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What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months

venturebeat.com

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Re: What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months

#81

Post by sonnyblarney »

jonathankoren wrote: post #76
sonnyblarney wrote: post #2

"The company has 100+ employees, hundreds of customers, and more than 15,000 end users. I spent almost four months as CEO. Prior to this role, my “operating experience” consisted of working as a waitress during college. My entire professional career has been in finance, where I have worked in small, flat organizations with a project-driven, deal team-oriented model. In short, I had no idea what to expect, and I learn…

> Yes, but understanding the product, customers, operational details, and knowing where to direct the system is probably more important than 'empathy and compassion'. As interm CEO, her job is keep the lights on while the board conducts a search for a new CEO. That’s it. She’s not expected to come up with strategy, or really change anything except put the immediate fires out. It’s a caretaker position. That said, it’…

"That’s it. She’s not expected to come up with strategy, "

Did you even read the article?

The #1 headline point was "coming up with strategy": here's the reference:

"1. A clear strategy is the key to execution When I assumed the CEO role, the organization had been struggling with a lack of strategic clarity. The company is in a market with both endless growth opportunities and nearly as many potential distractions if strategy is not clear and priorities are not set. Creating a true north star for the team was my top priority."

1/2 the articles was about this.

So yes, her role 'should have been' to keep the lights on, and definitely not make consequential decisions as such, so why on earth is she doing it?

Also - her comment about 'compassion vs. financial acumen' was essentially pointless in the context that 'financial acumen' is not necessarily that important about a startup either.

This was possibly a shameful exercise in mismanagement.

"I had no idea what I was doing, I read some pop-culture books on being a CEO, I was empathetic, and I laid down a company strategy based on industry buzzwords"

Ridiculous.

"Keeping the lights on" is what she should have done as a 'member of the board overseeing the company temporarily'.

She should have worked with the remaining C-level team to set some priorities, pick some things to fix, and probably lean in with some financial concerns if there as an opportunity to do that. That's it.

Re: What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months

#82

Post by thegranderson »

caseysoftware wrote: post #9

> Prior to this role, my “operating experience” consisted of working as a waitress during college. I found this line astounding and not in good ways. When a new senior person is announced (even interim), the first thing most people do is ask "what has this person done?" and they scour LinkedIn, writing, social media, etc to understand what they're about and their background. I'm trying to imagine senior leadership's…

A few points:

1. This is a great way for Catalyst to get a potential rising star some operational experience in a low-risk situation (lots of other Catalyst people apparently involved, short timeline, etc.)

2. She said she was involved with the company since their investment (which, if it is PresenceLearning as others said, was 3+ years ago), and has been a board member either since that time, or for a while.

3. Senior leadership probably all knew her or at least of her, given her involvement as an investor.

4. I think the waitress line is a throwaway to try to be humble and build rapport with readers. Working in VC/PE is useful for keeping a company going from an operational perspective.

Re: What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months

#83

Post by jiveturkey »

areoform wrote: post #27

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 n…

> 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.

Re: What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months

#84

Post by skinnymuch »

Traster wrote: post #73
anon12345690 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you have to jump to sexism without any evidence then you need a better argument. you should do better instead of asking HN.

The evidence is right in front of anyone who reads hacker news regularly. You might have a different judgement, but it's not difficult to say that I've seen lots of articles on Hacker news where men in similar situations are regarded as go getters who have the balls to get stuck in and take a swing at the top job. She's a Principal at a VC, she's got two bachelors degrees (one in Economics), experience working in M&A…

Thanks for posting a mini compilation of comments. Pretty clear to me as well what the intent of a number of comments are when you’re reading through or even just skimming all the comments.

My only other comment here is a push back against what I felt was a comment going too far the other way. But the amount of comments similar to the ones you quoted are far too much.

Re: What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months

#85

Post by wheelerwj »

areoform wrote: post #27

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 n…

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.

Re: What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months

#86

Post by anon12345690 »

Traster wrote: post #73
anon12345690 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you have to jump to sexism without any evidence then you need a better argument. you should do better instead of asking HN.

The evidence is right in front of anyone who reads hacker news regularly. You might have a different judgement, but it's not difficult to say that I've seen lots of articles on Hacker news where men in similar situations are regarded as go getters who have the balls to get stuck in and take a swing at the top job. She's a Principal at a VC, she's got two bachelors degrees (one in Economics), experience working in M&A…

they would say that even if it was a guy. your just assuming and thats not evidence its sexist.
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