𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀

Effective Scaling Part 2: Invest in People to Reach Goals

This four-part series will cover startup planning, people, efficiency, and resources as crucial inflection points in growth.

The longest section in my book* is about optimizing teams. After having a valuable solution, finding and retaining top performers is critical. Here, I introduce four powerful concepts.

"Only hire people who are better than you." - Laszlo Bock

People are often a startup’s highest expense and integral to incredible growth. Invest in finding, evaluating, and retaining valuable people.

So far, that’s obvious. I want to push to think about the incredibly daunting fear of hiring someone who could replace us.

Roles change dramatically in a fast-growing startup. Hire for future potential skills, not only current experience, education, or certifications.

Seek bright, motivated, and adaptable people. In interviews, ask open-ended questions based on actual examples to realistically gauge their responses.

"All you can do to improve the output of an employee is

motivate and train. There is nothing else." - Ben Horowitz

Some founders invest a lot of time and money in recruiting the best people but ignore a productive onboarding process to maximize their benefits.

Create enough structure so new hires can immediately thrive.

During onboarding, ask and respond to these questions daily:

· What did you accomplish today?

· What did you learn?

· What do you hope to understand tomorrow? 

This task immediately sets expectations around learning and responsibility, and the manager will have a clear view of performance.

"Speed is useful only if you are running

in the right direction." - Joel Barker

While hiring and firing may be relatively straightforward, optimizing performance is a nuanced challenge.

We are all teenagers at heart, and we want to know WHY we are completing a project or task. A reasonable explanation will encourage high performance.

When performance evaluations align with company objectives, you can successfully reward people who are clearly growing the company.

"The most effective leaders score high in

both confidence AND humility." - Adam Grant

Grant’s reference to confidence means that you may be clear on the vision, but not the best paths to reach your goals.

His reference to humility is recognizing that you cannot control everything. By letting go of just a little bit of control, you may receive a lot in return.

Questions like these prompt productive conversations:

• What could I have done better?

• How can I help you succeed?

• What can I do to help your career?

In startups, people are often your greatest drivers of success. Invest in hiring, training, and motivating top talent to foster fast growth.

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This post was written by me with AI editing. The image is AI generated.

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𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲: 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗸 is a 500-page handbook with over 130 separate articles that ascend into topics like leadership, growth, sales, marketing, operations, finance, and teams. In five minutes, learn the best methods and practical solutions to reach your dreams.