how to pick the right company

open role: founding pmm

• series a with $20m in funding and $3m in revenue

• employee #7 working with the head of growth

• lots of hats and that needs to be appealing

• no clear line and wildly ambiguous

interested? apply here

active candidate: enterprise ae

• 10+ years in infra sales, never once sub $1m in revenue

• always over quota and always selling to ent

• 2 nvidia acquisitions under their belt

• looking for a move in q3/4

• wants to sell to the ent

want to chat with them? email me

my 2 cents on: picking the right company

i was talking to a candidate yesterday that’s passively looking and wanted to talk through their next steps.

solid background. tons of stats to brag on. good on paper. great on the phone.

he shouldn’t have a hard time landing somewhere solid but even the best candidates run the risk of joining the wrong org or joining at the wrong time.

so how do you avoid it?

evaluate these 2 things: people & product

people:

they say “people don’t leave companies, they leave bosses” and while that sentiment shouldn’t be taken too seriously, the inverse should be considered.

people should join bosses not companies.

when you’re evaluating whether or not an org is the right fit, look at who you’ll work for.

what’s their background?

what have they done that matters?

are they stable?

if you took their current role off their resume, would you want to follow them to their next role? do you like their trajectory?

you have to separate the leader form the opportunity and really ask yourself if you trust them. not just as a boss, but as a decision maker. do they pick great orgs? do they hire great people? do they stay put? let’s say they’re rock solid and they followed a boss… who’s that boss? run the same filter on them.

it’s not about picking on someone’s career as much as it is ensuring any weak points have been tested for endurance. it’s way too common to hear that someone followed a boss who was cut right after they joined. how do you avoid that trap? scrutinize the leadership.

feel like you found the perfect boss? great. now remove them from the equation and let’s evaluate the product.

product:

remove yourself and the prospect of a job from the equation.

would you be excited by their product? would you feel the same way if you heard someone you knew joined? would you be drawn to the product if you didn’t like the boss or didn’t need the job?

does their product feel necessary for where you feel we’re headed within the reasonable future?

be a jerk about it. beat up the product. scrutinize it and be ruthless about it.

if you’re joining because of the team but would prefer it to be a better product, then that might be your sign to move on to something else. you shouldn’t rush these things.

hold fast. opportunity will find you.

hiring managers:

so, what does this have to do with you?

be careful who you hire. every single hire you make says something about you.

choose your words (hires) wisely.

TLDR:

show me your friends and i’ll show you your future.

music for your friday