
What I learned as a VC filling in as a startup CEO for 4 months - rock57
https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/19/what-i-learned-as-a-vc-filling-in-as-a-startup-ceo-for-4-months/
======
areoform
Most of the comments so far have been negative and posed with barbs for the
author's competence. I'd like to offer another angle.

It appears that she's someone who didn't come from means, put herself through
college by waitressing, kept getting jobs in PE/VC (haven't looked up her bio
as that would be creepy), and became a senior enough player at a firm to be
installed as an interim-keep-the-ship-steady CEO while a new candidate was
being found.

Job performance has a high correlation with IQ (and by extension the ability
to learn quickly); especially for executive roles. The author is someone who
juggles complex financial models all day; surely she's more than smart,
capable and relentlessly resourceful enough to take on the mantle of an
interim CEO. Sure, she might not be a long-term candidate (for now), but an
interim CEO is meant to make sure that the finances stay okay, the fires get
put out, and that the ship doesn't sink until a new skipper can be found.
That's all. It's a job that's not too far from her initial skills with an
added operational component that she's delving into over here. Compared to
most "CEOs" I've met, she's probably overqualified.

For those questioning the VC firm who sent her in, it's impossible that she
was sent in alone. She's probably being advised by the GPs and a curated set
of experts to make the right operational decisions. Her job is to execute the
plan and Not Fuck Up (a harder job than it seems). And it appears that she
succeeded in doing so.

She rose to her professional challenge, learned something and wrote something
from a position of humility. How many of us (especially the detractors) can
claim the same?

~~~
treydey
I would be careful with the blanket statement "Job performance has a high
correlation with IQ".

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557354/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4557354/)

------
dang
All: some comments below have taken a tack that's not good for HN: seizing on
one line, in which the author was obviously downplaying herself, then piling
on with pedestrian indignation. That makes for lame discussion—equal parts
sour and boring. The value of HN is curiosity. If you find yourself driven to
post like that, please wait until curiosity is what you're feeling instead.
Then you'll respond to something interesting in this unusual article. Or
perhaps you'll find something more interesting elsewhere. Either is fine, but
piling on is for other places.

There's a site guideline that covers this: " _Please respond to the strongest
plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that 's easier
to criticize._" It applies to articles too.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
mattigames
It seems you have a very specific kind of comment with a specific content that
you want to see here, if thats the case you may post it yourself and disable
all others to be completely sure the existing comments are within the bounds
of the guidelines.

~~~
dang
Not at all. It's indignation that's specific; curiosity is legion. When I post
like that, the purpose is to encourage less common, wider-ranging comments.
Those don't always appear without help, for the same reason that flowers don't
always grow through weeds.

------
alaskamiller
The writer's a VP, won awards, worked in i-banking, and has a double bachelors
from an ivy league. She's trying to be cheeky and the first hot takes from the
HN community is whoa, how _dare_ they!

Relax, it's a quick sunday read. Go do something nice for someone.

~~~
alaskamiller
Also, it's PresenceLearning, a digital platform to connect learning
professionals with K-12 students. It just takes two minutes of reading some
context.

~~~
danieltillett
I don’t think it is PresenceLearning as they still have a founder who is
described as the Co-CEO [0].

0\. [https://www.crunchbase.com/person/clay-whitehead#section-
ove...](https://www.crunchbase.com/person/clay-whitehead#section-overview)

~~~
stickfigure
The commentary about PresenceLearning on Glassdoor sounds about right. They
even mention the interm CEO (favorably, fwiw).

[https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/PresenceLearning-
Reviews-E...](https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/PresenceLearning-
Reviews-E504648.htm)

Crunchbase could be out of date, or maybe one of the cofounders stepped up.

~~~
danieltillett
Interesting. I am surprised when they had a co-founder that they put in a CEO
who's only hands on business experience was being a waitress.

~~~
hef19898
So finance is all of a sudden not relevant for a business anymore? Interesting
take. I stated it already elsewhere, but maybe a finance focused interim CEO
was exactly what was needed. Also, maybe the co-founder didn't feel like the
right fit for CEO at that point in time? Just being a founder doesn't qualify
automatically as CEO, examples include Uber and Google.

------
contingencies
_It’s easier to be a board member than a CEO_.

Shouldn't this be obvious?

A board member sleeps, has no or little personal skin in the game and is
hedged across multiple ventures.

The CEO rarely sleeps (or has more responsibilities than time permits
addressed), is "all in" and rarely substantially hedged, especially in early-
stage startups.

~~~
yial
I mostly agree with this - however it's important to remember that in smaller
organizations.... Board members may still be incredibly involved and active.

I know of a small (30 million a year) organization where board members input
20-40 hours a week. Not nearly as much as a CEO...but still much more then in
other orgs.

~~~
abhinai
20-40 hours / weeks sounds like a lot. What are these board members actually
doing?

~~~
wolco
As silly as it sounds probably meeting with each other maybe making some calls
or visiting a political friend.

------
danieltillett
Which of the 6 companies do you think Mia was CEO of [0]?

0\. [https://www.crunchbase.com/person/mia-ficerai#section-
jobs](https://www.crunchbase.com/person/mia-ficerai#section-jobs)

Edit.

It is not Datavail, Weave, PresenceLearning or Envoy Global.

It could be Jobvite or Galvanize.

------
hef19898
This section, I think, is _really_ important and has to come from the top:

"Interestingly the slide that seemed to resonate the most was an overview of
what was _not_ part of the strategy."

If someone can achieve that, defining what is out and get team buy in, that
person is more qualified to be CEO than 80% of managers I met in my career so
far.

------
mrosett
I’m not impressed with the comments here. The author has eight years of
experience in finance and was apparently the best person to fill this role
despite her lack of directly relevant experience. (You might disagree, but
that was the perspective of investors with a lot of skin in the game.) The
article makes good points and is well written. And yet it seems half of the
comments can’t get past the fact that she worked as a waitress back around the
time the iPhone came out. I’m not one to cry sexism, but I’m seeing s lot of
it (and perhaps some classism too) in this thread. Please do better, HN.

~~~
xfitm3
Sexism is a low blow and unsubstantiated outside of the suffix "ress". Provide
proof for your claims.

~~~
neonate
I think the GP went a bit far, but I can't help feeling a bit of it in the
air. Something about the word "waitress" caused a weird backlash. For example:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19957074](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19957074)
is not a good-faith comment.

------
rdl
I don't necessarily think accepting this kind of interim CEO thing is the
worst possible call for a company sometimes, but it's definitely not something
I'd want to publicize even after the fact as the "CEO", VC firm, or operating
company.

------
caseysoftware
> Prior to this role, my “operating experience” consisted of working as a
> waitress during college.

I found this line astounding and not in good ways.

When a new senior person is announced (even interim), the first thing most
people do is ask "what has this person done?" and they scour LinkedIn,
writing, social media, etc to understand what they're about and their
background.

I'm trying to imagine senior leadership's reaction on the initial news and
during that 4 months. Even if the interim CEO busted her butt, just about the
time she has an understanding in the company, team, etc, she was on the way
out.

~~~
untog
How many SV startups are founded by recent college grads? Quite a few. I agree
that it's not really that positive a thing, but it's certainly not atypical.

~~~
caseysoftware
I 100% agree except that this isn't day one where they're still figuring out
the basics and where the bathrooms are. From the article:

> _The company has 100+ employees, hundreds of customers, and more than 15,000
> end users._

------
manigandham
VCs without any operational experience are a major problem. This is why so
many companies get advised into the overfunded death cycle and never actually
build a sustainable enterprise.

I find it surprising that not a single one of the existing 100 employees could
be temporarily promoted to the CEO role.

~~~
andrewstuart
Or a contract temporary CEO found - plenty of them around and presumably a VC
would know many.

~~~
czbond
Your suggestion is the right one - a contract CEO (with similar vertical or
even horizontal experience) is better than a financial number cruncher.

~~~
hef19898
I guess that depends on the situation of the company in question, doesn't it?
If there have been financial issues a good number and finance cruncher might
be exactly what the company needed to survive.

------
ErikAugust
"The company has 100+ employees, hundreds of customers, and more than 15,000
end users. I spent almost four months as CEO. Prior to this role, my
“operating experience” consisted of working as a waitress during college."

I'll admit: I dug a bit to figure out what space the company is in, so that I
can avoid using their services if it was applicable.

Side thought: It'd be interesting to do a bizarro "Undercover Boss" where you
make someone without any experience the CEO of a large company for a week.

~~~
rdl
Re: bizzaro undercover boss, If it's for a week, "just don't fuck it up" would
be fine. If I got airdropped into something where I had no experience or
relevant insight (e.g. CEO of LVMH for a week), the only thing I could
realistically do is try to keep stuff that was already working working (by
deferring any decisions or just making "what would you do" delegations to
subordinates), and spending the week learning about operations/industry. Maybe
there would be a little value in someone from a different industry doing a
high-level review of functional areas (e.g. seeing how LVMH manages inventory
vs. wherever he had experience, or for me maybe digging into IT/security, or
if you have nothing, just do "secret shopper" traditional undercover boss and
then report back to the real CEO when he comes back).

A month to a year, depending on the industry and company, would be a lot
harder. With a big company with long product cycles a month might largely be a
vacation/autopilot too, but at a startup or in a critical time for a company,
even a month could be life or death.

~~~
ErikAugust
"A month to a year, depending on the industry and company, would be a lot
harder. With a big company with long product cycles a month might largely be a
vacation/autopilot too, but at a startup or in a critical time for a company,
even a month could be life or death."

You're right - you would need some extended period of time, especially at a
larger company.

------
andrewstuart
This is the strangest thing I've read today.

At so many levels.

Really really weird.

I wonder if the author's LinkedIn now says "Acting CEO" at company blah,
thereby qualifying them for some full CEO role somewhere as a next career
step.

~~~
yial
I know many "acting CEO's" list that time as CEO, and are considered CEO (and
rightfully so) for that duration.

~~~
ClassyJacket
I assume 'Interim CEO' is also acceptable

~~~
yial
I concur, though I've noticed in press related items they're just "CEO".

------
kitotik
This could almost pass for satire.

------
wheelerwj
sooooo many questions..

------
sonnyblarney
"The company has 100+ employees, hundreds of customers, and more than 15,000
end users. I spent almost four months as CEO. Prior to this role, my
“operating experience” consisted of working as a waitress during college. My
entire professional career has been in finance, where I have worked in small,
flat organizations with a project-driven, deal team-oriented model. In short,
I had no idea what to expect, and I learned a lot, quickly."

Why on earth was this person in any way shape or form the person to step in?

Once of the C-level people should have, or someone in the VC's network.

"In the CEO role it quickly becomes obvious that empathy and compassion are
far more valuable than financial acumen. "

Yes, but understanding the product, customers, operational details, and
knowing where to direct the system is probably more important than 'empathy
and compassion'.

"It’s easier to be a board member than a CEO"

Who doesn't already know this?

My crusty comments aside, it's a good read.

~~~
jonathankoren
> Yes, but understanding the product, customers, operational details, and
> knowing where to direct the system is probably more important than 'empathy
> and compassion'.

As interm CEO, her job is keep the lights on while the board conducts a search
for a new CEO. That’s it. She’s not expected to come up with strategy, or
really change anything except put the immediate fires out. It’s a caretaker
position.

That said, it’s a bit disingenuous to read her comment as as saying that these
business skills are not important. In fact, she doesn’t mention of these
product and marketing skills at all. She’s talking about finance, which she
primarily focused on as a VC and a board member. Given that C-suite jobs are
primarily political, it’s completely fair to observe that soft skills are more
important than reading a P & L sheet.

~~~
sonnyblarney
"That’s it. She’s not expected to come up with strategy, "

Did you even read the article?

The #1 headline point was "coming up with strategy": here's the reference:

"1\. A clear strategy is the key to execution When I assumed the CEO role, the
organization had been struggling with a lack of strategic clarity. The company
is in a market with both endless growth opportunities and nearly as many
potential distractions if strategy is not clear and priorities are not set.
Creating a true north star for the team was my top priority."

1/2 the articles was about this.

So yes, her role 'should have been' to keep the lights on, and definitely not
make consequential decisions as such, so why on earth is she doing it?

Also - her comment about 'compassion vs. financial acumen' was essentially
pointless in the context that 'financial acumen' is not necessarily that
important about a startup either.

This was possibly a shameful exercise in mismanagement.

"I had no idea what I was doing, I read some pop-culture books on being a CEO,
I was empathetic, and I laid down a company strategy based on industry
buzzwords"

Ridiculous.

"Keeping the lights on" is what she should have done as a 'member of the board
overseeing the company temporarily'.

She should have worked with the remaining C-level team to set some priorities,
pick some things to fix, and probably lean in with some financial concerns if
there as an opportunity to do that. That's it.

------
timavr
I don't see any problem here. Investors control the company. If they want to
hire Micky Mouse to run it, so be it.

The bigger issue is that the article is non-transparent.

What company? Why CEO left? What was achieved during those 4 months?

------
arkadiytehgraet
Instead of suggesting better suited person for the role, I believe we should
consider this as yet another example of reality where CEOs do not really
influence outcome of the company, especially once it has grown to 100+
employees. Most of the points in the article ("insights") are buzzword filled
generic Markov chain generated advice that you can find in pretty much any
other book or website.

I would bet a certain amount of money that if they hired an actual waitress,
the results would not have been worse and, most probably, better.

