does stability matter?

new open roles:

• vp of sales @ series a startup with $10m in arr

• found ae @ a series a startup with $5m in arr

• enterprise ae @ a series a startup with $10m in arr

• founding marketer @ seed stage devops startup

• founding ae @ same devops org

• founding ae @ series a startup wiht $15m in arr

stability vs. instability: when and why it matters

one of the biggest talking points around hiring post-covid is has been stability..

is the person you’re hiring or the company you’re joining stable enough to perform?

while there are plenty of takes on the good ol’ dumpster fire that linkedin has become, the question itself is a valid one. but stability is subjective and if we don’t leave room for nuance we’ll all just become a bunch of FAANGs competing to see who can stay at their insufferable job longer than the next.

not tight.

so, how do we evaluate for stability and when do we overlook it?

hiring managers:

stability is a wildly valuable trait when you look at hiring key talent. the last thing your startup needs is a founding team member leaving 5 months in after providing 0 to no value, sucking up cash and leaving customers hanging with unfulfilled promises and a pissed off champion

so what does stability mean and when should it matter.

look for data: they bounced around for 2 years and had 2 layoffs… not great. but did they have big dub or 2 before then or since then?

they’ve been in their current seat for 3 months, but did they leave after a solid run before that?

can they prove with $ # % that they’re winners or do they just have loose talking points with no real data?

look for themes: is their theme stability with an odd side quest that goes against the grain or have they consistently struggled for the last 4 years to stick something out?

if you zoom out to their whole career and see the big picture, what do you see? consistency or someone you feel like will leave your org again is 6-12 months?

look for trust: does their background give you any indication that you can trust them? we look at a mix of themes and data to formulate this. if their background indicated that i can’t trust them or that they’re not trustworthy, it’s likely best to cut em loose.

while it’s valuable to be open minded and i always try and hear their perspective, at the end of the day, you don’t owe anyone a job and you likely can’t afford mistakes this early on.

candidates:

while candidate stability is the talk of the town, one thing i always encourage candidate to consider is the stability of their hiring manager and their founding team.

oh sweet that new vp has had 6 jobs in 4 years and this is the one that’s gonna hit big?

hard pass.

product might be perfect but that vp will leave or get cut in no time and you’re right in the pathway of their departure. careful.

you want to look for leaders that you can:

trust - does their background (not personality) win you over?

have a stable theme have they stayed anywhere long enough to get in a groove?

and have data to prove their success it’s one thing to have been somewhere for 3 years, it’s another thing to have led teams to quota for more than 2 quarters in a row

their background is likely a window into your future. choose wisely

TLDR:

if you’re hiring or interviewing, pay attention to where they’ve come from and ask yourself, “if what I see continues, will I be happy with the result”.

there are plenty of outliers to these kinds of things but at the end of the day history most often repeats yourself. be careful which time in history you choose to emulate.

music for your friday

a lil softer this week and going back to some jr high favorites