BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
What makes a great early stage CEO?
About eight years ago I asked Charlie Lax (Grandbanks Capital), who is a very successful venture investor and colorful guy, “what is the primary thing you look for in a company.” He responded that assuming the company passes the standard screens (strong technology, large market, customers thirsting for it) the thing that makes him reach for his checkbook is “the bus driver”, aka the CEO. I didn’t ask why, but the fact is that the CEO sits in a highly leveraged position. Hiring, raising capital, setting strategy, execution, a CEOs mistakes are enormously costly and a good CEO can make gold out of stone. Now, while I agree with Charlie in concept, I have had a heck of a time recognizing great CEOs ahead of time. The successful ones are just so different. Some are promoters, some are bulldogs, some are just geniuses. But it is worth setting down in writing what the really great ones I have encountered have had in most cases:
1) Effective communications.
This is one reason why I am a VC and not a CEO. I have gotten better, but I tend to under-communicate by default. Great CEOs are constantly and consistently messaging all of their constituents, go about it efficiently, but are never pests. Just enough “how is the family” and then a smooth transition to the main point, everyone feels attended to, but their time wasn’t wasted.
2) Passion for the business
There is a bright line between belief and passion. Many CEOs really, strongly believe in a company. But the fire doesn’t burn deep enough to fill the room. Passion is something everyone can sense. It can be expressed as a quiet intensity, or as chest thumping cheerleading. It is pretty easy to spot actually.
3) High Intelligence
Great talent will not long tolerate a leader who’s intellect they don’t respect.
4) Execution focused & Practical
Sets reasonable, achievable goals and then exceeds them. What an easy sentence that was to type, and how often this proves impossible for the eternal optimists that most startup CEOs tend to be.
Sure there are others, but this is my top four. Now that I look at these and think back, all of my biggest wins had CEOs with at least three of these four attributes, and the all without exception had the 4th one.
