What is a good rule of thumb to measure a “top heavy” company?
I work for a tech start up that has scaled very quickly. I joined when the company was at about 200 employees and in less than a year, we’ve doubled that. Using linkedin, I found that 30% of our staff is C-level, VP, or director which sounds absolutely insane to me. I cross checked this with 2 of our competitors and I found the following. Company A: ~250 employees : 26% Company B: ~1200 employees: 14% We top our competitors in upper management ratios with both larger and smaller staff. I’m not sure how our ratio has changed as the company grew, but the reason I looked up this information was because of the lack of awareness from upper management on what our major daily roadblocks are and constantly having to do work outside of my scope and having difficulty finding people who can get me what I need - but this may be unique to my specific role so I don’t want to attribute my anecdotal experience to the equation. Is this a grossly top heavy company? #Tech #startup #management
Feels top heavy yes. But not uncommon. There are companies where VP means something, others that feel like a bank where everyone is a VP. Sounds like VP is pretty meaningless at this one.
If the company is equally growing fast then 30% is not bad, when companies expand some first hire the vp or the director then ask them to build their team. Are you cash positive?
I’ve noticed in my experience it’s a passing phase. Folks who are early will only stick around if they are recognized and higher titles/pay does that. Company needs them because these are the ones who bring impact. As company grows even further, depending on how leadership perceives, some of the top-level is cut off (my experience). At this phase, you will hear Radical Candor or some cool framework, how people who got you till here may not take be the same people who can take it to the next level, so peasants are not scared of a looming layoff. Then new VPs, Directors come in who either really take the company to new heights or take it to the streets. If it goes to streets, they are cyclically changed and it goes on.
Smaller companies have inflated titles to attract people. Normal stuff
Anything more than 15% is crazy.
One who’s heavier at top
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