Earlier today I was talking with a startup executive that’s worked for several successful CEOs. Towards the end of the conversation I asked how he would characterize the CEOs and their styles. Easy, he said, there are the product CEOs and the sales CEOs.
Here’s a simple generalization of the product and sales CEO in a startup:
- Product CEOs – They love the thrill of inventing new things and new ways to help customers while generally spending most of their time with the R&D team. Often, they have an engineering or analytical degree.
- Sales CEOs – They love the thrill of closing a new customer and figuring out how to win more deals while generally spending most of their time with the sales team (see the SaaStr post on Hyperaggressiveness). Often, they were a sales executive before becoming a startup CEO.
The next time you meet with a startup CEO, see if you can figure out if they’re generally product focused or sales focused. Most fall into one of these two buckets.
What else? What are some more thoughts on product or sales focused startup CEOs?
David Cummings on Startups 
I have heard operational CEOs outperform sales CEOs but not necessarily at startups.
The best CEO probably pays equal attention to both and just empowers all employees to do the right thing to accomplish the set mission and objectives with a vision. (S)He enables them as people are driven by “autonomy, mastery, and purpose”.