Five Points Of Wisdom From Turning Something-Something

Oh, Google, You Always Get Pixels

Today's my birthday (Thanks, Mom! You really did so much more on this day than I did!), which means I'm going to get some fun stuff and be in a kind and giving mood. I'll also reflect on What It All Means, and note that when you celebrate enough orbits around the sun and start to find yourself in a different demographic than your start-up colleagues, there are things you'd like to say to people... even if they don't work in your department. (You also get old enough to be a little brave about stuff like that.) So before you all tuck into my Google cake, the following gift requests from outside my realm.

5) HR Departments: Hire the Right Handed Purple Unicorns.

When you are short-staffed, there's a temptation to try to find new hires who can fill several small holes, or have someone fill roles that seem mutually exclusive. So the traffic manager who dabbles in design does that on the side, or the designer who writes good emails picks up some copy writing, or the receptionist does QA, and so on, and so on. So long as its junior level roles, or for low-leverage assignments, this is fine, and a good way to build redundancy, especially when you need to cover during illness or vacation.

Where it gets into dysfunction is when you try to hire for it at senior levels. And while it's understandable, especially in an age where benefits and salaries are blocking agents, and every dollar has to stretch... but, well, there just aren't so many people that get to expert level and beyond at multiple disciplines. So if you hold out for the perfect hire that isn't just ideal for your company and perfectly suited for a role -- i.e., a right-handed purple unicorn -- but also someone that can fill another box with a side skill?

That's, well, crazy. Not sustainable in the long run. Destined to keep your roles unfilled for some substantial amount of time, with missed opportunity costs that can be fatal for a start up. Oh, and with major issues if and when that *left* handed purple unicorn moves on. (And you'd be amazed just how often this mistake is made.) So just split out roles, take your right handed purple unicorn, and be happy!

4) Accounting: Stop Dragging Your Feet To Vendors

When you bill clients, how much do you enjoy having them push terms to the point where you have to spend most of your time chasing them down? Not at all, hopefully. So... if you aren't willing to pay your own accounts payable on time or better, you are, in fact, contributing to the same problem. Especially if you are dealing with small and/or dependent vendors, making their fiscal planning harder is just wrong, and hurts your ability to get exceptional service. Don't do it.

3) Sales: Tell Marketing... Something New

Every marketing pro worth their salt should be happy to hear from the people that actually talk to the leads the most... but all too often, those channels are siloed or closed. Having been on the marketing side of things, I can tell you why some in my world tune those folks out, and it's for one simple reason -- it's incredibly frustrating to only ever hear things that are outside of our ability to change.

So, by all means, keep us in the loop... but also keep your ears open for changes from the prospects, new areas of concern, and so on. We'll all be happier.

2) The Board of Directors: Resist Seagull Urges

You've probably heard the long-standing comparison of poor managers to seagulls, but all too often in start-ups, boards serve that exact purpose, especially with overly strong reactions to market trends. A responsive company is fine, but if last month's goals and means to get there rarely match next month's, you are just asking for turnover. An overly assertive board can get you there in a quickness.

1) IT: Please Don't Take IT Personally

I know that it seems like way too many of your co-workers are just here to create tickets and busy work for you on things they really should just learn how to do themselves... and if you had a dime for every problem that could be solved by reboot or not opening virus spams, you wouldn't have to come to work ever again... But honestly, if everyone at the start-up was always competent in their computing habits, you'd have a lot less in the way of life-saving thanks from your co-workers. Or, possibly, job security.

I can also tell you that some of the best people practice horrible computer etiquette. Also, that there is no corollary towards, say, prompt and diligent adherence to security upgrades and the ability to close a big deal, retain a critical account, and so on, and so on.

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It's my birthday! And you've read this far, so feel free to give me the present of a fresh connection on LinkedIn, or a share, comment, or like. I also welcome email to davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or RFPs at the top right of this page. Those are gifts for both of us, really...