Will Reed’s Post

A great Lunch & Learn session today with the Let's Talk Ops community! Managing Partner, Eóin O' Toole joined Jamie Ceglarz and Paige Robinson to discuss market insights and hiring best practices for startups building their first leadership teams. #startup #executivesearch #recruiting #hiringstrategy

Steve Jobs on leadership “The greatest people are self-managing. They don’t need to be managed. Once they know what to do, they’ll go figure out how to do it… What they need is a common vision, and that’s what leadership is. Leadership is having a vision, being able to articulate that so the people around you can understand it, and getting consensus on a common vision.” --- We curate the top 1% of startup advice from the world’s best founders and investors. Join 7,000+ founders who read the free newsletter at https://lnkd.in/dNtku53e

Constant team churn is one of the biggest challenges Founder CEOs face today. It leads to disruption in business continuity and stunted growth. As startups scale, maintaining team stability becomes crucial for sustainable success that leads to resilient businesses. Drawing from three decades of retail leadership experience, I have shared some proven strategies for building lasting teams in this video. It starts with crafting an ambitious yet achievable company vision and fostering a shared purpose among team leads. The key is helping individual leaders develop their missions and strategic objectives that align perfectly with the company's broader vision. Whether navigating through good times or challenging periods, maintaining candor, transparency, and mutual trust will help you build resilient teams that can drive profitable scaling. #leadership #teambuilding #startups #founderjourney #businessgrowth

In corporate, if you do everything, your team won't grow. In startups, if you don't do everything, your startup won't grow. Context is key in leadership, Corporate Leadership: Don't do everything yourself. Let your team take charge and grow into future leaders. Startup Leadership: Be hands-on. Your startup needs you to set things up and drive growth. Adapt your approach to the environment and watch your team and business thrive!

The Power of Self-Awareness and Team-First Leadership Growing up, I learned the importance of self-awareness, humility, and putting the team above personal agendas. These values became my compass as I transitioned from healthcare to the fast-paced world of tech startups. Even when faced with setbacks, staying true to these principles allowed me to build strong relationships and continuously learn and grow. Ultimately, prioritizing the team's success led to my own and fostered a thriving company culture. The lesson? True success comes when we lift each other up and put the collective good first." #OceanCalm #Leadership #TeamFirst #SelfAwareness #Humility #Success #StartupJourney #CompanyCulture #Teamwork #GrowthMindset #BusinessValues

At pre-seed and seed, VCs will be mostly assessing the founders. But to raise a $10M+ round, VCs will talk to the rest of your leadership team to make sure you have the right collective team to execute. 🔍 Learn how VCs evaluate startup teams in Matt Muldavin's guide, the second in a three-part series on how to build a team that can help you secure that level of funding. https://lnkd.in/dJpZ_Qdm

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

In my hunt for my next career adventure, I can't stop thinking about my past adventures in the startup world and the challenges for founders. Scaling becomes a huge challenge As startups scale, leadership often faces a critical juncture: the need for new roles, processes, and sometimes even new leaders. Founders might need to step back from daily operations, and senior hires might introduce fresh but unfamiliar dynamics. This transition isn’t always smooth. Building trust within a growing leadership team while maintaining alignment with the company’s vision requires intention and patience. It’s a process of letting go in a way that ensures growth, not chaos. For those who have been through it: how did you navigate leadership changes in your startup? Share your thoughts below. #Leadership #StartupGrowth #FounderChallenges #ExecutiveTeams #TeamAlignment

In a #startup, leadership isn’t just about titles—it’s about navigating uncertainty. Here’s how to do it: 1. Like Jeff Bezos at Amazon, always put your customers at the center of every decision. 2. Adopt Ray Dalio’s radical transparency approach at Bridgewater to get instant, unfiltered feedback. 3. Take a page from Mark Zuckerberg and stay close to the product. 4. Adopt Basecamp’s flat hierarchy to give your team ownership and independence. Real #leadership is about action, not just position.

💡 Brian Chesky's talk last week at a YC event highlighted the pitfalls of following conventional advice on scaling companies, which suggests hiring good people and giving them autonomy. He and other founders found this approach disastrous, leading Chesky to develop a more hands-on leadership style inspired by Steve Jobs. The distinction between "founder mode" and "manager mode" became clear. Unlike the traditional management style taught in business schools, the former requires more direct involvement from the founder. Founders have unique insights and capabilities that professional managers lack, and ignoring these can harm the company. 👉 What are your thoughts on this? 👈 Read more from Paul Graham's post: https://lnkd.in/dXc7X-Q8 #Founders #Startupmanagement #Scalingstartups