The Pitfalls of Team Building

Rand Fishkin | October 2013

8 Painful lessons learned from hiring, firing, mentoring, managing, losing, and working with people while building Moz’s 130+ person team.

No Need to Take Notes:http://bit.ly/mozstartupteam

“You can coach the head.

You can’t coach the heart.”

#1- Avinash Kaushik

(@avinash)

Startups often make the wrong choice

Startups often make the wrong choice

Many startups incorrectly hire & keep these folks

And get rid of these folks rather than

helping them grow

Your Culture Is Not:

Ping pong tables & beer in the fridgeInside jokes you have around the officeWhere you hang out after workA list of company values posted on the wall

“Work hard. Play hard.”

Your Culture Is:

The criteria you define (or are perceived to have created) for having or earning influence

The values you choose to prioritize when things are hard (or when a value conflicts with an opportunity for revenue/funding)

Who you hire, keep, & reward vs. who you don’t promote or fire (and why)

If management is the

only way up, we’re all

f***’d.

#2

If Management is the Only Way Up, We’re All F’d

Team members at the same level should have similar salaries and influence – just different responsibilities.

http://sarahbird.me/2013/09/07/influence/

How Can I Have Influence If I’m Not a Manager?

Let your influence define your role.

Don’t let your role define your influence.

Build a recruiting brand

beyond your product

brand.

#3

Startup communities are tiny and well-connected.

If you don’t provide a great experience through this funnel…

The people who have a bad time will tell their friends, colleagues, & co-workers.

Beware of bonuses, prizes, & other

recruiting gimmicks vs. just doing the

hard work

#4

We Tried Big Referrals to Get Engineers

Original Blog Post from Our $24,000 Referral Program

It Attracted Some Wrong Kinds of People

And Worse, Created “Classes” of Employees at Moz

There’s no such thing

as

10X engineers(or 10X anything)

#5

Belief in the Mythical 10X Hire Hurts Your Team

Build a vision-based framework

that’s clear to everyone at the

company

#6

Creating a Vision-Based Framework

Create expectations for

performance, cadence, and

culture early

#7

It’s Easy to Build Process Early; Hard to Change it Later

Why?

At Minimum, Answer These Five:

2) Who makes decisions on what, and how?

3) What information will be shared about company performance, and how often?

4) How does an idea become reality here?

5) What are examples of cultural traits we encourage vs. discourage?

1) What are expectations for performance? How do we know if and when they change? And how do I know how I’m doing?

Figure out a mechanism

for regular feedback as

you scale

#8

At Moz, We First Tried TinyPulse:

TinyPulse

We Moved to 15Five, and Love It:

15Five

Download the slides:http://bit.ly/mozstartupteam

Rand & Moz on the Web:We’re Hiring! http://moz.com/about/jobs

My Blog (about startup-y stuff): http://moz.com/rand

Twitter: @randfish | Google+: 111294201325870406922