{"id":2547,"date":"2016-03-24T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=2547"},"modified":"2016-03-10T11:09:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T19:09:07","slug":"the-seven-attributes-of-a-highly-successful-start-up-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/?p=2547","title":{"rendered":"The seven attributes of a highly successful start\u2013up CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave’s note: \u00a0This week we welcome guest author, David Friedman, to tell us about his favorite startup CEO, and his take after interviewing her – asking for\u00a0her list of attributes for startup success.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By David Friedman<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I met Kirsten Mangers several years ago after she successfully sold her startup, Webvisible<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Kirsten is the founder of ChickLabs<\/em>, an incubator that focuses on helping primarily women entrepreneurs.\u00a0 She is also the CEO of Immunogum,<\/em> a start\u2013up in Newport Beach, California.<\/p>\n

Here are Kirsten\u2019s Magnificent Seven attributes and roles for an entrepreneurial CEO:<\/p>\n

Chief sales person.<\/strong> Selling is required whether it is for sales of the company\u2019s products or selling the business idea to investors. Pure and simple, it is the number one attribute.\u00a0 If a CEO cannot get comfortable selling, then he\/she needs to find a strong complement or a replacement CEO.<\/p>\n

\"Group<\/a>

Seven attributes of a highly successful start-up CEO<\/p><\/div>\n

Culture Maven.<\/strong> The culture of a company attracts and retains great people.\u00a0\u00a0 Think about the culture of Google or Apple and you get somewhat different impressions.\u00a0\u00a0 But culture will help you succeed and be one of the differentiators to also\u2013rans.<\/p>\n

[Email readers, continue here…]<\/em><\/span> \u00a0Chief Strategist<\/strong>. As Louis Carroll said in Alice and Wonderland:\u00a0\u201cif you don\u2019t know where you are going, any road will take you there.\u201d\u00a0 CEOs need to set the direction and if necessary make the decisions to pivot the company.\u00a0 Early startups will go through false starts and pivoting will be essential.<\/p>\n

Teacher, tutor, and mentor<\/strong>. Kirsten claimed to be a whiteboard fanatic.\u00a0 Where there is a whiteboard, she could share ideas and interact with the staff on a regular basis and even get others to critique, comment, and debate those ideas.\u00a0\u00a0 This goes along with the concept that the CEO needs to be a visible leader and wander about with the team.<\/p>\n

You have to challenge yourself and others \u2013<\/strong> even with ideas that seem outrageous.\u00a0\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 You stay fresh and there may be a kernel of insight into the new idea or someone else may see another path to success buried in that idea. Someone may say: that\u2019s crazy, but what if we did this?\u00a0 Challenging prevailing wisdom and valuing the diversity of thought among people is critical to engage your team.<\/p>\n

Chief Reporter and Scribe.<\/strong> This is the issue of transparency.\u00a0\u00a0 The CEO of a start\u2013up needs to create an environment where everyone on the team feels that they understand and can contribute to the business\u2019s success.\u00a0\u00a0 With normally smallish teams and fewer people, such discussions keep the team engaged and motivated.\u00a0 I have personally witnessed employees banding together to find solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.<\/p>\n

Chief Recruiter.<\/strong> To be successful, a strong team needs to be assembled and nurtured.\u00a0 As Kirsten said, it all starts with people \u2013 and finding the best people is the biggest challenge.\u00a0 When she interviews someone, she has asked some interesting questions to probe the character, drive, and attitudes of the recruit.\u00a0\u00a0 One question I like is: \u201cIf you were on a three\u2013hour flight and could sit next to one person, who would that person be and why?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 From this answer you can determine motivation and quest for learning, both of which are critical in a start\u2013up<\/p>\n

I believe that these sage words of wisdom from Kirsten will help an aspiring entrepreneur be successful and potentially be as successful as Kirsten.\u00a0 It can\u2019t hurt for more seasoned managers either<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dave’s note: \u00a0This week we welcome guest author, David Friedman, to tell us about his favorite startup CEO, and his take after interviewing her – asking for\u00a0her list of attributes for startup success.\u00a0\u00a0 By David Friedman I met Kirsten Mangers … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-growth","category-surrounding-yourself-with-talent"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}