The current startup I am at has incompetent people at the top, with continuous attrition at the bottom. I wonder what happens in other startups and eventually do these people get cleaned out or just play more politics and stick around
Yep. Same exact thing at my start up. Our CEO has a proven track record of success, but the other C-Suite members aren’t equipped to navigate the ambiguity of a startup (they all come from big, impressive companies). That creates insecurity for them, so they spend a bunch of time throwing each other under the bus and competing for who has “the best” weekly update. 80% of the folks getting the work done as miserable and looking for new jobs. Management recognizes it, but doesn’t know they have to change their ways to fix (maybe they do, just powerless to change). All in all, i think this is typically startup culture. If you believe in the mission and are learning, probably best to ride it out. I have an interview on Friday, BTW :)
Sounds like you’re jealous that you haven’t had a chance to work at a recognizable company so you’re projecting your insecurity on the C suite execs.
I definitely work at a recognizable startup, but definitely am jealous I don’t work at one with a better culture. Sounds like your a C Suite exec??
This is only an issue at well-funded startups. Incompetence at a funding-constrained startup will either be pushed out quickly or the company will fail. Guess which one I’m dealing with?
Building a startup is very challenging and there may be issues the executive team is dealing with that most employees don’t know about. Given that, it takes leaders with vision and true management skills (rarely honed at big companies) to drive a startup to success. Steve Jobs was apparently a real asshole to work for and failed in some of his early efforts but he had passion, drive and vision which was enough to rally highly competent people. Your challenge is to figure out if the leadership you work for can be the next Apple or will follow the fate of most new businesses and its doors within five years.
I am in similar boat. I fell for CEO name ignoring Engineering Leadership. Don’t join looking at CEO names. Understanding the potential and evaluate every leader in the company before joining.
If you are at top: hire competent people to replace them. That takes a long time. If you are at bottom: run.