Any words of wisdom on hiring an outside C.E.O? Cautionary tales?

5 points by msallin 18y ago ↗ HN

7 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 29.8 ms ] thread

Goladus 18y ago ↗

I don't have any personal experience, but here's an article that's been posted here before:

The Pmarca Guide to Startups, part 9: How to hire a professional CEO

http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/08/the-pmarca-gu-1.html

davidw 18y ago ↗

Cautionary tale: Fernand Serrat.

msallin 18y ago ↗

Hm, been googling him but not much comes up besides mentions that he was lousy and made a surprise resignation at Linuxcare...

davidw 18y ago ↗

Oops, spelled it wrong: Fernand Sarrat. Try googling with words such as 'lawsuit', and 'sexual harassment'. Also look around for 'Doug Nassaur' (not the object of Sarrat's affections, but hired by him).

nivi 18y ago ↗

Take your time.

Understand the new CEO's motivations.

Create a new board seat for the CEO: http://www.venturehacks.com/articles/ceo-board-seat

Bring him on board as an Advisor or Director first and see how that works out.

aswanson 18y ago ↗

The Jim Cramer book (of all books) Confessions of a Street Addict chronicles his hiring and firing of a few clueless/alcoholic CEOs when he started his web venture.

epi0Bauqu 18y ago ↗

Why are you hiring an outside CEO? (Note: I'm not trying to second guess you. I just think your story might be valuable to people on this forum.)