One of the toughest challenges of scaling a startup post product market fit is scaling the talent.
Some talent have to be imported, some can be grown/scaled.
The problem is that not everyone truly wants to level up. That’s unfortunate but also fine. You need to identify who truly wants it and who doesn’t.
Some would look at it as “who’s capable of scaling” but I call bullshit on that. Everyone can scale if they truly deeply want it. If you think otherwise, then it’s the Tyranny of Soft Expectations.
Anyway, assuming some of the talent that were with you in the early days truly want to level up, you will still find it very challenging to scale them (or help them scale). The initiative should come from them, but you must show them the way as the ‘coach’. “Here’s what winning looks like, and in your position, here’s what I need from a super star player.”
I’m willing to bet that although scaling someone is the seemingly more challenging/time consuming endeavor, it’s the more rewarding one, by far.
There’s a compounding effect when people who have been around for a long time stay.
Context compounding: I know that we tried X thing Y years ago and this was the conclusion.
Relationship compounding: trust, credibility, and relationships are very underrated factors that supercharge someone’s ability to execute. If I built those 3 years ago, I can move 10x faster today.
2 problems:
- Lag effect: it takes people a while to realize that they have changed in role and responsibilities, and even how people perceive them has changed
- Imposter syndrome: am I really good enough to do this? Usually bullshit that our minds tell us. This is especially true for people who are harsh on themselves, who coincidentally also happen to be the highest performers/achievers as they demand the most of themselves
Of course, although I’m discussing the benefits of this, there are also challenges/issues with it.
It’s healthy to have a mix of existing people that are challenged to scale as well as a group of people who are experienced that are brought in. If anything, when you bring in some experienced team members, everyone’s challenged to play better. Sometimes, you have to show a league 3 player leveling up to league 2 what a superstar league 1/2 player looks like in order for them to know who they should play like.