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October 31, 2005
What does it take?
Scott Maxwell, who's the Managing Director of expansion stage VC firm Insight Venture Partners in New York recently posted something interesting on his new blog about what it takes to hire the right people. As this goes along the lines of my earlier Temporary Authism post, it made me think about this again from a different point of view.
Having been in the CEO, President, or Chairman seat for most of my past 15 years as an entrepreneur I have to agree with Scott's take on this issue. I've personally hired virtually every management position up to appointing successors for my own jobs, and while the basic rules of finding great and talented executives (and non-executives for that matter) pretty much are still the same, the overall attitude of folks that qualify for these positions seem to have shifted a bit. At times it appears as if we're seeing a much stronger entitlement attitude as it used to be. Now it might, of course, be a view point issue, but to underline Scott's posting and from my "view from the trenches" in only a few cases did entitlement attitude = compensation (or maybe I should say money as not everybody we ultimately hired considered compensation as strictly dollars and cents).
In summary, among a few other things, it takes a good product, a solid vision, a great team, a true opportunity, and plenty of room to grow to attract, retain, and motivate the power guys and gals who consistently hit it out of the ballpark. It's not just the salaries anymore that make or break a deal (although I'm convinced that many ultimately doomed releationships still start off from there), but the environment along with the opportunity along with the people that are involved.
Posted by Ben at October 31, 2005 03:56 PM
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