I chat with many consultants during my busy events schedule. Boston boasts a large number of consultants who are true experts in their areas. But, we also have snake-oil salespeople who love to call themselves business “coaches”, “gurus”, etc. If you are smart, you just smile at them, look for an excuse to run away, take their card, and chuck it the next moment you find a trash can. But, some early stage entrepreneurs fall prey to these vultures. That is part of learning process and natural selection. This article is for those of you with solid expertise and experience getting ready to start your startup consulting career.
Category Archives: Startups
Why early stage startups don’t need business consultants
Difference between “My CEO” and “Our CEO”
Being in operations, I’m usually the right-hand-man for the CEO (and CFO), and have worked with some fantastic ones and a few who should have let someone else pilot the company. Not everyone is cut out to be a CEO and nowhere is this as evident and crucial as in startups. A good CEO can take the company anywhere he/she dreams it to go.
As I search for a head of operations position and talk to employees and founders of startups, one of the key phrase I am listening for is “my CEO [insert the rest of the sentence]”. That is what I want to hear. Yes, many will say “our CEO”, but there is a difference when someone adds emotion to their alliance and proclaims he works for his/her CEO.
How a foosball table can kill your startup
Back when I was working in Chicago at a late stage startup, I used to have great conversations with the president of the company about our various approaches to managing businesses. We shared war stories, ramblings about taxation in US and EU, and the software developers’ versions of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. But one thing that stuck with me was his statement: “this company will never own a foosball table, because every company I have seen own one went under months after purchasing it”.
How to hire and KEEP overqualified people
I read a Wall Street Journal article today, titled The New Résumé: Dumb and Dumber – Job Seekers Play Down Their Credentials to Avoid Looking Overqualified,” that really struck a nerve with me. This issue is not exclusive to Baby Boomer and reaches all the way into Generation X. We talk about how it is hard to find the right people for our companies, but we are not willing to think just a little bit outside of the box. Here is a novel idea, why don’t we stop forcing overqualified individuals to hide their qualifications and try to make a deal with them, while the demand is low.
Here is my recipe for hiring and keeping overqualified professionals
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Apolinaras is a business operations leader with 12-year track record of helping companies manage growth, build diverse teams, harness technology, and get a lot more profitable.Read More About Us »
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