Rugma Ravi’s Post

The founder CEO is, no question, the driving force behind a start-up—but scaling start-ups also need a team of high-performing senior leaders to achieve their growth goals (see sidebar A word about CEO succession in start-ups)

As an advisor to many VC-backed startups, I see firsthand the critical turning point when a company makes its first external leadership hire. It's often a baptism of fire for the founders and candidate. Here are some key insights to help you navigate this critical step: 🔍 Beyond Titles: Identify the Leadership Gap — Don't get caught up in simply filling a CEO/COO/CFO position. Analyze your leadership team's strengths and weaknesses. What specific leadership expertise does your company urgently need to unlock the next stage of growth? This is often hard because you don't know what you don't know. Obessess with understanding this gap, and then fill it with someone exceptional. 💡 Culture Fit is the Secret Sauce — Technical fit and industry sector can be learned, but culture fit is the ingredient for long-term success. Seek a leader who resonates with your company's DNA. They should complement your founding team's style and embrace your core values, whilst helping you bridge the gap and not breaking the business. 📚 Onboarding is Key, Not a Courtesy — Onboarding goes far beyond the first week. Invest in a structured program that equips your new leader with the knowledge and connections they need to thrive. Think mentorship, shadowing, and introductions to key stakeholders. If they don't work out, normally its because you weren't clear on what you needed, hired poorly or didn't equip the right candidate to be successful. This is harder and more time consuming than you think. 🤝 Founders as Partners, Not Bosses — The relationship between founders and a leader is critical. Open communication and clearly defined roles are essential to avoid power struggles or just plain misunderstandings. Focus on collaboration, leveraging each other's strengths to achieve shared goals. Remember, they've likely seen this journey before, that's why you hired them. 👉 Seems like I'm stating the obvious here. Which of the four is most critical? 🗣️ Share you thoughts below.! 💬 #VCbacked #startupgrowth #leadership #hiringtips #founder

Lead with Clarity! Great leaders know that clarity is the foundation of high performance. If your team doesn’t understand the 'why' behind your decisions, they’re just going through the motions. But when they have a clear sense of purpose and direction, their focus sharpens, and their engagement rises. Whether it’s launching a new initiative, setting sales goals, or simply navigating day-to-day operations, taking the time to explain the bigger picture is what keeps your team motivated and aligned. It’s not just about what needs to get done—it’s about why it matters. This week, carve out time to sit down with your team. Clarify your vision. Ensure everyone understands where you’re headed, what the priorities are, and how they play a role in getting there. Clarity creates momentum—and that’s what drives real growth. #hiring #recruiterlife #recruiting #saassales #gsd #agsd #sales #startup #founder #ceo

Book Recommendation for #Founders: "Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building" by Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe). This is the why, what, and how to building a fast growing team with intentionality, sustainability, and wisdom. Claire lays down some fundamental operating principles (which are gold) and then explains the nuts and bolts of four core frameworks (planning, hiring, team development, and performance management). This will be immediately applicable for founders who are leading teams. The templates alone are worth the price of the book, and the authentic understanding of the leadership struggle and advice on how to thrive will encourage and strengthen you. Recommended by: David Sutton at Nivoda. #startupdevelopment #startup #founder #scaleup

Scaling a startup is as much about people as it is about growth. When I led a client's expansion from 2 to 80 employees within two years, I focused on building a highly efficient recruiting and hiring system that aligned with the company's long-term vision. But scaling isn't just about numbers—it's about culture. We implemented a monthly employee survey to track happiness scores, which consistently ranged between 95% and 100%. When your team feels valued and aligned with the company's direction, success follows. #StartupGrowth #Leadership #CultureBuilding #BPO

If I could give advice to my younger self, one thing I would hit pretty hard would be going slower when hiring leaders for the company. I went too fast in the past. Partly because I was impatient. Partly because I went 2 for 2 with my first couple leaders and thought I knew what I was doing. Partly because I fell into the common fallacy that any body would be better than no body. The first 2 leaders I brought in, Tom L. and Joseph Lawton, became Chowly's CRO and COO, respectively. And they're still rocking it here. They've both leveled up throughout the years, executed some amazing organizational changes, and taught me a lot along the way. There are few successful startups that have c suite leaders with that kind of tenure. With the topic of "Founder Mode" swirling around right now, both of them exhibit many of those traits. Both take ownership and are true partners to me. But that gave me false confidence. I mistook some incredible luck for a skill I definitely didn't have. It then took a while for me to really get other positions just right for Chowly. We definitely had some great leaders over the years and they've been admirable during their "tours of duty". I don't believe that every job; whether it be IC, manager, c suite, or other is a "forever" thing. Just not how companies typically work. Sometimes they do, and those are my favorite situations. But looking back, I wish I had slowed down on this particular aspect of the company. I often think back and what if we had found someone like Irina Jordan earlier? To be clear, it took years for us to find someone "like her". But maybe if we were more patient, we could have. What if we found someone like Jessica Warren for our people ops in the earlier days? I just feel like we'd be twice as far as we are today. Would that have been possible? Maybe. Maybe not. But I wish I had tried harder to be more patient. What about you? What's something you'd tell yourself 5 years ago? #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Restaurants

"Think the Boss Runs the Company?? Think Again—It's the Employees!" The true efforts behind a successful organization come from its employees. ✔ 👉 Let me tell you about a recent experience that I came across - I recently had a meeting with XYZ Company & he shared with me that they are looking to hire new employees to help him stabilize his business. Eager to know, I asked him about the type of people he was seeking to hire. He did mention - 👉 Someone responsible & don't need to be micro-managed. 👉 Who can communicate well, listen actively, and are open to feedback from others. 👉 Who is open to change and can work towards the company's goals. 👉 Has integrity and can be trusted to do the right thing. Doesn't that mean - Someone who can run his business? 🤝 That just made me think - the true strength and success of the company lies in the collective effort of its employees rather than solely in the leadership of the boss. What are your views on it? 👀 #business #leadership #goals #businessowners #ceo #management #startups #marketing #networking #personalbranding #linkedinads #freelancerecruiter

💡The six learnings about cultural complexity from my experience building a couple of companies: 1. Hire for character for long-term success, hire for skills for short-term success. 2. Toxic employees are the second biggest problem. The biggest are the leaders that tolerate them. Fire them both ASAP. 3. When multiple people are in charge, who is responsible? 4. If you want to kill an entrepreneurial culture, add processes and procedures to solve problems. 5. Scaling is painful. Keep changing the leadership team. Most Zero to One leaders can’t do One to Thousands. 6. You are not a family; you are a professional team. Stop pretending. #starups #scaleups #growth #ventures

Founder mode is real. Manager mode is real. But you know what mode actually matters more than both? Leader mode. Founders don't worry about internal politics. Managers are overly concerned with internal politics. Leaders work hard to ensure their company doesn't have internal politics. Founders go fast and break things. Managers move slowly and deliberately - sometimes doing nothing as a result. Leaders balance conviction and timing with care. Founders get their hands dirty. Managers stay out of the weeds. Leaders intuit when they need to do one or the other. It's so easy to assume that everything about building a startup can be summed up into these pattern-matching lessons. And I get it. From the outside looking in, startups seem binary. Winners and losers. Funded or not funded. Growing or not growing. But I can tell you from first hand experience that most things are way more complicated than any speech, blog post, or tweet can ever really capture. What I do know is that the work of becoming a great LEADER remains at every stage of this wild ass ride. #foundermode #founders

Scaleup leaders - Are you struggling to recruit talent? DO NOT be tempted to "bend" your criteria and/or employee value proposition just to get "warm bodies".... (please!) See this example to provide you some inspiration and insight... Sudhir Agarwal, Everise Founder CEO, scaled his venture from a humble team of four to a global powerhouse of 16,000 employees across eight countries in less than 10 years. What is the #1 mistake he sees scaleup leaders make? "1. Not paying close enough attention to the quality of people you hire when scaling up When startups and small businesses are in their early stages, manpower becomes a pressing need. Many business owners start hiring rapidly so they can meet demands. This is a common mistake that can lead to more cost for the business in the long term. Hires who are poor cultural fits or simply cannot perform their roles cost the team more in terms of morale. I have kept my focus on building a No. 1 team. I've been in the outsourcing business for 25 years. I leveraged that experience when I started Everise, making calls to leaders in the industry and hoping some would leave their jobs to join me in my vision. One such person who joined me is our current chief people officer, who's been working with me for 15 years. Today, we have a below-average attrition rate among our 16,000 employees." https://lnkd.in/gfcpFiAK #leadershipdevelopment #scaleup Nicolas Landrin Virginie de MAUPEOU Bertrand Stephann Valerie Daoud Henderson Romain Delebecque Philippe Notton Carolina Angulo Laure Perfetti Philippe Makowski Jean-Christophe Braun Patricia Braun Yann Cramer