Executive Hire Considerations in a Startup

Hiring an executive is hard in any business, especially startups. In startups, the speed and execution of the organization is so critical to success that a poor executive hire can sink the ship. When hiring an executive it’s important to consider different applicable traits and articulate internally what’s most important for the startup’s current stage (e.g. the team at $1M in revenue isn’t necessarily the same team at $20M in revenue).

Here are some executive considerations when hiring:

• Manager – does this person need to manage a team, like a VP of Engineering, or be more of a chief scientist like a CTO?
• Doer – especially in earlier stages, executives need to roll up their sleeves and do some front-line work. If this is a significant part of the job, it’s important to make sure the person likes to do individual projects in addition to managing.
• Planner – planning takes many forms. Do they need to do quarterly and annual goals? What about budgets?
• Strategic thinker – some roles are more for thought leadership and public speaking (e.g. the visionary type). The best managers aren’t always the best strategic thinkers.

Of course, a strong corporate culture fit is first and foremost with any hire. Assuming corporate culture fit is in place, it’s important to think through these considerations when hiring an executive in a startup.

What else? What are some other executive hire considerations in a startup?