Archive for the ‘Venture Capital’ Category
11 February 2018
Every business — even a startup — needs a mysterious, unsung hero, a COO.
Importance: A COO — particularly one with lots of broad exposure — knows which levers to pull to make each functional area work in a coordinated way, needed for a startup to succeed.
Don’t Wait Too Long: Most startups wait too long to hire a COO. Hire immediately if you produce a physical product – or if the founder/CEO is immersed in building the technology. Hire when you hit product/market fit if you build digital products.
Why “Mysterious” : Per this Harvard Business Review article, the role of Chief Operating Officer is the most mysterious and misunderstood position because of the complexity and diversity of responsibilities.
Why “Unsung”? The COO always expects to be blamed, yet knows they will miss out on the praise.
Custom: Per Etsy COO, the COO role needs to be (more…)
Posted in C-Level, CEO Coach, Change Agent, COO, Founding CEO, Interim, Interim CEO, Interim COO, Interim Management, Startups, Venture Capital | 4 Comments »
7 October 2012
Many (most?) founding CEOs don’t survive their VCs. As Galen Moore states in his Mass High Tech piece, “Venture capital investors are notorious for investing in a startup, then replacing its founder with a more-seasoned CEO from their network.” Galen highlights four founding CEOs that have survived, though the article is a bit light on specifics as to how each achieved their success.
Here’s one way: In the last decade, I’ve seen first-hand a number of companies where a founding, first-time CEO heads the VCs off at the pass by bringing in a seasoned COO, on an interim basis, to help them through a rough patch.
It’s true that half of my ten interim assignments have been as CEO, where the VCs wanted to replace a founding CEO. In each case I was asked to take over from a fired founding CEO and “right the ship” before an executive search for an industry-specific CEO could be undertaken.
But the other five interim assignments have been as COO, where the founding CEO themselves decided (more…)
Posted in Business, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Galen Moore, Interim, Interim Management, Mass High Tech, Startups, Steve Hafner, Uncategorized, Venture Capital | 2 Comments »
15 October 2011
When I was signing up for this year’s unConference, I was reminded how last year’s event was great because of the impromptu breakout sessions where it was fair game to discuss controversial subjects. I wish every founding CEO could have been at last year’s session titled, “How founding CEOs can transition from visionary to leader.” Though that was the title, it was clear from the get-go that this session was really about, “How founding CEOs can avoid getting fired before they ever make that transition from visionary to leader.” Eric Paley and Katie Rae, the session leaders, did a great job covering this controversial subject, focusing on solutions to this common problem.
For the last decade, I have been “up close and personal” with the subject of founding CEOs getting fired. As interim CEO at a half dozen companies I bridged the gap after a founding CEO was let go by his investors. And as interim COO at another half dozen companies I helped the founding CEO endure the pressures of their job. (As one founding CEO said when he called asking for help, “Des, I’m one Board meeting away from getting fired. Can you give me a hand?”)
In last year’s unConference session, people had many reasons why founding CEOs get fired “early and often.” The reasons that resonated with me are: (more…)
Posted in Bill Warner, Bouzha Cookman, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Eric Paley, Founding CEO, Interim COO, Interim Management, Katie Ray, Mark Zuckerberg, MassTLC, Uncategorized, unConference, Venture Capital | Leave a Comment »
25 February 2010
The Economist recently reported that venture capitalists and boards of directors of European companies are far ahead of their US counterparts in understanding when it makes sense to hire an interim CEO. Now, a new report out of the UK – which has perhaps the most sophisticated interim management services in the world – details eight cases when a board should consider putting in an interim CEO.
I’ve listed them below, but first three other key points from the report:
- Interim CEOs are not consultants; rather, they are hands-on workers.
- Interim CEOs are not potential employees; the good ones do interim work as a way of life (and not as a “filler” until a poor economy improves.)
- Interim CEOs can be taken into the confidence of a board (as an interim person has the advantage of impartiality.)
The report also talks about why younger and younger executives are turning to interim management as a way to achieve a more flexible and rewarding career. While delivering significant benefits to the client, interim managers provide themselves with (more…)
Posted in Business, C-Level, Change Agent, CR2, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, E Ink, Economist, Eink, Ember, Interim, Interim CEO, Interim Management, The Economist, Turnaround, Uncategorized, United Kingdom, Venture Capital | Leave a Comment »
30 December 2009
The Economist has a great article about the type of work I’ve been doing for ten years, Interim CEO. The piece addresses why many American companies are now adopting a practice that originated in Europe, and why so many top-notch execs are enjoying these temporary CEO jobs.
The Economist postulates that “interim executives may be the wave of the future in all rich countries, as these countries evolve from what Peter Drucker called a ‘society of organizations’ into a ‘society of networks.’”
Why Companies Do It
The article details three reasons why a company might choose to (more…)
Posted in Atlas Venture, Atlas Ventures, C-Level, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Economist, Eink, Ember, Executive Search, Interim, Interim CEO, Interim Management, MIT, MIT Media Lab, Peter Drucker, Polaris Venture Partners, Society of Networks, Startups, Talent on Tap, The Economist, Turnaround, Uncategorized, Venrock Ventures, Venture Capital | 2 Comments »
31 October 2009
I agree with venture capitalist Michael Greeley of Flybridge Capital Partners who recently stated that building companies demands great passion, vision and intelligence but “it also helps to have done it before.” He goes on to say that what the marketplace really needs are “senior successful serial entrepreneurs” to serve on the next generation of entrepreneurs’ boards, to open up their rolodexes, and to share what worked and what didn’t work. He ends by noting that, “such mentorship is difficult to find.”
I would like to build on that suggestion; rather than having these serial entrepreneurs simply serve on boards, I suggest that in some cases they should actually serve as the startup’s interim CEO while the company is getting off the ground.
Every startup has a myriad of details and actions that need to be done. Rather than having a board member who simply advises, “You need to do this; and you need to do that,” in many cases the startup would be better served by (more…)
Posted in C-Level, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Flybridge Capital Partners, Interim, Interim Management, Michael Greeley, Startups, Turnaround, Venture Capital | 8 Comments »
2 June 2009
My very first interim assignment a decade ago was at E Ink, the maker of Amazon’s Kindle. I am pleased to see the company was successfully sold and will remain in Boston. Congratulations to Russ Wilcox and the great team at E Ink
Here’s what I say about E Ink in my resume:
“Reporting to the CEO, Jim Iuliano in an interim role as General Manager of a 22-person group within a 100-person Atlas Venture funded company that originated out of MIT. Was charged with determining why divisional revenue targets had not been achieved. Although I possessed no prior knowledge of the product space (electronic, centrally controlled signage) or the target markets (retailers and consumer package goods companies), within weeks determined that success could not be immediately achieved with the current product in the existing markets. Created and managed four SWAT teams which rapidly conducted exhaustive research to find a new market opportunity for the Company’s technologies, the Ink-In-Motion line which is still in use today. Currently, E Ink’s technology is the display in the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader wireless reading devices. Eink was sold for over $215 million.”
Posted in Amazon, Boston, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, E Ink, Eink, Interim, Interim Management, Kindle, MIT, Russ Willcox, Turnaround, Venture Capital | 8 Comments »
29 November 2008
Friends occasionally seek my advice on raising venture capital, knowing I’ve been involved with a range of VC financings – from seed, through A, B, and C rounds, to investments by a “strategic partner,” to venture debt financing, through to trade sales.
Today I pass along four sources of advice – with a bit of my own advice thrown in for good measure – ranging from advice for the person wanting to plan for all their VC rounds as they are just starting out (analogous to the plan-ahead friend seeking advice on the process of finding that perfect person to marry,) to advice for the person just days from making a big VC pitch (analogous to the last-minute friend seeking advice the night before he’s going to propose!)
So whether you’re the long-range planner or the last-minute proposer, maybe you’ll find one of these right for you.
“Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur” by Dermot Berkery
Dermot’s advice is for the long-range planner. Dermot was the first person my wife Jules and I met when we landed in Ireland on the first of April 2001. Gratefully, he didn’t immediately laugh when we told him our plan to move to Ireland without jobs – “On spec?” he asked – with our 6, 9, and 12 year old boys. Rather he copped on right away that this was not an April Fools Day joke. Months later, a fellow Irish VC described Dermot thusly: “Des, Dermot’s an oxymoron because he’s both a (more…)
Posted in April Fools, Business, Carleen Hawn, Delta Partners, Dermot Berkery, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Due Diligence, Flybridge Capital Partners, IDG Ventures, Ignition Partners, Jeff Bussgang, John Zagula, Jules Pieri, Ori Brafman, Raising Venture Capital, Rom Brafman, Scott Painter, Series A, Series B, Sway, Venture Capital, xconomy | 3 Comments »
Change Agent 