Dear SaaStr: What Steps Did You Take To Become a CEO?
I went through a rapid but clear progression of roles:
- Start-up attorney, meet 20+ CEOs, attend dozens of board meetings. Watch and listen and observe.
- Director at Start-Up, report to CEO.
- Then add direct reports, manage a department.
- Get acquired for $1b, IPO. Watch and learn.
- VP at Start-Up, report to different CEO.
- Raise $35m for that CEO/company.
- Get up nerve to be a founder.
- Founder & Chief Business Officer at Start-Up.
- Founder & CEO at Start-Up.
I got to work with all different sort of CEOs, watch them, then report to several, then be a manager, then a VP, then a founder, then a CEO.
That was about as good as I was. I needed to go through each step.
Others can skip them. The key is recruiting an amazing team, and starting to learn early.
