(This is a snapshot of my old weblog. New posts and selected republished essays can be found at raganwald.com.)
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Seven Words You Can't Say To A VC
...backed company.
Okay, now that we've got an obscure pun out of the way, David Beisel of Masthead Venture Partners in Cambridge wrote a terrific list of
Seven Questions Employees Should Ask Before Joining a Startup.
Judging by the traffic I get from Google queries, my post Are you thinking of working for a start up? is one of the most popular things I've written. The two posts make for an interesting contrast.
My first take on David's post is that these are some of the questions I've asked when thinking about joining early stage companies. And truth be told, I've found prospective employers are not eager to be transparent. But you ought to know the answers to these questions.
In another blog post, David discussed the importance of being authentic. I'd have to say this is probably the number one thing I've looked for. And when a company starts to nose dive, it's the first thing the company loses. I think the question about replacing the CEO really hits that, especially if the former CEO was a founder and the new CEO is a "professional manager."
Does anyone remember when Billg was the alpha-geek at Microsoft? That was when the company rocked and rolled. Or what's going on at Apple? Wouldn't you say that Jobs may have his faults, but he's authentic down to the ground? How about Google? Notice how the founders are still in control and driving the company to their vision?
Good luck out there. And remember, if you're smarter than the average bear, you may want to seek funding instead of employment.
...backed company.
Okay, now that we've got an obscure pun out of the way, David Beisel of Masthead Venture Partners in Cambridge wrote a terrific list of
Seven Questions Employees Should Ask Before Joining a Startup.
Judging by the traffic I get from Google queries, my post Are you thinking of working for a start up? is one of the most popular things I've written. The two posts make for an interesting contrast.
My first take on David's post is that these are some of the questions I've asked when thinking about joining early stage companies. And truth be told, I've found prospective employers are not eager to be transparent. But you ought to know the answers to these questions.
In another blog post, David discussed the importance of being authentic. I'd have to say this is probably the number one thing I've looked for. And when a company starts to nose dive, it's the first thing the company loses. I think the question about replacing the CEO really hits that, especially if the former CEO was a founder and the new CEO is a "professional manager."
Does anyone remember when Billg was the alpha-geek at Microsoft? That was when the company rocked and rolled. Or what's going on at Apple? Wouldn't you say that Jobs may have his faults, but he's authentic down to the ground? How about Google? Notice how the founders are still in control and driving the company to their vision?
Good luck out there. And remember, if you're smarter than the average bear, you may want to seek funding instead of employment.
