Resumes are overrated: So are: → Fancy schools → Advanced degrees → Big company experience Instead, hire based on character. You want people that can excel when you're not around. Who can figure it out. Get sh*t done. They don't need a bunch of hand-holding. This gives you and the organization the most leverage. I've hired experienced people way smarter than me... That needed more direction than junior employees. I'll take "street smarts" over "academic smarts" any day.

I totally f*cked this up as a founder: Building a world-class executive team.  Here's what went wrong & how I fixed it...  In the beginning, your executive team IS the founding team.  Life is pretty simple.  But eventually, you see gaps that need filling with additional experience.  And here's where I made a big mistake (and I later learned many other founders do too).  Moving too aggressively towards external hires.  What happens is this...  The "seasoned" execs think they have all the answers.  And their ego starts to destroy what made the place special in the first place.  But here's the catch.  The opposite can be true too.  Keep a struggling founder over a function for too long and you're asking for egg on your face.  The reality is that most founders can't scale themselves from $0 to $100M+.  So you do need external execs, but the mix is ultra-important.  If it skews too far in either direction, you're in trouble.  So after many years of trying, here's the advice I'd give any founder who's building an executive team:   1) Keep a healthy mix of 'old' and 'new'  2) Favor homegrown over external hires  3) Don't hire too many execs at same time  4) Hire from companies you really respect  5) Make sure they're truly bought into the  mission/values/vision 👇 And here's a bonus tip...  Investors & advisors love to say:  You should hire a 'Chief X Officer' - that'll solve your problems. Maybe. But most times that's not the answer.  Keep your exec team lean and mean for as long as you can.  Hire execs slow. It's well worth the wait.

If you liked this post, you'll love my free newsletter. 📌Every week I tackle management, operations & startup topics that are helping 20,000+ people become better leaders. Subscribe for free: