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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).

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As an investing partner at M13, Brent leads investments across the firm's consumer investment themes. Prior to joining M13, Brent was an investment associate at Battery Ventures. Prior to that, he served as a strategy & corporate development associate for Samsung NEXT.

Brent Murri

Partner

As a principal at M13, Brent leads investments across the firm's consumer investment themes. Prior to joining M13, Brent was an investment Associate at Battery Ventures...

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Brent Murri | 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 a product specialist, Rob helps startups strategically build, deploy, fundraise, and go to market. Prior to M13, Rob has been a serial founder as the CEO of BlackSmith Studios and Pecabu, as well as acting in an interim-CMO/CPO capacity at a number of later-stage Bay Area VC-backed companies, including Cala Health, Apnicure, Neodyne & others. He is a recipient of UK Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012.

Rob Smith

Rob Smith SEO

Rob Smith | M13

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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

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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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. 

M13SharePeople-SEO image Generra Rodriguez

Generra Rodriguez | M13

__In a marketplace where products and technology are becoming more and more commoditized, Talent is often the key differentiator.__ It’s fantastic to see how more and more companies are realizing that, and I’m incredibly passionate about helping entrepreneurs use Talent to their advantage in order to build sustainable companies that execute well and win.

<br>__I think many leaders discount culture,__ saying that it’s something that either “just happens” or is secondary to other areas of the business.  The best companies bring the same level of thought and intention to developing their people as they do toward developing their products. Maybe more so if they are really smart.

<br>__The truth is that building a healthy culture is one of the best and most impactful ways to drive sustained high performance__ in a business, and it in fact helps accelerate the speed of growth, especially in early stage companies. Creating a culture of trust, empowerment, and psychological safety is essential to ensuring a resilient foundation for a high-growth organization. Strong cultures help ensure that everyone knows what they need to do to succeed. They help teams move more quickly and with more agility, and seed the conditions for innovation and success.

<br>__I’ve seen first-hand the way companies with amazing product-market fit can crater because of toxic cultures,__ and I’ve also seen how a powerful and unified culture can help business last through downturns that would have killed less resilient organizations.

<br>__I’ve been lucky enough to work for some of the most innovative and progressive organizations around.__ Working under a visionary CEO and board at Return Path helped me understand how vital strong culture is to creating successful organizations.  At Digital Ocean, I got to partner with world class operators and lead an astonishingly talented People Team as we helped scale a rocketship that grew almost 700% in size over four years, all while achieving both significant revenue growth and industry-leading organizational engagement.

<br>__There’s no secret to balancing high growth and high engagement!__ One of the biggest drivers of engagement is feeling like you’re part of a successful mission. And when your business is growing quickly, that inherently comes with greater opportunities for your employees to grow as well. Smart teams lean into those opportunities by giving their people meaningful developmental experiences, as well as by using a growth mindset and a culture of continuous improvement as a competitive advantage when attracting and retaining talent.

<br>__When teams get regular, open, and candid feedback__ at the rapid pace of growth, it can be totally transformative. At Digital Ocean, we were fortunate enough to have our agile HR processes recognized by [Harvard Business Review](https://hbr.org/2018/03/hr-goes-agile).  We had applied best Agile practices and methods from Engineering and transformed them to the People space, recognizing that growth is continuous, ongoing, and iterative. By using methods of real-time feedback and performance development, we were able to unlock new levels of potential and performance in our teams.

<br>__The number one trait I look for__ when helping to select leaders for our Launchpad or portfolio companies is intellectual curiosity and humility. Even the most successful founders know there’s always an opportunity to learn, and there’s always an opportunity to get better and raise the bar for themselves. It’s precisely that belief what helps the best founders break barriers and do things that others thought impossible.

<br>__If you’re not adapting a growth mindset__ and always looking to learn and improve, you’re very likely to become outpaced by the competition quickly.

<br>__One of the key differences about M13__ is how deeply and authentically we invest our time with founders, and honestly for me that’s the most fun part of this job. Whether it’s helping a founder think differently about the way they’re approaching an executive search, understanding how to operationalize their culture at scale, or building best practices around retention, talent development or compensation, it’s been amazing to see how impactful we can be.

Matt Hoffman

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A partner at M13, Anna was the managing director of Techstars LA and also a partner in The Fund LA. A certified executive coach, Anna has worked as a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product exec, and entrepreneur. She serves on the Advisory Board of PledgeLA and is a member of AllRaise.

Anna Barber

A partner at M13, Anna was the managing director of Techstars LA and also a partner in The Fund LA. A certified executive coach, Anna has worked as a corporate lawyer...

M13SharePeople-AnnaBarber

Anna Barber | M13

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

After nine months of hosting group coaching sessions for M13 portfolio company founders, we’ve worked with some of the most sought-after executive coaches in service of our founders. Along the way, we’ve heard common themes. From [managing the stress of scaling](https://m13.co/article/my-startup-has-doubled-in-size-now-what) to warding off both employee burnout and their own fatigue, early-stage founders remain focused on their growth and development but are also stretched thin.<br><br>
To help introduce our founders to new perspectives, tactical solutions, and a supportive community of their peers, we asked these four experts to share their best advice:
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<td><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/37dYGXZTPVWyf3rdTidYaA/7d0ecd968228629e592e8b55097cc162/Brian_Wang-coaching_series-headshots-circle.png"  alt="Brian Wang" style="width:80%";></td></div>  
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    <td><h4 style="padding-top:15px;">Brian Wang</h4> 
      <h6 style="text-align:left;">Executive coach at <a href="https://dashingleadership.com/" target="_blank">Dashing Leadership</a></h6></td></div>
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    <td><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/6j6wmmcXey4xS3gu7IpXK8/79ada4274b603a5919e9f47ae7b79c8f/Rachel_Rider-coaching_series-headshots-circle.png"  alt="Rachel Rider" style="width:80%";></td></div>
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    <td><h4 style="padding-top:15px;">Rachel Rider</h4> 
      <h6 style="text-align:left;">Founder and executive coach at <a href="https://mettaworks.io/" target="_blank">MettaWorks</a></h6></td></div>
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    <td><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/2L3o63hPPCjAIcWh0xZQL5/702ef037a4fec1c0230261330b8a0742/Johnathan_Basker-coaching_series-headshots-circle.png"  alt="Johnathan Basker" style="width:80%";></td></div>
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    <td><h4 style="padding-top:15px;"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanbasker/" target="_blank">Jonathan Basker</a></h4> 
      <h6 style="text-align:left;">Founder and CEO at Basker & Co.</h6></td></div>
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    <td><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/5d5qLRgcueQFz7QR3x0QSL/c6c84d626bca9c8c820595512164cb6c/Janine_Davis-coaching_series-headshots-circle.png"  alt="Janine Davis" style="width:80%";></td></div>
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    <td><h4 style="padding-top:15px;">Janine Davis</h4> 
      <h6 style="text-align:left;">Partner and executive coach at <a href="https://evolution.team/" target="_blank">Evolution</a></h6></td></div>
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Check out their thoughts on exploring different coaching styles, advice for managing anxiety and perfectionism, tips for cultivating healthy co-founder relationships, and more: <br><br>
## Know when you’re ready for coaching<br><br>
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    <td><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/37dYGXZTPVWyf3rdTidYaA/7d0ecd968228629e592e8b55097cc162/Brian_Wang-coaching_series-headshots-circle.png"  alt="Brian Wang" style="width:100%;"></td></div>
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    <td><b>Brian Wang:</b> I found that when companies are so early that they are pre-launch or not anywhere close to product-market fit, it might be too early for coaching. They should be spending time building and selling. Focus on that.<br><br>
Where things can break down are when you’re transitioning from a founder who has a handful of employees to building a machine that is going to run. How do you build a leadership team, delegate, and give authority to other people?
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## Find the right coaching style for you<br><br>
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    <td style="padding-top:15px;"><b>Jonathan Basker:</b> When people call themselves a coach, they usually help with one of three things:<br>
    <NumberedBullet number="1" highlight="You’re coming with a question." text=" A potential coach can train and advise you on that." />
    <NumberedBullet number="2" highlight="You want help engaging with that question." />
    <NumberedBullet number="3" highlight="You’re ready to explore what’s underneath the question." text=" What’s going on where this is a question in the first place? What’s happening so far? What have you tried? (I put myself in this category of coaching.)" />
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      <td>Founders need to learn how to deal with not knowing, but not knowing the outcome can cause a lot of anxiety. “There’s a lion in that dark corner. Is that dangerous? What about this? What about that?” Sometimes I don’t think you need a coach, and therapy would be more appropriate.
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## Give yourself—and everyone else—a break for being imperfect<br><br>
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    <td><b>Rachel Rider:</b> For perfectionists, it’s not just cognitive—it’s a visceral experience that can be physically painful for a founder to witness something not being exactly right. At MettaWorks, we can work on shifting those neural pathways.
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      <td><b>Pro tip:</b> Before making a decision as a leader, allow others in the room to ask open-ended questions: Who, what, when, where? (Asking “why” can feel combative.) This is a way to help retrain brains as part of leadership.
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      <td><b>Dysfunctional startups can still be successful. What are you learning from the mistakes? Ask yourself:</b>
        <DotBullet text="How can I set the tone differently?" />
        <DotBullet text="What don’t I want to do again?" />
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## Invest early in co-founder relationships<br><br>
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    <td><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/37dYGXZTPVWyf3rdTidYaA/7d0ecd968228629e592e8b55097cc162/Brian_Wang-coaching_series-headshots-circle.png"  alt="Brian Wang" style="width:100%;"></td></div>
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    <td><b>Brian Wang:</b> What’s most draining is co-founder conflict. There’s a lot of wasted energy with two human beings whose egos are battling each other. A misstep would be not to proactively invest in that relationship. For example, the first two years were good, and they’re going off inertia. <br><br>
A lot of companies die from self-inflicted wounds. The hallmark of healthy co-founder relationships is the ability to take alternative perspectives. There are two things that founders need to have in order to have a successful relationship with a co-founder:<br>
      <NumberedBullet number="1" highlight="An intention to change and grow:" text=" So much of change comes down to micro moments of practice. When we don’t identify new moves and practices that we are committing to, our patterns will remain. These patterns developed over 20, 30, or 40 years." />
    <NumberedBullet number="2" highlight="The willingness to do the work and execute:" text=" Are you going to try different things and commit to being accountable for that?" />
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## A healthy culture starts at the top<br><br>
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    <td><b>Janine Davis:</b> As a leader, it takes a lot of rigor to regularly stick to your values. Every three months, ask yourself: “How do we live our values, and how do we not?”
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      <td><b>Here are three other tactics to consider:</b>
        <DotBullet highlight="Manage your own emotional intelligence by unearthing your own blind spots." text=" “What are my triggers and reactive behaviors? Am I in a grounded or triggered state?” If you do a weekly retrospective, you may notice that you were pretty closed off or defensive in a meeting. You may have been in a triggered state during that particular moment. Think about what you might be able to do differently the next time." />
        <DotBullet highlight="Consider using words like “input” and “thoughts” instead of feedback." text=" For one piece of rough feedback, give five pieces of positive feedback—how the brain reacts to negative feedback is oversized compared to hearing positive feedback." />
        <DotBullet highlight="Remember: We are humans who happen to work." text=" The same strategies that happen in real life happen in work life." />
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Here at M13, we understand that your to-do list is always going to be greater than your resources as an early-stage founder. That’s why we’re committed to supporting you throughout your professional—and personal—journey as a leader and entrepreneur.

Executive coaches share tips for cultivating co-founder relationships, managing anxiety, and more.

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Best Advice for Startup Founders from 4 Executive Coaches

Four executive coaches share strategies for cultivating healthy co-founder relationships, managing anxiety and perfectionism as a startup founder, and more.

Best Advice for Startup Founders from 4 Executive Coaches | M13

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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.

Karl Alomar

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

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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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).<br><br>
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  <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/5xHVCdUFS0vmASYcAGdtCd/c16396a1812fda41cfe0e108a31dadd6/Head_Of_Talents.png" alt="Head of Talent" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
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<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. <br><br>
**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. <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
**Remember:** The essence of scaling is when founders hire a leadership team that will replicate their best behaviors and attributes. <br><br>
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.<br><br>
**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" /><br><br>
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  <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/QNdb2aTLAtuw1z7N7LSSZ/5463448099e38706146ff49611a7e955/Technical_Program_Manager.png" alt="Technical Program Manger" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
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<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. <br><br>
**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.<br><br>
**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" /><br><br>
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  <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/2rgaIhKohAxxFUn6OpbMg4/f05a01525a79d8bb2b6dca7245592205/Performance_Marketer.png" alt="Performance Marketer" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
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<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.<br><br>
**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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
**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.<br><br>
**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" /><br><br>
<p align="center">
  <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/3ZDb3Yy1Ow9KNRz6rVIJcF/e0681e7bf3b08fb6b897b6af861ee02a/Data_Strategist.png" alt="Data Strategist" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
</a></p>
<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.<br><br>
**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.  <br><br>
**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. <br><br>
**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" /><br><br>
<p align="center">
  <img src="//images.ctfassets.net/vcjxvx0h1a5n/3XsZdFH8zifEgwcsnuZVki/f34b268c011a0078d1f07cb7ebcec673/Chief_Of_Staff.png" alt="Data Strategist" class="center" style="width:100%; margin:10px">
</a></p>
<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.<br><br>
**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.<br><br>
**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" /><br><br>
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.
</br>
</br>
<p align="center"><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></p>
</br>
</br>

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.

Illustration of the 5 roles you didn’t know you needed.

5 Roles You Never Knew Your Startup Needed | M13

Thumbnail 5 Roles You Never Knew You Needed

Tania Luna

When working with early-stage companies, one of the questions we most commonly get asked is: “Can you help me with recruiting?” <br><br>
And while building your team with talented humans is indeed a critical goal, usually what people are asking is how to improve the pipeline, or interview well (we’ll talk about both those worthy goals in a future guide!). What we tell them in response is often surprising: _The best way to improve your recruiting processes is to design your organizational structure first._<br><br>
Before you can fill roles with the best talent, you need to be intentional about what those roles look like and how they fit into the larger strategic vision for the organization. Thoughtful organizational design is one of the most critical skills a founder can cultivate. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get good at this skill faster.<br><br>
In this complete guide, you’ll learn how to build a sustainable organizational structure through: 
    <NumberedBullet number="1" highlight="Planning ahead for roles" />
    <NumberedBullet number="2" highlight="Scoping the roles" />
    <NumberedBullet number="3" highlight="Making roles come to life" />
    <NumberedBullet number="4" highlight="Connecting across functions" />
    <NumberedBullet number="5" highlight="Takeaways & next steps" />

Learn how to create roles, levels, and job titles that can evolve as your startup grows.

A rocket launches next to M13 and LifeLabs Learning's joint logo; to the right, there are five people connected by lines and next to that the title "Organizational Structure."

Org Design header v1

Designing an Organizational Structure for Your Startup

Get tips and templates from M13 and LifeLabs Learning about designing an organizational structure with roles and job titles that evolve as your startup grows.

Your Guide to Organization Design, Structure & Role Planning | M13

A rocket launches next to M13 and LifeLabs Learning's joint logo; below, there are five people connected by lines and next to that the title "Organizational Structure."

HumanCapitalOrganizational thumb

tania.png

Tania is the co-CEO of LifeLabs Learning. She is also a psychology researcher, leadership trainer, and co-author of the book, “The Leader Lab: Core Skills to Become a Great Manager Faster.”

## Welcome to Human Capital!
At M13, we get excited about helping talented entrepreneurs build the very beginnings of their organizations. Thanks to our hard-learned experience as former operators, we’ve created playbooks for how to build successful companies. <br><br>
As the Partner and Head of Talent at M13, Matt’s role is to coach our founders to succeed by optimizing their organizational systems, from recruiting the best talent to building a resilient, high-performing culture. Something we’ve realized along the way is that organizational systems can’t just be designed for scale and performance. They have to be designed to enable constant learning. This is where our partnership with [LifeLabs Learning](https://lifelabslearning.com/) comes in.  <br><br>
LifeLabs Learning is the leading skill accelerator for 1,000-plus innovative companies (like Squarespace, Warby Parker, Slack, GoPro, and _The New York Times_). They train  managers, execs, and teams in “tipping-point skills” small changes that tip over into big impact on performance and engagement. And they’re also the experts we trust most when it comes to weaving these skills and a culture of learning into the fabric of any organization. LifeLabs Learning leaves every company they support smarter than they found them.  <br><br>
Beginning in 2021, M13 and LifeLabs Learning will be pooling our findings and insights to help more companies not just outsmart but _outlearn_ their competition. Building companies that learn fast isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the mechanism that allows companies to be agile, nimble, adaptive, and to survive and thrive in the midst of change and volatility. It’s not just businesses on the line—individual jobs, psychological well-being, and physical safety are now at stake too.   <br><br>
Despite the undeniable need for us to catalyze rapid learning and the exchange of knowledge and insights across our organizations, most people still think of ”learning” as an HR function or a perk that you add on at 200 employees. Let’s change that together now! Let’s usher in a new era of businesses, designed from the ground up to be infinite in their capacity to evolve, iterate, and make the impossible inevitable. A developmental-focused growth mindset is absolutely essential to making a startup successful. We’ll apply that lens to helping companies build out their stack of People Operations systems, and ensure that learning is the foundation upon which exceptional talent, engagement, and performance is built.  <br><br>
We know that when armed with these tipping-point skills, and approached with a learning mindset, founders and leaders like you can exponentially increase the impact of their teams. But we know change doesn’t happen overnight. So! Every month in 2021, beginning in January, we’ll release updates in this hyper-practical guide to transforming one organizational system at a time. Collectively, these systems will form a perpetual learning ecosystem, with the aspiration every person ends every day smarter than they started. In each lesson, we’ll wave red flags to help you avoid outdated “best practices” (like pay for performance, salary negotiation, and career ladders) and offer clear, jargon-free, step-by-step advice for what you can do instead.   <br><br>
**You’ll get access to each tutorial below, along with invitations to live events co-hosted by M13 and LifeLabs Learning supporting the following topics:**‍<br><br>
*   [Vision, Culture & Values](https://m13.co/how-to-scale-your-culture-values/)
*   [Organizational Design, Structure & Role Planning](https://m13.co/how-to-design-an-organizational-structure-for-your-startup/)
*   [Diversity, Equity & Inclusion](https://m13.co/how-to-build-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-into-your-startup/)
*   [Compensation](https://m13.co/what-every-startup-should-know-about-compensation/)
*   [Recruiting & Hiring](https://m13.co/5-step-guide-to-startup-recruiting-and-hiring)
*   [Onboarding](https://m13.co/a-startup-founders-guide-to-onboarding-new-hires/)
*   [Effective Managers] (https://m13.co/how-to-support-and-develop-effective-people-managers/)
*   [Setting Goals] (https://m13.co/guide/the-3-levels-of-goal-setting-that-every-startup-needs)
*   Systems for Giving & Receiving Feedback
*   Systems for Development
*   Systems for Employee Engagement
*   Offboarding<br><br>
Across a competitive landscape where ideas are plentiful and technology is becoming more commoditized, talent and execution are increasingly the difference between good and great performance. Join us here as we share expert advice, discuss lessons learned the hard way, and walk you through best practices for taking your talent to the next level.


Learn how to build a startup that outlearns the competition with this talent guide.

Matt Hoffman

Recently Published

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5 Roles You Never Knew You Needed

Designing an Organizational Structure for Your Startup

Human Capital: The Essential Guide to Scaling People Systems

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