I have a friend interviewing for a marketing director position for a VC funded startup. My friend would be their first hire. What should my friend know? What questions should she ask the founder? What should she be aware of going into the venture if offered the job?
1. The marketing strategy is going to change almost weekly; be agile and roll with the punches 2. Be prepared to learn everything on the job. Just like SWE at a start up from day to day you have no idea what you’ll need to do when you show up. Questions to ask: 1. Get a good idea of the history and funding. It’s important to understand how invested everyone at the company is and how involved any financial backers are 2. What does their run way look like as it pertains to continued hiring 3. What are the expectations of the marketing department...is it simply creating flyers and sending out mass mailers or will it include event planning and coordination, will it include running trade studies and understanding the competitive landscape, etc.
Thanks so much!
Any other feedback?
Get an idea about the market. Have the founder explain the business and why it must exist. It’s probably most important to understand the business, as it will give insight as to what the chances are of this thing actually working. If the first question that comes to mind is “why doesn’t this exist already?”, you should ask if it does. Who are the competitors, and if none, why not?
Startup marketer here. Been with a few VC funded at this point. No way to answer this question without knowing what she’s looking for bc with startups, at such an early stage, the potential for any type of experience is possible (it’s why I’ve hung around so long, and worked for so many). 1 things for sure: she’ll be working closely with the founder so she should figure out who s/he is, what s/he’s done before and his/her plans for exit (if any).
Thanks!
I’m assuming series A
Great question, but I’m not sure.