Don't Contort Your Org Chart

Allen Morgan - Mayfield Fund

Don't Contort Your Org Chart

Morgan has been around for a while, and he likes to go by the title of "startup sherpa" with the companies he is involved with (Klout, Indiegogo, Compass). Morgan's strength lies in taking good ideas from the beginning, to an operating startup. His work at Idealab was primarily helping to run an incubator for ideas spawned by Idealab CEO Bill Gross.

(original post from Morgan's blog)

Key Points:

• "Founder" is not a functional title. It doesn't mean anything. Once your company gets past the very early stages everyone should re-think what their role really is.
• "Chairman" is unfit for early stages. There are rare situations when bringing in a high profile chairman who will actively contribute is useful, but usually this is not the best route.
• Early stage ventures with defined CEO/Chairman/COO roles are a red flag to VCs. It looks like people care more about ego than product.

Takeaway:

Titles don't matter. Hard work matters. Building a detailed org chart before your company needs it is a sign that ego matters more than productivity. Stay away from defining roles until it's needed (your company is too large to operate without defined roles), and even then don't put more effort into it than is necessary (you don't need a senior vice-president in a company of 15).