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As DigitalOcean's COO, Karl built the business from first product to >500 employees & $250M ARR over six years and prepared it for its eventual IPO (NYSE: DOCN). Having previously managed and exited two startups over a 20 year operating career, Karl is now M13’s managing partner and oversees its day-to-day operations.

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A partner and head of legal, Win has served in senior leadership roles at numerous consumer technology companies, including as General Counsel of MasterClass and early-stage startup Vessel (acquired by Verizon), as well as senior legal and business affairs roles at Hulu. A former electrical engineer, he started his legal career as a corporate attorney at Latham & Watkins

Win Chevapravatdumrong

Partner

Win leads all legal and risk matters relating to our investment activity and fund operations and provides operational and strategic support to our portfolio companies.

Win Chevapravatdumrong SEO

Win Chevapravatdumrong | M13

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Zach’s focus is on architecting systems and processes that augment the data backbone behind all of the firm’s operating systems.  He held multiple roles at Quovo (acq’d by Plaid) and Plaid, including Technical Lead and Product Manager for Plaid’s Partnerships Team.  Prior to joining M13, Zach founded a consultancy focused on data engineering and a SaaS platform for B2B Go-To-Market Teams.

Zach Naglieri

Operator

Zach’s focus is on architecting systems and processes that augment the data backbone behind all of the firm’s operating systems.

Zach Naglieri SEO

Zach Naglieri | M13

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Emma manages all things content, from thought leadership, to reporting, to social media. Prior to M13, she was the managing editor at business intelligence startup CB Insights. Other experience includes working at a fintech startup, the country’s third most-circulated newspaper, and a top 5 global insurance company.

Emma Miller

Emma manages all things content, from thought leadership, to reporting, to social media. Prior to M13, she was the managing editor at business intelligence startup CB Insights. 

Emma Miller SEO

Emma Miller | M13

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As a partner and head of operations, Lizzie leads the Propulsion team that helps propel our founders’ businesses forward. She was previously the COO of sneaker marketplace GOAT Group, CMO of Gilt Groupe, and founding partner of Brilliant Ventures.

Lizzie Francis

As a partner and head of operations, Lizzie leads the Propulsion team that helps propel our founders’ businesses forward. She was previously the COO of sneaker marketplace GOAT...

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Lizzie Francis | M13

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As a member of the investor relations team, Talitha has worked with the team to build the IR systems at M13 from the ground up. She was previously the quality control and administrative assistant for the accounting and assurance department of Lindsay & Brownell, LLP.

Talitha Wright

As a member of the investor relations team, Talitha has worked with the team to build the IR systems at M13 from the ground up. She was previously the quality control and...

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Talitha Wright | M13

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Sarah was previously the VP of marketing and investor relations at Arlon Group and has served in IR roles at StepStone Group and Citi Private Equity. She is a public company board member, co-founded the Sustainability Investment Leadership Council, and has served on numerous non-profit boards.

Sarah Tomolonius

Sarah was previously the VP of marketing and investor relations at Arlon Group and has served in IR roles at StepStone Group and Citi Private Equity. She is a public company...

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Sarah Tomolonius | M13

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As M13's community program coordinator, Samantha aligns with M13’s commitment to creating an inclusive community through authentic experience, dedication to innovation, and creativity. Samantha was previously the development associate for outreach and programming at Rockefeller University.

Samantha Hughes

As M13's community program coordinator, Samantha aligns with M13’s commitment to creating an inclusive community.

M13SharePeople-SEO image Samantha Hughes

Samantha Hughes | M13

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As M13's brand project specialist, Generra brings her experience in operational excellence and community building from her previous time at The Knowledge House, a tech non-profit. Prior to that, Generra led project management, from enrollment and ops to data management, for Newark Public Schools. 

Generra Rodriguez

As M13's brand project specialist, Generra brings her experience in operational excellence and community building from her previous time at The Knowledge House, a tech non-profit. 

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Generra Rodriguez | M13

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Erik is M13's accountant and has a vast background working in tech companies and the applications used in accordance with GAAP for reporting. Erik was previously an accountant at Glamsquad and Stella Connect, which was acquired by NYSE listed Medallia in 2020, which gave Erik the opportunity to oversee the finance integrations of the two companies. 

Erik Grant

Erik is M13's accountant and has a vast background working in tech companies and the applications used in accordance with GAAP for reporting.

M13SharePeople-SEO image Erik Grant

Erik Grant | M13

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Feven was an investment analyst for KingsCrowd while simultaneously receiving a certificate from Cornell’s Women and Entrepreneurship program, where she focused on the start-up ecosystem for minority groups.

Feven Solomon

Investor

Feven was an investment analyst for KingsCrowd while simultaneously receiving a certificate from Cornell’s Women and Entrepreneurship program, where she focused on the start-up...

M13SharePeople-FevenSolomon

Feven Solomon | M13

__I’m inspired every day by the creativity and boldness of strong founders.__ Seeing founders achieve the impossible, simply because they don’t live within traditional limits, always excites and inspires me.

 __After exiting China Export Finance__, I took 3 years and focused on working with a portfolio of young technology companies to help them along the journey to build their businesses. During that time, I was exposed to both inspiring talent and a wide set of challenges that really opened my eyes to the unique nature of every business, yes, but also to the problems and solutions they often had in common.

 __Working with these founders not only grounded me as a mentor__, but also provided me with countless insights and significant growth that prepared me for my tenure at DigitalOcean, where I was able to leverage my 20 years of experience and build the company from the ground up ultimately reaching 500+ employees and over $200M in revenue. I’m thrilled to be able to share this playbook of knowledge and experience with M13’s partner entrepreneurs, across every stage of growth.

 __Here at M13, our portfolio companies have the unique advantage of a deep, experienced bench__, ready to actively support their needs and provide executive-level capabilities in areas where their own resources might be limited. We look to help these companies navigate key strategic planning moments and hurdles specifically oriented around growth, aiming to help them rise above the fold and win in their category.

 __I truly believe that success is a team mission__. M13’s commitment to community allows us to be effective investors and mentors, but also provides an opportunity for founders to gain incredible value from the talent and resources that surround them.

 __I learned the true value of community in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis.__ China Export Finance a fintech business underwritten by AIG and backed by a syndicate of global banks was on the precipice of disaster for nearly 6 months as the market was dealing with the fallout. The unwavering commitment and support of a strong board and dedicated team was the key to success through tough market conditions. We survived the crunch and still grew in 2009 by 60%+ to $137M in revenue.

 __The best advice I’ve gotten in my career is__ “build what you love” and “don’t focus on the money.” Beyond that, remember to ask for help, and to show appreciation wherever it’s earned.

 __Insights__ 
[Meet Karl Alomar, Managing Partner at M13](https://vator.tv/news/2020-09-17-meet-karl-alomar-managing-partner-at-m13)

[The 5 Things I Need to See Before Making a VC Investment](https://medium.com/authority-magazine/karl-alomar-of-m13-5-things-i-need-to-see-before-making-a-vc-investment-5a51bdae75d0)

Karl Alomar

Watch any Hollywood interview, award ceremony, or acceptance speech, and you’ll probably hear artists, writers, or directors talk about the process. The magic stems from the right creative process, they say. 
Product development—especially digital product development—isn’t so different. Developing a product that fits the marketplace and sustains profitable growth, indeed, is all about process. 
In this guide, we’ll explore the concept of the agile process, articulate what it means to digital product development, and offer you what you need to know on relevant topics, including product-market fit, customer feedback, and testing and experimentation. 
What we’ll cover will most likely be of maximum benefit to startups focused on digital product development. And while several of the concepts we’ll discuss certainly can apply to physical product development, the principles we’ll focus on are most effective in a digital context. 
To help build the type of products that can change consumer behavior, we’ll explain the basics of: 
 <NumberedBullet number="1" highlight="Understanding product-market fit" />
 <NumberedBullet number="2" highlight="Making sense of common methodologies " />
 <NumberedBullet number="3" highlight="Picking an agile approach" />
 <NumberedBullet number="4" highlight="Testing the market" />
 <NumberedBullet number="5" highlight="Getting customer feedback" />
 <NumberedBullet number="6" highlight="Applying 5 successful tips " />
 <NumberedBullet number="7" highlight="Resources we love" />

Learn best practices—and common failures—of digital product development using agile and lean methodologies.

Novi, M13's astronaut mascot, is pointing to a visual cyclical process from idea to product. 

Lean+Agile Karl v2021

A Founder’s Practical Guide to Finding Product-Market Fit

M13’s product-market fit guide recommends the top tools and software to manage process and communication for your startup’s agile and lean methodologies.

Product-Market Fit: A Guide to Agile and Lean Methodologies | M13

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M13 Team

As DigitalOcean celebrates its IPO this week, five current M13 partners and employees reminisce about 21-plus years of collective experience at the cloud computing startup. 
Founded in New York City in 2011, DigitalOcean would go on to compete with Amazon and other cloud infrastructure providers—and emerge as a favorite among both developers and small businesses alike. 
Here at M13, we’re dedicated to supporting and investing in founding teams that will change consumer behavior over the next decade. As these five DigitalOcean alums look back on a 8-year journey to going public, here are some of the startup lessons and expertise they’ve brought to M13 as operators: 
## It’s never too early—or late—to reset your company culture
[**Karl Alomar**](https://m13.co/team-members/karl-alomar/)**, Managing Partner at M13 | DigitalOcean tenure:** 5 years 9 months 
DigitalOcean was led by strong leaders who held firm opinions. As the business crossed 100 employees, it was a real challenge to navigate how to align and drive the company toward a strong culture.  
After a tumultuous year culminating in a cultural crisis in 2014, we regrouped and rebuilt the organizational structure for the business and culture, which resulted in being rated a top place to work in NY by early 2016. This taught me so much in regards to how to structure a high-growth organization and transition through that growth. I also learned core lessons about how to set and foster culture and drive engagement and performance across a growing organization. 
<center>
![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5e5e59c19dd3d882dd8dbd92/605a44c3a3c1e3e9d278dcdd_KarlRob_DigitalOcean.jpg)
 </center> 
## Cultivating internal relationships can help you move faster
[**Rob Olson**](https://m13.co/team-members/rob-olson/)**, M13 Partner and Head of Data Strategy | DigitalOcean tenure:** 5.5 years 
While attempting to reconcile and connect datasets that were brand new and evolving constantly while engineering teams iterated and improved, it became imperative to forge strong relationships between the data engineers, scientists, and analysts on my team with the product engineering teams that were constantly in “build mode.” 
What I learned? A data team should never be a “back office” that exists purely downstream of the teams that are actually _creating_ the source data; you need a constant dialogue, and a seat at the table when deciding how data streams are created and transformed on their way to the end user. 
## Simplifying can help you scale
[**Brian Carroll**](https://m13.co/team-members/brian-carroll/)**, M13 Partner and Head of Finance | DigitalOcean tenure:** 1 yearOne lesson that DigitalOcean really drove home for me is that simplicity _is_ scalability. DO was fairly ruthless about cutting away product clutter, avoiding the temptation to pursue side projects, and keeping things clean, concise, and as simple as possible. Those simple atomic units in turn scaled very well as we grew.  
Every early investment we made in cutting excess seemed to pay off tenfold in reduced complexity down the line. We once brought an outside security consultant to analyze our source code for weaknesses. Not only did he not find many problems, he concluded his report with “these guys don’t write code, they write poetry.” I think that captures trying to whittle down to the most impactful essence of a problem.   
## Humor goes a long way
**Karl:** One of my most poignant memories was of Co-founder and Head of Marketing Mitch Wainer doing his Michael Jackson dance in a Sammy the Shark suit on the streets of SXSW in front of a highly engaged audience.**‍** 
<YoutubeVideo video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy3Vh6KY2-M"/> 
**Brian:** DO in those early days was a \*very young\* company—there were few people over the age of 30, and many of the HQ staff had actually moved to NYC for the job. So there was a kind of all-in mentality where people’s friends and colleagues were one and the same. This young culture with few “grown-ups” in the room did help people approach old problems with a new perspective and to think outside the box.  
I remember we had a few people who liked to show up for work in onesies, and that was totally fine. 
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And there were several people who took celebrating Pi Day really seriously: 
## Think of hiring like growing your family
‍[**Marie Sokolovsky**](https://m13.co/team-members/mariesokolovsky/)**, Manager, People & Culture at M13 | DigitalOcean tenure:** 5 years 
I joined when DigitalOcean was about 20 people but growing rapidly as we were soon approaching our Series A round. Right from the very early days, it felt like a family operation. Each time that we hired another person, we felt like we were growing the family so it was always a really exciting time. We remained very focused on our culture and eventually started building out an employee experience team to ensure that we attracted and retained the best people (and we really did!).  
One of the biggest learnings that I had from my time at DO is around the importance of taking care of and supporting your people internally. People who are really engaged with the company and inspired by each other will build amazing things together—and they’ll create many meaningful memories and lasting relationships along the way. 
<center>
![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5e5e59c19dd3d882dd8dbd92/605a419bc4f77018b7e6185b_IMG_0505.jpeg)
</center> 
## Retaining top talent means helping your employees learn and grow
[**Matt Hoffman**](https://m13.co/team-members/matt-hoffman/)**, M13 Partner and Head of Talent | DigitalOcean tenure:** 4 years 
DigitalOcean was the first to value people development and employee experience—and to use it as the catalyst for recruiting, performance, and retention. If you create an amazing organization where people want to work, grow, stay, and do their best work, it makes it easier to recruit great talent. (DO was awarded among the Best Places to Work in 2018, 2019, and 2020.) We all want to be part of that kind of organization. Our People team (including Marie and I) was well-recognized for helping to create a culture that developers loved, and many peer startups in NY captured our approach. Love was one of our values: “Love is what makes us great.”  
One of the things I am most proud of is how our early approach to prioritizing talent development paid off in terms of our ability to scale quickly by giving people the tools they need to be successful, resilient, and grow. I was lucky enough to have an incredible L&D team even in the early stages of our journey, and that approach was externally recognized and emulated by several other top startups since. The focus on continuous improvement, agile learning, and having a growth mindset is something we use with our portcos here at M13, and you can see examples of that in action in our [Human Capital series](https://m13.co/humancapital/). 
<center>
![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5e5e59c19dd3d882dd8dbd92/605aadbed07ada11038e4a41_PLT-edit2.png)
</center> 
## Treat your employees as well as you treat your customers
**Rob:** Don’t underestimate the link between the type of brand you represent to your customers and the type of culture you attempt to maintain internally. It would’ve been hard to build an authentic internal culture around concepts like love, community, transparency, and simplicity if these weren’t so baked into the way we interacted with our customers. It helped us attract and hire amazing people who were already aligned with this brand voice from Day One, and it meant those people were extremely passionate and vocal about maintaining these principles on the job, showing a type of ownership over these values that is incredibly rare. 
_Hear more from M13 Partners Karl Alomar, Matt Hoffman, and Rob Olson about how their experiences at DigitalOcean led them to investing in early-stage founders:_ 
‍<YoutubeVideo video="https://youtu.be/Iyi-WENVvOg"/> 
<YoutubeVideo video="https://youtu.be/Xv16ciy_5cc"/> 
<YoutubeVideo video="https://youtu.be/eZhuDhDS0Ao"/>
‍ 
‍

M13 partners and employees reminisce about lessons learned from working together at DigitalOcean.

 A collage of seven M13 and DigitalOcean photos with a blue hue over all of them. 

From Building DigitalOcean to Supporting Founders at M13

Karl Alomar, Matt Hoffman, Rob Olson, Marie Sokolovsky, and Brian Carroll reminisce about working at DigitalOcean—and highlight the lessons they brought to M13.

From Building DigitalOcean to Supporting Founders at M13 | M13

 A collage of M13 and DigitalOcean photos with a blue hue over all of them. 

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As DigitalOcean's COO, Karl built the business from first product to >500 employees & $250M ARR over six years and prepared it for its eventual IPO (NYSE: DOCN). Having...

M13SharePeople-KarlAlomar

Karl Alomar | M13

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As a partner and head of talent, Matt coaches our founders on hiring the best talent and building healthy and high-performing cultures. He leads several of our future of work investments. Matt previously built and led the People functions at DigitalOcean and Return Path (#1 Best Place to Work in NYC and #2 in the US, respectively).

Matt Hoffman

As a partner and head of talent, Matt coaches our founders on hiring the best talent and building healthy and high-performing cultures. He leads several of our future of work...

M13SharePeople-MattHoffman

Matt Hoffman | M13

In the process of building and scaling a business, most founders are inundated with their frontline resource needs, which are typically focused on product and technology. While those are no doubt some of the most critical areas, a common mistake is to simply hire fast and build resource volume in those areas without a clear strategy or plan in place for execution. 
We’ve found in our organizational building experiences that hiring smart is often far more effective than just hiring fast—and the most impactful roles are often not the most obvious. 
Ready to grow your team? Learn how these five roles can help [scale your startup’s mission, vision, and values](https://m13.co/guide/how-to-scale-your-startup-culture-and-values). 

 <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/5xHVCdUFS0vmASYcAGdtCd/c16396a1812fda41cfe0e108a31dadd6/Head_Of_Talents.png" alt="Head of Talent" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
</a>
<h2 align="center">Head of talent</h2>
This key leader will not only drive efficient hiring of top talent, but more importantly, this person will ensure maximum impact of the team through efficient [employee onboarding](https://m13.co/guide/founders-guide-to-onboarding-new-hires) and cultural engagement. 
**Why this role matters:** Founders often conflate the idea of a head of talent with simply a recruiter— this is not the case. A head of talent’s core responsibility is actually to “maximize the impact of your working team.” This often means building the people systems and organizational infrastructure that will allow you to not just hire, but retain, engage, and develop your talent to allow them to perform at their best. 
As a founder builds a team from a small direct set of reports to a larger multi-layered organization, they’ll no longer be directly connected to everyone in the organization. This leads to many potential issues not only related to performance but also culture, motivation, and effective team dynamics. 
Not only will a head of talent ensure you’re hiring the right people, but they’ll also optimize onboarding and then ensure that the founders’ culture is effectively driven into the organization and that organizational dynamics optimize the efficiency of the business. 
**Remember:** The essence of scaling is when founders hire a leadership team that will replicate their best behaviors and attributes. 
A good head of talent will build that into the organizational culture and hiring process. And as teams grow, your head of talent (in partnership with the founders) can easily increase productivity by 10% or more, ensuring you get the most of every resource you hire within a culturally harmonious working environment. 
**How to measure success:** Organizational productivity as determined by OKR performance compared to plan, retention compared to industry benchmarks, and employee engagement as measured through cultural surveys.
<TextCard highlight="Hiring tip: " text="Look for strategic leaders with a deep understanding of systems thinking. Have they only worked as recruiters? Or do they have experience in talent development and people operations? Both are critical areas for organizational scaling." topic: "Talent & Leadership" /> 

 <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/QNdb2aTLAtuw1z7N7LSSZ/5463448099e38706146ff49611a7e955/Technical_Program_Manager.png" alt="Technical Program Manger" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
</a>
<h2 align="center"> Technical program manager</h2>
This integral manager sits between all technical departments to coordinate cross-functional projects and generally run a highly collaborative agile operation. 
**Why this role matters:** Technical businesses are becoming more complex with integrated projects that involve multiple parties often in a matrixed organization. Productivity is directly tied to the company's ability to coordinate teams to work collaboratively with maximum efficiency. Companies will often find the lack of coordination between teams slows all development down and results in a false demand for greater resources rather than greater efficiency. The technical program manager plays the critical role of ingesting all major technical projects and ensuring that resources are coordinated across multiple teams to execute efficiently. 
**How to measure success:** Rate of delivery completed technical projects against plan. For example, TPMs will be expected to create and meet delivery timelines with minimal tech debt.
<TextCard highlight="Hiring tip: " text="Look for specific examples of how the candidate can “bring order to chaos.” When interviewing the candidate, ask for the types of projects they worked on and how they brought the workstreams together while providing clarity and simplicity to key stakeholders." topic: "Talent & Leadership" /> 

 <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/2rgaIhKohAxxFUn6OpbMg4/f05a01525a79d8bb2b6dca7245592205/Performance_Marketer.png" alt="Performance Marketer" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
</a>
<h2 align="center">Performance marketer (growth hacker)</h2>
Previously referred to as a growth hacker, the performance marketer is responsible for the combination of media and targeted [customer acquisition](https://m13.co/guide/how-to-drive-customer-acquisition-with-paid-owned-earned-media) along with organic growth strategies to drive down acquisition costs. 
**Why this role matters:** Growth is the core requirement for any young company—as the adage goes, “if you don’t grow, you die.” Given that a lot of growth engines need time to get started, it’s important to employ resources early on that are purely focused on growth. It’s fairly common for an organization to hire a sales team, but this is often very costly and difficult to scale. In the same way a strong head of talent can build the infrastructure to improve the performance of your recruiting team, performance marketers lay the groundwork to set up your sales or acquisition pipeline. More importantly, performance marketers will introduce organic and inbound acquisition that allows the business to scale far more efficiently. 
Consider a combination of digital and organic growth options as early as possible to ensure the longer term viability of the business. A good performance marketer is a sales leader’s best friend. Think of them as the difference between a good top-of-funnel versus a great one. 
**Remember:** Future funding rounds could be specifically impacted by the validation of a growth engine/strategy, so it’s never a better time to begin than right away. 
**How to measure success:** A declining customer acquisition cost (CAC) and a growing contribution of organic acquisition or other growth metrics.
<TextCard highlight="Hiring tip: " text="We’re always big fans of using case studies in the interview process, especially for senior candidates. Consider giving your candidate a real business problem you’re facing. Ask him or her how they’d tackle it. What marketing programs would they put in place? Can they demonstrate an understanding of and facilitation with the data? Look beyond the brand vision, and focus on the actual tactics they’d bring to bear on your growth strategy." topic: "Talent & Leadership" /> 

 <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/3ZDb3Yy1Ow9KNRz6rVIJcF/e0681e7bf3b08fb6b897b6af861ee02a/Data_Strategist.png" alt="Data Strategist" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
</a>
<h2 align="center">Data strategist</h2>
The core of the decision-making process, the data strategist will own and dissect all [data](https://m13.co/topic/data) and information gathered from the operation and performance of the business in order to help facilitate data-driven decisions across the organization. 
**Why this role matters:** In today’s market, although critical, a founder’s gut instincts will only get them so far. In order to really compete and win in your category, it’s imperative that data plays a big role in the way a founder understands their business. Data is a key driver to architecting your product and your business. To present the optimal datasets and analysis from an early stage allows for far better decision-making and ultimately a far more successful build. 
**Remember:** The data strategist should be a right hand to the founders and integrated in most core decisions made in the building of the business. 
**How to measure success:** How integrated is data in the decision-making process, do the founders have a good sense of business performance, and is there an easy-to-access data platform to support core decisions made day-to-day?
<TextCard highlight="Hiring tip: " text="The differentiation between good and great data strategists is their understanding of the business. Assuming you’ve already qualified their data bona fides, dig in on how well they can apply their analytical skills to business problems. Ask them to give examples of real business problems they’ve solved and how they used data to inform the problem and the solution." topic: "Talent & Leadership" /> 

 <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/3XsZdFH8zifEgwcsnuZVki/f34b268c011a0078d1f07cb7ebcec673/Chief_Of_Staff.png" alt="Data Strategist" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
</a>
<h2 align="center">Chief of staff</h2>
As the right hand person to the CEO, the CoS helps ensure all of the internal projects and strategic initiatives are running on time. This person also best manages the interactions with the CEO to make sure they’re empowered to focus their time most effectively. 
**Why this role matters:** Having a strong chief of staff is critical. In the early days, things move quickly, and this person will become your anchor in addition to your eyes and ears. As companies reach true [product-market fit](https://m13.co/guide/practical-guide-to-finding-product-market-fit) and real scalability (typically around the Series A and B), CEOs need to spend more time outside the business, and start delegating running the inside of the business to their leadership team. Here’s where the chief of staff comes in. Their primary objective is to take the lead on strategic planning and executing an OKR program, amongst a myriad of other cross-organizational tasks. To put it simply—this individual allows the CEO to be the CEO. When you’re trying to build a company, this is extremely important. 
**How to measure success:** The measure of success here is qualitative as it really relates to the efficiency of the CEO and his/her ability to focus on the right things. If the CEO feels empowered, then the role is working.
<TextCard highlight="Hiring tip: " text="Look for people with deep organizational skills and a history of managing complexity well. They should be strategic enough to understand all aspects of the business but operationally focused enough to execute on projects. Candidates from consulting backgrounds typically do well in these types of roles." topic: "Talent & Leadership" /> 
Founders build companies from a place of grit and determination. To successfully scale a startup, founders need to realize that it’s not just about working hard—it’s about working smarter, and doing it better as a result. With these five key hires in place, we hope every founder is better equipped to optimize both the efficiency and impact on their organization and the mission at hand.


<a href="https://jobs.m13.co" target="_blank">
 <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/5hRK4F1bo3gQsoXTokkaDl/d35a0c687c88fcad22ab8deaa12f526d/Explore_jobs_v1.png" alt="Explore M13 portfolio jobs" class="center" style="width:38%; margin:15px">
</a>

When it comes to hiring at a startup, sometimes the most impactful roles aren’t the most obvious.

Hero 5 Roles You Never Knew You Needed

5 Roles You Never Knew You Needed

Here’s why every startup founder needs a head of talent, technical program manager, performance marketer (growth hacker), data strategist, and chief of staff.

Karl Alomar

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A Founder’s Practical Guide to Finding Product-Market Fit

From Building DigitalOcean to Supporting Founders at M13

5 Roles You Never Knew You Needed

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