Entrepreneurs: Who to Interview
by Miki Saxon
I try to be polite, but sometimes it’s difficult.
Sometimes I just need to shut up in order to avoid telling my host that I think he is the stupidest person I’ve been around lately.
“Clay” was talking to a group of new entrepreneurs; going on at length about how brilliant he is at hiring talent for his company.
He said that knew when he should interview someone just by hearing a few basic facts, like education and general experience; no need for detailed specifics.
When he finally stopped bragging and patting himself on the back just one guy had the temerity to disagree, saying that wasn’t enough information to make such company success-critical decisions.
Clay turned and asked me to do four thumbnail sketches of candidates I knew and he would prove it was enough.
Here are the four profiles I provided.
- BSBA, some programming in college; started in customer service and worked his way up through the executive ranks.
- Some college; 12 years of programming and management experience.
- Harvard MBA w/ 25 years progressively more responsible positions in consulting, sales and management.
- MIT BS; more than 40 years programming experience in a broad array of technologies. Strong entrepreneurial bent; excellent manager.
Clay laughed and said he wasn’t surprised I included mostly “oldies,” since I was one of them.
He went on to say that he would pass on 1,3 and 4, because they probably wouldn’t fit into the fast pace of a startup. The second was a possibility, although he didn’t sound particularly aggressive.
Poor Clay, his investors won’t be pleased; he just passed on
- Marc Benioff (52)
- Sheryl Sandberg (47), and
- Ray Kurzweil (68)
He did think number 2 was a possibility, although not a strong one.
But Mark Zukerberg (32) probably wouldn’t fit in.
Flickr image credit: Jon Phillips
