Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR • Hacker News Board

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#41

Post by toss1 » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 7:51 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #16

I hate this BS about A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc. This is total MBA thinking (I think it comes form GE, or at least they espoused it) on a forum where people routinely mock MBAs. I have been lucky to work in a field where teams frequently work in parallel and success or failure is pretty clear cut. And teams are often stratified based on the priority of project. Many times-- not always -- the "B" te…

Yup, this is the one thing that struck me wrong in the essay.

After spending multiple paragraphs about how they found that they had to dig much deeper into the background of every exec, getting 10+ references from reports, peers, and their managers, and developing specific lists of red flags . . .they end the section with: "Takeaway: Always trust your gut on people. "

Yes, for sure, if you 'gut' tells you something is off about someone, seriously consider and trust that also, but what was really effective was not gut-trusting, but gathering more hard data and observations to evaluate.

Just seems like the author didn't really think it through.

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#42

Post by gumby » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 7:52 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #16

I hate this BS about A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc. This is total MBA thinking (I think it comes form GE, or at least they espoused it) on a forum where people routinely mock MBAs. I have been lucky to work in a field where teams frequently work in parallel and success or failure is pretty clear cut. And teams are often stratified based on the priority of project. Many times-- not always -- the "B" te…

> A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc

If that is the case, how do the B people get jobs in the first place? Who hires them?

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#43

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 7:58 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #16

I hate this BS about A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc. This is total MBA thinking (I think it comes form GE, or at least they espoused it) on a forum where people routinely mock MBAs. I have been lucky to work in a field where teams frequently work in parallel and success or failure is pretty clear cut. And teams are often stratified based on the priority of project. Many times-- not always -- the "B" te…

[deleted]

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#44

Post by eadmund » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 8:07 PM UTC

skrebbel wrote: post #12

ipaddr wrote: post #2

"And remember that A players can recruit other A players, but B players can only recruit C players" In point one they list this. In point 3 he mentions his biggest mistake was hiring someone with starpower from a public company who didn't work. Unless the founder is an A player in terms of recruiting everyone hired would be a C player or less. And in point 3 we learn he is not an A player. How do B players ever get h…

Meta nitpick, and I’m not certain, but I think the author (named Tracy) is a she. Or a they which lets you avoid the problem altogether.

[flagged]

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#45

Post by Nevermark » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 8:30 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #42

georgeecollins wrote: post #16

I hate this BS about A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc. This is total MBA thinking (I think it comes form GE, or at least they espoused it) on a forum where people routinely mock MBAs. I have been lucky to work in a field where teams frequently work in parallel and success or failure is pretty clear cut. And teams are often stratified based on the priority of project. Many times-- not always -- the "B" te…

> A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc If that is the case, how do the B people get jobs in the first place? Who hires them?

The same reason A engineers can put out B work: resource/time/reward tradeoffs and the inevitable unknowns.

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#46

Post by naijaboiler » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 8:53 PM UTC

toss1 wrote: post #41

georgeecollins wrote: post #16

I hate this BS about A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc. This is total MBA thinking (I think it comes form GE, or at least they espoused it) on a forum where people routinely mock MBAs. I have been lucky to work in a field where teams frequently work in parallel and success or failure is pretty clear cut. And teams are often stratified based on the priority of project. Many times-- not always -- the "B" te…

Yup, this is the one thing that struck me wrong in the essay. After spending multiple paragraphs about how they found that they had to dig much deeper into the background of every exec, getting 10+ references from reports, peers, and their managers, and developing specific lists of red flags . . .they end the section with: "Takeaway: Always trust your gut on people. " Yes, for sure, if you 'gut' tells you something i…

I have hired before. A few times. "Trust my gut" is still the best predictor of success for me. Every hire i have talked myself into didn't end up working out. Nowadays for hiring, i live by, "if it's not a strong yes, it's not a yes"

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#47

Post by tyoung » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 9:02 PM UTC

williamstein wrote: post #4

ipaddr wrote: post #2

"And remember that A players can recruit other A players, but B players can only recruit C players" In point one they list this. In point 3 he mentions his biggest mistake was hiring someone with starpower from a public company who didn't work. Unless the founder is an A player in terms of recruiting everyone hired would be a C player or less. And in point 3 we learn he is not an A player. How do B players ever get h…

The assumption is: "And remember that A players can recruit other A players, …”, not “ "And remember that A players can ONLY recruit other A players, …”. (Added: My Ph.D. in mathematics is useful for something.)

This is helpful, thank you.

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#48

Post by mbesto » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

georgeecollins wrote: post #16

I hate this BS about A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc. This is total MBA thinking (I think it comes form GE, or at least they espoused it) on a forum where people routinely mock MBAs. I have been lucky to work in a field where teams frequently work in parallel and success or failure is pretty clear cut. And teams are often stratified based on the priority of project. Many times-- not always -- the "B" te…

> Many times-- not always -- the "B" team crushes the "A" team. Being underdogs promotes teamwork.

It's clear you don't understand what A and B people are then. If the "B team" is crushing the "A Team", then they aren't the "B team". Also, notice how you switched "player" with "team"? The quote is "A players hire A players", not "team".

The point is that top tier individuals typically hire top tier individuals. The reason this notion isn't so clear cut is because its hard to identify A players before the fact. It's a retrospective truthism.

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#49

Post by nikanj » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 9:08 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #42

georgeecollins wrote: post #16

I hate this BS about A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc. This is total MBA thinking (I think it comes form GE, or at least they espoused it) on a forum where people routinely mock MBAs. I have been lucky to work in a field where teams frequently work in parallel and success or failure is pretty clear cut. And teams are often stratified based on the priority of project. Many times-- not always -- the "B" te…

> A managers hire A people, B people hire C etc If that is the case, how do the B people get jobs in the first place? Who hires them?

Nepotism

Re: Part II: The failure points from $5M to $100M in ARR

#50

Post by a_c » Thu, Jan 12, 2023, 9:17 PM UTC

a_c wrote: post #32

Hiring is like a code base, you have to have the right abstraction at the right time. Starting out, better everything be a concrete implementation, that is everyone is directly responsible for making things work. Next is what I found most people doing differently from my ideal - abstract and refactor base on your existing implementation, not because of some framework doing it, nor because the previous project did it…

Btw, the most important point from OP's is the last one. Life is fragile, treat people well. That's more important than all the three letter acronyms in the world.