The #1 Worst Hire of All When You Are Just Starting To Scale: The Mediocre VP of Engineering

So we’ve talked a ton on SaaStr over the years on the risks and benefits of hiring your various VPs and C-level execs.  We’ve spend the most time on hiring a great first VP of Sales, but all the VPs are super important.

Now that time has gone by though, I’m 100% sure that the worst mis-hire is CTO / VP Engineer.  Because it becomes the death of innovation.

I’ve seen this fact pattern or some variant thereof so many times:

• Founder CEO + CTO

• CTO gets start-up to $5m, $10m, $20m but just “can’t scale”

• VP of Engineering or CTO from Big Tech Company hired

• Everyone chooses the Nice Candidate

• The Nice Candidate never codes, never learns the code base, never gets the magic

• The Nice Candidate hires a bunch of engineers under them that aren’t that great

At first, things seem better with Mr. Nice Guy CTO / VP of Engineering.

Things are more organized under Mr Nice Guy VP of Engineering.  There are a lot more discussions, which everyone feels great about.  Fewer erratic changes.  Releases are smoother.  Everything is calmer.

And … innovation just ends.  This VP of Eng / CTO never knows the magic, the why, or the how.  And the competition pulls ahead.

And even worse, the founding CTO often either leaves or disengages.  And the magic is lost.

Even at Adobe Sign / EchoSign, my last start-up, my co-founder and CTO is still at Adobe as one of the most senior scientists.  Why?  Because they know even at $250m+ ARR they still need him.  He wrote all the original code base, and the original magic.  They don’t need him for all that much on a weekly basis.  But when they need him — they really need him.  Even today.

I have a rule: never hire a CTO that wears a tie.

It’s always a sign they are selling up, rather than being a hacker.  You need a hacker at the head of engineering.  Maybe forever.

And whatever you do, when the time comes to hire an outside VP Eng / CTO, try to make sure you and your co-founder both are 100% aligned they are a 10/10.  An epic hacker and engineer, not just a manager.

Managers are a dime a dozen today.  And they can’t win in engineering in a world that is more competitive than ever.

When I see this happening, I fight.  I fight to help the founders see it.  I go down with the fight.

Because when you hire a VP Eng / CTO that isn’t a 10, it’s the day your start-up starts to die.

The other VPs, if you make a mis-hire, you can recover.  But 2 years of no more innovation?  I don’t know if most of us can fight our way back from that.

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