Advice To Large Tech Startups
I've never actually worked in a very large company but I've seen a few wrong things happen way too often in companies that I've known or heard from friends in the Industry.
Based on what I've learned and heard, I've compiled a list of things not to do.
1. Hire people with no sales experience into weird long titles that have no meaning or sense to them - Head of Global Sales, Strategy - Seriously?
2. Hire a failed product manager from one company and assume that he/she will be successful in your company. Failed executives from somewhere else do not automatically succeed because you have a lot of money to burn. You can give them a chance but not into significantly bigger responsibility.
3. Hiring someone with no product experience, technology experience to lead a very high technology business unit = EPIC FAIL. It might have worked elsewhere.
4. Don't pay lip service to technology. Either you're a technology organization or you're not.
5. Honour your agreements and commitments to your partners.
6. Please don't acquire to screw. Small acquisitions cannot be based on retention + revenue goals + everything else under the sun.
7. Lastly, don't be a jerk.