459 Posts found for Source: First Round Review

A big part of having the grit to survive the startup process is this: How much doubt can you absorb? How long are you willing to be misunderstood? How long are you willing to be wrong, or think that you’re wrong, yet keep working on it anyway?

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael Grinich | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

There’s a lot of talk about “the trophy generation” and that people just need constant compliments. But I believe it’s the meaning-making generation. Folks want to know what they’re doing actually matters. If not, why are they working so hard? It’s important to help your employees understand that their hard work is being seen and that it makes a difference to the company’s goal. While … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Emily Anhalt | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

Founders are quick to ask for constructive feedback. But I recommend they also ask for positive feedback, too. Ask your team what they think you’re doing well or in what ways they feel supported. What kind of milestones can they not wait to get to? Why are they most excited to work at the company?

Content: Quotation | Author: Emily Anhalt | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

A mistake founders often make is assuming that because they need less validation along the way, no one on the team needs gratification either.

Content: Quotation | Author: Emily Anhalt | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

The cold hard truth about working in scaling companies is that people, and in most cases, top performers, are going to leave. The question for managers shouldn’t be how to prevent this natural growing pain from happening, rather the focus should shift to: What are you doing to prepare for it?

Content: Quotation | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Human Resources

Saumil Mehta outlines a framework for early-stage founders on timing the first product manager hire.

Content: Article | Author: Saumil Mehta | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

The analytical approach will get you a lot of singles and doubles. But the home runs really come from those intuitive calls on how you think the market and the world is going to work and betting in that direction.

Content: Quotation | Author: Tara Seshan | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Innovation, Management, Strategy

Write down every person you work with, their biggest need, and their most ideal “OMG this makes my life so much better!” Now you have a list of your organization’s greatest needs and solutions. Now, decide if filling any of these needs aligns with you (Hint: If you’re excited about it, that’s usually the right mark).

Content: Quotation | Author: Davit Balagyozyan | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Career, Management

There’s no shortage of advice on how to structure compensation. Here’s how to know which of it applies to you — with insights from Clay, Google and Instacart.

Content: Article | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources

People think you find product-market fit once and then you’re good. In our experience, you find product-market fit for one customer segment or for one product, and then you need to continuously find product-market fit for new products that you launch or for new customer segments that you’re entering into.

Content: Quotation | Author: Laura Behrens Wu | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

When you ask folks what they’d like more from their manager, the answer is almost always they want more feedback. I read it in just about every performance review of a manager that I cover.

Content: Quotation | Author: Marcel Weekes | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Training & Development

Exceptional managers know how to deal with situational differences. They don’t bring a single hammer to every problem in front of them. They assess the situation and then they look to their toolkit — or go find new tools — in order to motivate and support that individual.

Content: Quotation | Author: Marcel Weekes | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

Folks (often rightly) assume that in order to grow their influence and their career at a company, their value is measured in their number of direct reports. As a company, it’s vital to carve out career tracks for folks who want to be deep-diving ICs and technical subject matter experts, without devoting their time to solving people problems. So, for starters, consider how you’re rewarding … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Marcel Weekes | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

When it comes to setting expectations — for example, assigning a deadline for an upcoming project — always make it a two-way dialogue. Ask your team: “Is this an aggressive but reasonable goal? Is this something we can land?” And it almost doesn’t matter if the answer is yes or no, because what you’re doing is opening up the space to have a further dialogue … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Marcel Weekes | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

In the first couple of 1:1s start putting together a written document. How does the report like to receive feedback? Are there things that trigger them? What are the things they want to do more of? What are their ambitions? Where do they feel they need to be pushed? … That helps set the table for how this relationship will go. Invest the time upfront. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Marcel Weekes | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Training & Development

Before you can become a “growth machine” you need to become a learning machine. The first overarching goal is to turn your startup into an instrument for discovering your big growth levers.

Content: Quotation | Author: Matt Lerner | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Management

When you do founder-led sales you’re not just learning how to sell your product, you’re learning how to tell a story. This is essential to sell the vision to investors or to candidates you’re trying to hire.

Content: Quotation | Author: Shensi Ding | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

Your customers don’t want to read your pitch deck. Marketing expert Emily Kramer explains how to turn your investor talking points into your website messaging.

Content: Article | Author: Emily Kramer | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Entrepreneurship

So whether you’re a manager delivering feedback to your direct report, or sending feedback up the management chain, the best way to make your conversation heard is to make the listener feel safe, and to show that you’re saying it because you care about her and want her to succeed. “If you come off with even a whiff of an ulterior motive — you want … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Julie Zhuo | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

A money word that is almost without compare, “you” tells the prospect that the copy they’re reading is about them, without actually using their name.

Content: Quotation | Author: Joanna Wiebe | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales