As the stakes continually get higher in the growing technology landscape, many companies are feeling the crunch to land marquee talent to help them surpass their competitors and reach the next level. In the quest to find such great talent, A-List companies comprised of executives with proven track records seem like obvious choices to target. However, while the hire might look great on paper, is this really the most beneficial move for your startup? Eric Larson shares his thoughts on this specific matter with Entrepreneur.
(Entrepreneur) – Why That VP From Google Is Probably Not the Best Fit for Your Startup
Few CEOs doubt their startup is the next billion dollar opportunity. That’s not terribly surprising nor is it a bad thing. After all, you’ve got to be confident to be successful in business.
But even if you’re a fearless leader with a quality company and a great product, trying to nab an engineering executive straight from Salesforce isn’t necessarily a wise move. There’s no denying the allure of a person who has a resume peppered with big names like LinkedIn, Amazon or Google, but if you’re an early-stage company, a later-stage candidate may not be your best choice for a variety of reasons.
The fact is, someone who has been a part of management at such large companies often won’t be a good fit for a budding startup. Sure, a candidate who’s managing 100+ people has a great-looking resume, but (s)he may not be the right person to manage an eight-person engineering team. (S)he probably manages through managers and doesn’t code anymore, and may not be in a place to do the heavy lifting required to get the work done at a smaller and more nimble company, where resource constraints are much more real than at more established companies.