4 ms·

Most of the comments so far have been negative and posed with barbs for the author's competence. I'd like to offer another angle. It appears that she's someone

Most of the comments so far have been negative and posed with barbs for the author's competence. I'd like to offer another angle. It appears that she's someone who didn't come from means, put herself through college by waitressing, kept getting jobs in PE/VC (haven't looked up her bio as that would be creepy), and became a senior enough player at a firm to be installed as an interim-keep-the-ship-steady CEO while a new candidate was being found. Job performance has a high correlation with IQ (and by extension the ability to learn quickly); especially for executive roles. The author is someone who juggles complex financial models all day; surely she's more than smart, capable and relentlessly resourceful enough to take on the mantle of an interim CEO. Sure, she might not be a long-term candidate (for now), but an interim CEO is meant to make sure that the finances stay okay, the fires get put out, and that the ship doesn't sink until a new skipper can be found. That's all. It's a job that's not too far from her initial skills with an added operational component that she's delving into over here. Compared to most "CEOs" I've met, she's probably overqualified. For those questioning the VC firm who sent her in, it's impossible that she was sent in alone. She's probably being advised by the GPs and a curated set of experts to make the right operational decisions. Her job is to execute the plan and Not Fuck Up (a harder job than it seems). And it appears that she succeeded in doing so. She rose to her professional challenge, learned something and wrote something from a position of humility. How many of us (especially the detractors) can claim the same?

skinnymuch 7y ago
Why would it be creepy? She’s posting about her experiences and such, no? Checking someone’s LinkedIn or some other profile doesn’t seem creepy in that case to me.
deleted 7y ago
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treydey 7y ago
I would be careful with the blanket statement "Job performance has a high correlation with IQ". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557354/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557354/
itronitron 7y ago
Unfortunately the article is lacking in specifics which leaves a lot of room open for interpretation. From her perspective it sounds like she did a great job. It would be interesting to hear from other employees of that company on whether they feel the same as she does. This could have been measured along the way with a set of company wide surveys and certainly would have fallen within their data-first approach to reporting.
jiveturkey 7y ago
> haven't looked up her bio as that would be creepy eh? how would it be creepy? honestly, your comment is creepy. i did look her up (not independently, but inspired by your strange reticence), and what i found odd -- but shouldn't have -- is that the banner photo on the article isn't her. it's just a completely unrelated stock photo. that's interesting because the article is a self-pr SEO type piece, not a dispassionate generic "industry observer" piece or other type of actual analysis. it's the type of article that would actually benefit from an actual photo of the author.
wheelerwj 7y ago
I am COMPLETELY SHOCKED that there are people here trying to legitimately defend this author and article. Wow. this story is nothing short of a blatant anecdote about nepotism and should be treated with the shock and dismay that this mishandling warrants. That the board couldn't find a better successor for a few months from the existing staff speaks volume about the competency of the board and gross negligence on their part. Seriously, the CFO, COO, Head of Product, etc at a 100 person company didn't have the chops to hold the reigns as interim-CEO for a single quarter? wtf? this isn't to say the author is incapable (although they are unqualified) or that they don't raise valuable insights (mostly for VCs and investors it seems) but that this company and its leadership have failed in their most basic responsibilities to the shareholders and we SHOULD NOT EVER celebrate this level of incompetency.

skinnymuch 7y ago

Why would it be creepy? She’s posting about her experiences and such, no? Checking someone’s LinkedIn or some other profile doesn’t seem creepy in that case to me.

deleted 7y ago

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treydey 7y ago

I would be careful with the blanket statement "Job performance has a high correlation with IQ". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557354/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557354/

itronitron 7y ago

Unfortunately the article is lacking in specifics which leaves a lot of room open for interpretation. From her perspective it sounds like she did a great job. It would be interesting to hear from other employees of that company on whether they feel the same as she does. This could have been measured along the way with a set of company wide surveys and certainly would have fallen within their data-first approach to reporting.

jiveturkey 7y ago

> haven't looked up her bio as that would be creepy eh? how would it be creepy? honestly, your comment is creepy. i did look her up (not independently, but inspired by your strange reticence), and what i found odd -- but shouldn't have -- is that the banner photo on the article isn't her. it's just a completely unrelated stock photo. that's interesting because the article is a self-pr SEO type piece, not a dispassionate generic "industry observer" piece or other type of actual analysis. it's the type of article that would actually benefit from an actual photo of the author.

wheelerwj 7y ago

I am COMPLETELY SHOCKED that there are people here trying to legitimately defend this author and article. Wow. this story is nothing short of a blatant anecdote about nepotism and should be treated with the shock and dismay that this mishandling warrants. That the board couldn't find a better successor for a few months from the existing staff speaks volume about the competency of the board and gross negligence on their part. Seriously, the CFO, COO, Head of Product, etc at a 100 person company didn't have the chops to hold the reigns as interim-CEO for a single quarter? wtf? this isn't to say the author is incapable (although they are unqualified) or that they don't raise valuable insights (mostly for VCs and investors it seems) but that this company and its leadership have failed in their most basic responsibilities to the shareholders and we SHOULD NOT EVER celebrate this level of incompetency.