FRANCOIS MAZOUDIER

CEO, TECH LEADERS CAPITAL

Excited… and kinda scared

FRANCOIS MAZOUDIER

IN DIGITS

THE CEO CO-INVESTMENT CLUB HIGH END, GLOBAL, ACTIVE NETWORK.

TECH LEADERS CAPITAL

Russell Reynolds

85% of the largest European Tech

companies are run by first time CEOs.

VUCA: your new world

Most disruptive era ever

rapid change everywhere

Old rules – broken

new rules - added

Repeat

Fast paced, risk taking and

Ever changing competitive

landscape

Most Startups Fail

3things TO BE sure OF:

1.

2. One shot

3. You need a KILLER team

BUT Why?

you’re Hiring :

3 teams not 1

Technology adoption cycle

Portfolio structure 3 stages, 3 companies, 3 teams

The startup stage

the scaling stage

The Large Company stage

Portfolio structure 3 stages, 3 companies, 3 teams

The startup stage

the scaling stage

The Large Company stage

Early stage

IDEATION STAGE

PMF STAGE

(product/market fit)

MVP stage (min viable

product)

What’s your “killer team”

Should certainly

Balanced set of

characters

spot the disastrous one early, else !

killer team - WHY

"What matters is not ideas, but the

people who have them. Good people

can fix bad ideas, but good ideas

can't save bad people.”

Paul Graham

70% of OUR investment

decision is simple.

It’s the team Mark Suster – GP, UPFRONT Capital

8 VERY costly common mistakes

8 common mistakes

1. No co-founder pre-nup

2. Hiring people like you

3. Not knowing exact role/s

4. Testing the skills, not the fit

5. Hiring at Speed instead of a+

6. overselling

7. Inflated titles early on

8. Not getting help

The team

Founding CEO

Co-founders

Co-founders

end up fighting

2 Hiring people

like you

3 No detailed

knowledge of roles

4 TESTING SKILLS

not (team) FIT

5 Speed vs a*

your first hires dictate Everything else.

A+ talent attracted by other A+

A talent hire B staff

B staff only hire C staff

6

overselling

7

Inflating job titles

8 Not seeking help

from the pros

hiring - WHAT TO DO

HR interview tips

Sell first, then Interview. Failed interviewees often your

best advocates.

Exciting then formal

Make it competitive

Hire BOTH direct & use recruiters

Do formal ref checks only for process, else keep to team fit

ASOS culture first: anybody can block a hire (for the right,

cultural fit or reason!)

Go out! Games, drinks and dinners, must be informal.

Avoid the 8 common mistakes

Hire a* only after PFM stage

Start immediately, hire

slowly, fire quickly

Use your f&F&F

Actively use your network

use friends’ LinkedIn

accounts

Admit what you don't know

Use professionals for the

first hires.

Hustle ! You’re expected to

Ask for favours (2.5 x rule)

Offer (small) finders fee.

iPad works better than $600 cash

prize

"subject to“ contracts

About Company culture

LOTS OF CHOICES – but only one is yours.

Company culture

“ What people do when nobody’s

watching them “

Why a company culture

Without one, it’s just a job.

After product/tech, 2nd

best investment

Only way to attract top talent from better

funded tech firms.

Best tool to keep core values as you grow larger

extra boost for all

employee attitudes, job satisfaction and organizational commitment

discretionary effort of up to 20%.

(source: Arizona state university - 2007-2011)

Because nobody can buy it or steal it from you !

cOMPANY CULTure

What do you want it to say?

Set your culture or others will do it for you.

never write it. just do it.

Values STATED

deliver best service

Embrace creativity and initiative

Most talented people

REALITY

failed in the bid to acquire

remaining 60% BSkyB

News of the World closed down.

Failure of accountability

Strong ethics problem

(phone hacking)

Values STATED

Our culture embraces

innovative and imaginative

thinking while striving for,

and achieving, excellence.

(1) Raise the Bar

(2) At the Frontier of

Innovation

(3) No Limits

REALITY

Autocratic , Old fashioned

Leadership

Crushing Innovation in employees

Poor quality product Releases

Stock price

Feb 7th 2011 $69.69

Dec 12th 2011 $16.21

Culture builder | your To do list

1. build a culture of accountability from day one

2. keep mouth closed and ears and eyes open

3. build understanding, trust, and credibility with new recruit in

the first three months on the job

4. over-promise and sets unrealistic expectations early on

5. Drive changes quickly, respect others’ business and culture

backgrounds

6. Complain to investors and board

7. focus, focus, focus on immediate opportunities and key metrics

8. too involved in execution – delegate

9. being CEO get means serving your team

10. No being self-aware, introspective – 360 reviews include you

11. No being too hard on people and set expectations too high

keep things simple

Profile it.

Building your culture

What you do

Make your company clear

about its own.

align people with clear

expectations of behaviour

Match culture with talent

build accountability and

high performance ethos

Hire a*, show full support

and trust immediately

Support failures - analyse.

wHat you need to do

A Compelling Vision

Transparency

Shared Language

Organizational Inclusion

Development starting from

the top

CULTURE: I STRIVE TO BE

Real. Don’t project any image, it masks true personality.

Empathetic. Listen, trust, relate. A coach and advisor.

Humble.

Be direct.

Be transparent. It’s your job to make sure people know what’s

happening--that means the good, the bad and the ugly.

Never shoot the messenger.

Make the hard decisions.

Don’t state your culture, just do it.

SMART

real numbers with real deadlines. No "I

want more visitors."

Measurable or nothing. No buzz words e.g.

"brand engagement" or "social influence."

Attainable – GOALS ARE challenging but

possible.

Realistic - be honest with yourself, you

know you/R TEAM and limitations.

Timebound – everything has a deadline. No

"someday."

Simple to-do list

Get your team profiled. Only complementary hires.

Set up your office space according to your values

S.M.A.R.T everything

Make decisions fast, even with limited data, then

course-correct

Get outsiders to help, they want / like to.

Celebrate micro-victories

Get out of the office together

Celebrate micro-victories

It’s a long way to a big victory

Weekly updates, by category

Kpi update by team/functio

Open Fridays

Lunch together

Q&A

Debate, poll, vote

Celebrate reaching small milestones

Invite your early adopters, make them part of the family

What worked for me

Stand up meetings

“Open mike” Friday lunches

Share the data, especially the bad news

Ask “ what would you do? ” often.

Have the tough discussions early, ask for input

Agree, then Set challenging goals

Progressively give more control to people

Have the team spend time on what it doesn’t know yet. People need

to learn new things to keep inspired.

Case study | Finland

Finland was Famous for…

(Loooong) winters

Snowstorms, Ice, snowstorms, ice.

repeat

Vodka

Sauna

ice skates

…ahem… virtual air-guitar

a New Culture in finland

low hierarchy

Transparency

freedom

Responsibility /

Accountability

be yourself, have fun.

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

1. Your new job: Chief people officer

2. Your company will hire 3 teams, not 1

3. Avoid the 8 most common hiring mistakes

4. First hires: A+ only, as they will hire most others

5. One chance only. Take your time.

6. Get help from pros.

7. Culture : don’t state it, live it out.

8. Try new things, break a few things.

HANDY TOOLS, TIPS & MORE

FounderDating - premiere site for founders/co-founders

CoFoundersLab - find a co-founder in any city

YouNoodle - founder matching

Stanford Business School Interns –Stanford interns are cheap

Angel List – Angel List jobs board

Startup Weekend - Launch a Startup and meet a co-founder

FoundersHookUp - Invite-only find a co-founder

Founder Strengths – Gallup Strengths Center

PartnerUp- small business site to find partners, business opportunities,

real estate, etc.

Meetup - go to a Meetup!

How to hire developers - mike greenfield

Foundrs - co-founder equity calculator

Lance Laking, common sense on people management

Netflix HR

disclaimer

disclaimer

“You look for three qualities:

integrity, intelligence and

energy.

The most important one is

integrity, because if they don't

have that, the other two

qualities are going to kill you.”

Warren Buffet

Great quote