5 ms·

I went through this cycle a few times. My favorite, and last successful startup was acquired by a gigantic international corporation four years in (2007), and I

I went through this cycle a few times. My favorite, and last successful startup was acquired by a gigantic international corporation four years in (2007), and I stuck around for another two years. After the product shipped, the need to support customers and sales definitely slowed things down. Our fantastic VP of Engineering became CTO, and hired a middle management moron as VP, and that was the end of the good times. The new VP then hired "team players" instead of good engineers, rewarded loyalty over competence, and hilarity ensued. And then we were acquired. My fun startup-like time was reduced to ONE WEEK per year -- the week between Christmas and New Year. The rest of the year, all the layers of management were present and doing what they do. But that one week of the year, nobody was around, so I found myself much freer to do what I thought was important. And that wasn't just self indulgence, (I mean, it was, but not only), and having an alpha version of a shiny new thing forced the organization to go along.

Aurornis 3y ago
> Our fantastic VP of Engineering became CTO, and hired a middle management moron as VP Hardest lesson I learned when I got promoted to upper leadership positions: Hiring middle management is incredibly hard. The number of absolute sharks in the candidate pool is wild. People will show up, sense that you’re new, and tell you everything you want to hear about how they’ll solve all of your problems. They’ll claim they’ve done exactly what you need at every prior company they’ve worked for. They’ll flatter you and tell you they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to work or someone like you. Imagine the schmooze-iest IC candidate you’ve ever interviewed, but 5 times better and harder to see through. These people have charisma you wouldn’t believe (when you’re new) but they don’t really care to do the hard work. They just want to worm their way into the company and then extract. They’ll extract compensation for themselves, extract headcount to hire their friends and build an empire, extract compensation for their friends (who will return the favor at a future company), extract lucrative contracts for their contracting buddies (where they might even be in on the take). Years can pass before people realize they haven’t really done much despite producing a flurry of activity. They may have even driven away the good employees who got tired of their BS or were pushed out for identifying their incompetence. I was unlucky-lucky to watch this play out under a fast rising CEO at a lesser known unicorn. The number of sharks who showed up and charmed him after he became successful was unbelievable. The same thing plays out with less experienced middle managers who get thrust into high-budget positions at smaller companies.
- xtremedata 3y ago
  >> The same thing plays out with less experienced middle managers who get thrust into high-budget positions at smaller companies. Thanks for the spot-on description. You are right, the more money involved, the sleazier it gets. It reminds me of the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18905630-hedgehogging https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18905630-hedgehogging A highly successful hedge fund with a highly successful group got one of these senior managers and they managed to spends hundreds of millions on crazy ideas (not my money syndrome) while the people who actually built the machine originally were sidelined.
- esafak 3y ago
  Do you have any advice on avoiding or fixing this problem?
  - geophile 3y ago
    It’s two problems. 1) Don’t hire mediocre people. We knew this new VP was terrible. But the guy being promoted was impatient and wanted someone to take over. 2) Upper management and the board must not forget the reason why the company exists, and put profit ahead of the mission. Otherwise you end up with 1980s GM, or the Boeing 800 Max. Read this speech by Dave Packard, a founder of HP. https://sriramk.com/memos/packard.pdf https://sriramk.com/memos/packard.pdf. A very clear, concise summary of how to run a company, and how to think about your job. And anyone who has experienced corporate America can immediately see that nearly no companies are run this way.
    - esafak 3y ago
      The Netflix documentary Downfall covers the Boeing case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boe...

Aurornis 3y ago

> Our fantastic VP of Engineering became CTO, and hired a middle management moron as VP Hardest lesson I learned when I got promoted to upper leadership positions: Hiring middle management is incredibly hard. The number of absolute sharks in the candidate pool is wild. People will show up, sense that you’re new, and tell you everything you want to hear about how they’ll solve all of your problems. They’ll claim they’ve done exactly what you need at every prior company they’ve worked for. They’ll flatter you and tell you they’ve been waiting for an opportunity to work or someone like you. Imagine the schmooze-iest IC candidate you’ve ever interviewed, but 5 times better and harder to see through. These people have charisma you wouldn’t believe (when you’re new) but they don’t really care to do the hard work. They just want to worm their way into the company and then extract. They’ll extract compensation for themselves, extract headcount to hire their friends and build an empire, extract compensation for their friends (who will return the favor at a future company), extract lucrative contracts for their contracting buddies (where they might even be in on the take). Years can pass before people realize they haven’t really done much despite producing a flurry of activity. They may have even driven away the good employees who got tired of their BS or were pushed out for identifying their incompetence. I was unlucky-lucky to watch this play out under a fast rising CEO at a lesser known unicorn. The number of sharks who showed up and charmed him after he became successful was unbelievable. The same thing plays out with less experienced middle managers who get thrust into high-budget positions at smaller companies.

xtremedata 3y ago
>> The same thing plays out with less experienced middle managers who get thrust into high-budget positions at smaller companies. Thanks for the spot-on description. You are right, the more money involved, the sleazier it gets. It reminds me of the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18905630-hedgehogging https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18905630-hedgehogging A highly successful hedge fund with a highly successful group got one of these senior managers and they managed to spends hundreds of millions on crazy ideas (not my money syndrome) while the people who actually built the machine originally were sidelined.
esafak 3y ago
Do you have any advice on avoiding or fixing this problem?
- geophile 3y ago
  It’s two problems. 1) Don’t hire mediocre people. We knew this new VP was terrible. But the guy being promoted was impatient and wanted someone to take over. 2) Upper management and the board must not forget the reason why the company exists, and put profit ahead of the mission. Otherwise you end up with 1980s GM, or the Boeing 800 Max. Read this speech by Dave Packard, a founder of HP. https://sriramk.com/memos/packard.pdf https://sriramk.com/memos/packard.pdf. A very clear, concise summary of how to run a company, and how to think about your job. And anyone who has experienced corporate America can immediately see that nearly no companies are run this way.
  - esafak 3y ago
    The Netflix documentary Downfall covers the Boeing case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boeing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boe...