
and more secure job to join the company. The real key to hiring as a startup
CEO comes after the hire. A great startup CEO will be able to trust the hires
that they make and defer to them on areas of domain expertise. It’s hard to let
go, but you have to learn to, especially when the company grows.
4.
BE A GOOD LINK BETWEEN THE COMPANY + INVESTORS
Whether you want to believe it or not, you are not an
investor’s only portfolio company. Even if you are a superstar, they have a
handful of other companies to help and a ton of incoming potential portfolio
companies. A good investor will pick 2-3 new companies per year to work with. A
good startup CEO will be a good link between progress, issues, and areas where
they need help with investors. A good portion of early stage startups that
raise money will have a board comprised of 3 people: the CEO founder,
the investor, and an independent board member. You are the lone representative
for your cofounder and other employees.
5.
BE A GOOD LINK BETWEEN THE COMPANY + PRODUCT
I have this
unwavering belief that the best companies are those that keep a founder as CEO
for the long haul. Not because the founders have the right to be CEO, but
because the CEO needs to be close to the product vision of the company.
Founding CEOs understand this the best and can carry out that same unified
vision over time. To fill in the management gaps a great COO, other board
members, and heads of divisions will come along. It’s a strategy that Facebook
has employed and why Apple has had a great resurgence with Steve Jobs at the
helm. It’s all about keeping the CEO as close as possibly linked to the
product.
6.
BE ABLE TO LEARN ON THE JOB
Most startup
CEOs didn’t start out with an MBA or some background in growing a company from
nothing to something. The best have an ability to learn along the way and
embrace their failures to become a better leader. Zuck started when he was 19
and now 7 years later, runs the most powerful internet company. Don’t worry
about whether “you’re qualified” as it’s hard to put typical qualifications on
the job. You’ll learn the really core stuff along the way. The best startup
CEOs will surround themselves with smart mentors to be a sounding board along
the way.
7.
NO EXPERIENCE ALMOST PREFERRED
It’s almost
better to have a blank slate of zero experience as a startup CEO. If you come
in with preconceived notions and block out the scrappy methods of a startup
founder, it actually hurts you. Traditional education often trains you to be
CEO or manager for a much larger company, not for a startup of under 50 people.
It’s a different kind of leadership and company.
8.
HAVE AN UNCANNY ABILITY TO SAY NO
You will be
inundated with a list of requests from potential partners, investors,
employees, and more. They will all sound absolutely wonderful. As you grow, you
will also have the resources to execute more of them. Don’t. It’s easy to say
yes, but so very hard to say no. By having an uncanny ability to say no, you
can keep your company on track with the large vision you maintain. It will also
keep your team members (notice I don’t like to use the word “employees”) laser
focused and feel more rewarded as they are able to focus on one thing for a
good chunk of time. I’ve seen too many startups sink because the CEO keeps
changing what the head of product and engineering should be doing.
9.
HAVE SOME TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLSET
A good
startup CEO shouldn’t be afraid of a little bit of code and a text editor. They
don’t need to be diving into the source code on a daily basis, but they need to
understand the technical requirements. It’s easy to say “go build this”, but
it’s a whole other ball game to understand how to build it. What seems simple
may be a huge mountain of a technical feat that just isn’t feasible with the
given resources and deadlines. It can also help lend some street cred with
hiring early technical team members too.
10. BE ABLE TO BREAK THINGS
DOWN INTO SIZABLE CHUNKS + MILESTONES
Remember
that huge unwavering vision that you are the keeper of? Odds are it only makes
sense to you and your cofounder. You will need to break it up into sizable
chunks and milestones for the rest of the team to understand it. You also need
to be able to pick when and where to conquer things strategically. What is the
past of least resistance so you can gain traction? What can you do first with
your given resources?
11. HAVE THE ABILITY TO
CALL AN AUDIBLE
Nothing goes
according to plan. Things fall through, people quit, shit happens, servers
crash, and other random things go bump in the night. You’re going to have to
deal with it and fast. This is a football term:
“Seen when the quarterback goes up
to the line of scrimmage, sees a defensive alignment he wasn’t expecting, and
adjusts by yelling out a new play.”
You’re going to come up against
things that you didn’t expect and just be able to call an audible. Launch
faster, spend more money here, or even abandon a project.
12. CAN MOTIVATE THE TEAM
THROUGH DESPAIR
People love
to talk in this business. People love to talk even more when you’re company
isn’t fairing well. A great CEO will be able to take those moments of public
despair and keep the company focused. They will be able to debunk the rumors or
even approach them head on by keeping the members of the company focused on the
bigger mission at hand. It can come in simple 5 minute talks or motivational
emails. The worst thing you can do is avoid the situation and be passive
aggressive. I repeat: DO NOT WUSS OUT.
13. BE A GREAT COMMUNICATOR
You need to
be able to portray the energy and passion that you feel into others…over and
over and over and over and over and over again on a daily basis. As a startup
founder you need to communicate the vision and hope for the future of your
startup to the rest of the world. You need to be able to break down the overall
vision of the company into something that mere mortals can understand. You
can’t speak in crazy technical jargon or industry terms. It needs to be simple,
clear, and compelling. You also need to be able to argue your point. Many will
pick “fights” with you just to see how strong willed you are. Be respectful,
but be very confident in your answer. Often wrong, but never in doubt my
friend.
14. DON’T BE A “FAKE CEO”
Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, makes a
strong case for not being a fake ceo. In short, worry about things that
produce results, not fame. If it’s between going to a conference/doing an
interview or completing a deal, get the deal done. Don’t “leave it to someone
else”. You need to get your hands dirty every single day.
By no means is this an exhaustive or
definitive list. In some cases, the traits listed above might be
counter-intuitive. What are some traits you’ve seen in great founding startup
CEOs? Not the glamorous job you thought it was, eh?
Sumber:
http://jasonlbaptiste.com/featured-articles/14-ways-to-be-a-great-startup-ceo/
