Seasoned VPs Cost 10x a Stretch VP Now. Is It Worth It?

So That VP That Has Done it Before at all times value greater than the stretch VP.  They ask for extra wage, and a greater staff.  As they need to.

But prior to now few years, the hole has grown and grown.  Recently I talked with a founder who had employed a seasoned VP of Marketing at $3m that had an 8 individual content material advertising staff.  Not an 8 individual staff at $3m ARR, however simply 8 on content material alone!

Now in fact a few of that is a perform of the increase instances of late 2020 to early 2022, when fortunate began have been flooded with capital.

But there’s a bigger level — prime VPs are getting drained, they’ve accomplished it earlier than, and so they don’t need to do all of it once more themselves.  This has at all times been true, however 15+ years into this SaaS 2.0 wave, the market is now flooded with these wonderful candidates.  VPs of Marketing, Success, Product, Sales and extra that actually have accomplished it.

Those Prove VPs, even once they be a part of an early-stage startup, all appear to want a staff of at the very least 8-10 people to begin, although.  Even those not fairly that confirmed.  They typically aren’t prepared to run a marketing campaign, or carry a quota, and even speak to clients themselves.  They’re accomplished with that.  I see so many VPs of Sales and Customer Success who don’t actually need to speak to clients themselves anymore.  Not actually.  They’ve moved on to staff constructing and course of.

Again, whereas not new, it’s unfold.  Almost everybody who has been a VP someplace, even for simply a week at a tiny startup, now appears to want a staff of 10 on Day 1 simply to get something accomplished.  They’ll insist on it, in truth.  They don’t need to begin off doing it themselves, or with simply 1 or 2 key hires. They need a full squad, on day 1, to deal with all the pieces of their perform.  Often with out actually doing a lot of any of it themselves.

The backside line is, proper or incorrect, most of you possibly can’t afford that till you might be at at the very least $20m ARR or so.  Not anymore.

So you’ll have to go with a Stretch VP for most roles at the very least till $10m ARR in lots of instances.  Someone at a Director (or comparable) function proper now.   That has its personal dangers.  They typically don’t know methods to construct a staff in any respect.  And they might not have owned as a lot as they declare they do.  But nonetheless, it’s the chance you in all probability must take.

Published on October 1, 2022