Management

Why Hiring from a Big Tech Company Often Fails

Big Tech creates elite operators. Startups usually need builders.

One of the most common scaling mistakes CEOs make is hiring a Big Tech exec — and firing them six months later.

They say everything right in the interview, and the growth they achieved at the Big Tech company was outstanding. What’s more, it was faithfully backed up by referrals. This person really was an A-player at the other company.

Yet at your company, it’s not working. They come up with reports, they delegate, and they have a knack of reassuring you. But after six months, the results just aren’t there.

Why does this happen?

The recipe for success in a company of thousands of people isn’t the same as a company of tens or hundreds. The rules are different.

This is where builders and operators come in.

Builder versus Operators

Operators are people who learn the rules of the existing system, and operate within those rules.

However, if your company doesn’t have a good system to operate, they end up failing.

Great systems create great operators. Great builders create great systems.

Unlike operators, builders don’t like following rules. They tend to throw existing things away and build something from scratch, outside of existing structures.

Sound familiar? It should, because the majority of founders are builders.

Builders can be challenging to work with. They aren’t always the most collaborative people. But when going from zero to one and creating something from nothing, they outperform operators — especially in GTM, product, and tech.

That’s often what happens when a high-performing exec comes into a startup. They understand how the systems work at the bigger company, but not the smaller one.

I found a charming video on the difference between operators and builders here:

[embed]Builders vs. Operators by BostWiki

So do you need a builder or an operator? It depends on whether they are inheriting a system that works, or whether they need to build one from scratch.

If you don’t have a good system already, you probably need a builder type.

Since many founders are builders, they often build the system before hiring an operator to run it.

How to Identify Builders and Operators

In practice, it can be hard to figure out if someone is a builder or an operator.

Operators often present themselves as builders.

This is partly down to interview best practice. It sounds better to say you built the system rather than ran it.

And builders often call themselves operators too, often because they don’t differentiate the two profiles.

The best way to figure out if someone is a builder or an operator is to ask questions.

Builders gotta build. This means they often build things in their spare time (a new shed, toys for their children, side projects, etc.).

Operators gotta operate. They often operate stuff in their spare time (they like coffee machines, coaching their kid’s football teams, running a professional network, etc.).

Ask about a time they built something, and then ask probing questions to understand their role.

• What problem existed before you built this?
• What did you personally design from scratch?
• What was the messiest or most uncomfortable part of building it?
• What assumptions did you get wrong early on?
• Which parts of what you built would you not reuse at a smaller company?

Another tip is to ask about what they do in their spare time. Do they build things from scratch like side projects or new sheds, or do they operate things like fancy coffee machines or coaching a football team?

These will give you signals as to whether you’re dealing with a builder or an operator.

The Right Profile at the Right Time

As you scale, you outgrow systems. This means it helps to identify whether you need a new system or whether the old system just needs to be operated and scaled.

If you put an operator where you need a builder, things won’t happen. If you put a builder where you need an operator, you’ll get chaos.

Decide the profile you need right now, and hire accordingly.

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My name is Dave and I help venture-backed tech CEOs scale to $100M in revenue and beyond. To learn more, visit FounderCoach.com.