Gut Check Times at Small Companies
Posted by Chris Ovens on Thu, Sep 04, 2008
Which book should I quote this time? Let's go with Guy Kawasaki, who says that
A Players hire A+ Players. It is easy to sit back, nod wisely, and proclaim that that is in fact what you would do, of course! Let me tell you that it is interesting to actually consider it, in terms of bringing senior individuals onto the executive team.
Trust me, it is plainly clear the areas in SpotOn that could benefit from additional bandwidth, expertise, and attention. SpotOn has been very successful in a very short timeframe. I believe this is due to the fact that we recognized our key market space and the unique value that SpotOn can deliver to those clients. The exciting and amazing and scary proposition is that from where we sit, there is tremendous potential upside. To capitalize we will need focused execution and the "right people on the bus" (yes, another book: Good to Great).
Makes sense, right? I guess the fear is the "upsetting the applecart" factor. Darren and I have a pretty good thing going here. Will somebody new with force of character, personality, and the ability to do some (many?) of the things you do better than you mess up that good thing? My belief is that when you bring senior, extremely capable people into a small organization - you're going to see an inflection point. You just hope that the line inflects in the right direction - up!