I think that it would be important to answer the following questions. * Who comes up with the "thoughtful questions"? And are they new every week? * Who is responsible for the answering of these questions? * What is the pace of the start-up? * Will every team's concerns / progress / roadblocks...
I don't know if this is the right answer because your question is a tricky one. Before you get an answer I'm going to give you an example of a company I think fits what you are looking for: Medium.com Read here : http://firstround.com/article/How-Medium-is-building-a-new-kind-of-company-with-no-m...
I'll divide your question into 2 questions, because I am not sure which one you're really asking :-) 1. Should I hire him despite the costs involved? You seem to already agree to this, based on what you wrote ("I am willing to set aside...assuming I see some ROI..."). 2. How to I justify his hig...
Instead of repeating the wisdom of others, I'll link to it below. Here is a great blog post on hiring your first salesperson: http://tomtunguz.com/when-to-hire-a-salesperson Also, Mark Suster has written a ton of great post on his blog about startup sales. http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/o...
I know this moment all too well. I've been on both sides of this one, and let me say - it's not as scary as you think. If the new hire comes to the table with more to offer than previous hires, then it shouldn't be something you have to "sell". If you think you need to "sell" this new hire to yo...
Oh this is a long question to answer, but let me start with my experience. I'm the "outsourced COO" for a number of small businesses who have grown through their bootstrapping phase, proven they have a market and all of sudden start feeling the pressure of the business expanding. 9 times out of 1...
Security including protecting intellectual properties comes in layers. I have been employed by several people on different projects and these are some things I noticed my employers did to protect their work. Limit access to codes Have a strong employee contract Have very clear employee policies ...
Answer with the truth. And perhaps follow their question up with a question such as "Why do you ask?" This serves 2 key purposes: 1. It helps you get to the root of what they are looking for / need / want. And regardless of whether you get that particular client's business or not - you gain v...
Remember having a friend in a similar situation. This was my advice in that moment: -Make a list of the top 50 clients you had in the consulting firm, choose those which you had a close relationship and can actually talk about you (not fake it) -Call them and ask them if they believe you did a ...