Startups need executive leaders by late Series A or 25 employees
Leore Avidar · 20VC: 2 Levers To Fundraising: FOMO & Leverage and How To Use Them, How To Implement "A Sustainable Growth Mindset" & How To Put VCs To Work For You with Leore Avidar @ Lob · Mar 9, 2018 · at 20:19
Leore Avidar, founder and CEO of Lob, shares the headcount and stage milestone where a founder must transition from individual execution to executive management.
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“It happens generally around, I would say, late series A, or when you're around 20 to 25 people, that you really need other people within the company to go and tackle big divisions within your company.”
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More from Leore Avidar
Leore Avidar regrets raising venture capital because Lob could self-fund
“And so for Lobb, I mean, I wish I hadn't raised money because we keep doing well and we're able to self-fund through sales.”
VCs act irrationally when driven by peer investment FOMO, says Leore Avidar
“Investors and VCs actually act very similarly, and they don't always act rationally when their peers are looking to make an investment, or they see this shiny new startup that's going out to raise money.”
Controlled growth means maintaining a path to profitability within six months
“Controlled growth is a mindset, and it's one where it's a growth trajectory that you can easily tweak that growth dial up and down and always have the ability to become profitable within six months.”
Most startup bankruptcies occur due to irresponsible growth, says Leore Avidar
“Most companies go bankrupt because they weren't responsible about their growth.”
Typical tech companies only retain employees for one to two years
“Everyone is doing all these crazy things, and they're only able to retain people for one to two years.”
Companies must promote internally rather than hire external managers for retention
“When there's an opportunity to promote somebody or you're looking for a manager on the team, you can't be in the mindset that you're going to go and hire somebody else from Another company. You have to invest in your own teammates.”