451 Posts found for Source: First Round Review

Often, a manager will take their team into a room and say, “Here’s what we need to do,” or “Here’s what I’ve been thinking,” or “Here’s one way we can think about this…” as they start sketching on a whiteboard. They’re trying to add value. We always want to add value. But if you’re in any position of authority and you do this, you’ve just … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: James Everingham | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Leadership, Management

References can be a rich source of information to use to identify originals, but one of my big frustrations with references is that they’re always glowing. Nobody ever gets a negative review. You have to put references in a position where they have no choice but to be candid with you. The easiest way to do that is to give them forced choices of two … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Adam Grant | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Human Resources

Nancy Lublin […] prompts her people to act originally by banning words such as like, love and hate, because, as a basic visceral response, they circumvent any critical thought. Saying why something is loved or hated inspires new, substantial ideas.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Adam Grant, Nancy Lublin | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Creativity

A resilient culture has a certain amount of resistance embedded in it. Not too much to capsize it, but enough so that it doesn’t atrophy. What happens when startups get successful and grow is that they become more and more vulnerable to the attraction-selection-attrition cycle, where people of the same stripes are increasingly drawn to the organization, chosen by it and retained at it. The … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Adam Grant | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Culture, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

The first step in building an effective sales strategy creating a persuasive, bulletproof narrative that will grab people’s attention, get them to question existing solutions, and ultimately convince them that not using your product is costing them big. A sales narrative is not to be confused with a sales pitch. Rather, it’s the core story that can be adapted for slide decks and presentations, demos … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Pete Kazanjy | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Once you’ve pulled the trigger and hired salespeople you like, your entire focus needs to be on getting them up to speed as fast as you can. Here are actions all B2B startups can take to build not only the most talented sales team, but the best-prepared sales battery possible.

Content: Article | Author: Pete Kazanjy | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Marketing / Sales

Pete Kazanjy discusses a recruiting strategy for bringing aboard energized, motivated salespeople who produced, including the mistakes he made and has seen other organizations make, and — most importantly — how to find and close the candidates that will make or break your ability to sell your product.

Content: Article | Author: Pete Kazanjy | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Human Resources, Marketing / Sales

Don Faul shares the nuts and bolts tactics of influential storytelling he’s learned at Google, Facebook and as Head of Operations at Pinterest — and the three types of stories every manager and startup founder should be able to tell fluently.

Content: Article | Author: Don Faul | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Storytelling

This article takes a deep dive into one of the most critical things in engaging and acquiring your first customers: Creating presentations that actually work.

Content: Article | Author: Pete Kazanjy | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Marketing / Sales

Setting up your team the way you would set up a machine can give you a ton of leverage — as long as you realize how complicated and unpredictable the people in that machine can be. This is where quantum mechanics (and my term ‘quantum leadership’) comes into play. As a discipline, it makes the unpredictable understandable. Similarly, by applying these quantum principles to management, … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: James Everingham | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

Bestselling author and Wharton professor Adam Grant has spent years researching and interviewing originals. In this interview, Grant explains why it’s imperative for early-stage companies to hire originals. He shares how he singles them out and delves into recommended questions and exercises that can help startups find and hire them.

Content: Thought Leader | Author: Adam Grant | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior