Four Criteria Marketing Execs Should Evaluate Before Joining A Startup

Nat Lennox is the Vice President of Marketing & Brand at Sift, a venture-backed startup accelerating the next generation of machines.

With over 50,000 venture-backed startups in the U.S. alone, opportunities are plentiful for marketers to join the tech startup world. Jumping in and growing a successful startup can fast-track your career—especially if you’ve bumped into the glass ceiling on the way to the C-suite.

Yet, although startups are attractive, they’re also fraught with risk. Startups can come with a “sink or swim” mentality, founders can be fickle with lofty expectations, and limited resources can lead to overwork and burnout.

Startup life is as magical as it is tricky. Although the budgets aren’t as fluffy as those of a Fortune 100, the chance to be scrappy, take risks and test strategies (without 100 layers of approval) make leading marketing within a startup exhilarating. The stakes are as high as the rewards.

After 12 years in marketing, I dove into the startup world in 2017. Now five startups deep, I’ve become adept at evaluating which startups to join and grow. Based on these experiences, I’ve developed a list of things I look for in a new startup. Here they are.

Can you find clear signs of product-market fit?

The first thing I look for is signs of a strong product-market fit. Contrary to popular belief, companies simply can’t market their way out of a developing product that doesn’t fulfill a customer need.

Founders can be overly hopeful about their new technologies. Instead of developing products based on a customer’s core needs, they sometimes develop “cool” tech and hope the customers will follow, Field of Dreams style. Unfortunately, they don’t.

If you don’t want to be signing up for Mission Impossible, evaluate the product-market fit thoroughly. Some questions you may want to ask yourself are:

1. Was the product originally built to solve an underserved need in the market?

2. Are at least a few customers clambering to pilot or buy it?

3. Does the value proposition resonate with a potential customer base?

4. Is the space that you’re going into already crowded or are you creating a new category?

Do your homework. Talk to the exec and product teams, industry experts and network connections. Get creative and lurk around in unconventional places like virtual engineering communities if you need to. Gauge whether or not the company you’re considering is solving a problem potential customers need before considering the position.

What’s the emotional intelligence (EQ) level of their executive team?

From unicorn success stories to headline-grabbing snafus, tech startups are often (and sometimes accidentally) making headlines. In only a few interviews, it can be hard to gauge the future of the startup you’re considering. However, there’s one way to ensure that the headlines you’ll be making are on the positive side of the startup spectrum.

I would venture to say that the collective emotional intelligence of the startup’s leadership team is as key to its success as the product-market fit. With a high-EQ leadership team, change management and pivoting (even when market conditions change drastically) is easy. With a low-EQ leadership team, it’s almost impossible.

Here are a few hints that may indicate a high-EQ leadership team:

1. Do the leaders you’ve met seem excited to change, grow and learn where they may be wrong? Ask this question directly. Their reaction to the word “wrong” will tell you everything you need to know about their EQ.

2. Can they answer, “What’s been your biggest mistake so far?” with candor and vulnerability? High-EQ companies see mistakes as an opportunity for growth.

3. How do networked peers react when you mention you’re considering joining the company? With a smile or thoughtful pause? Your peers’ body language may reveal opinions they’re unwilling to disclose openly as professionals.

4. How does the company treat past employees in public forums like conferences and on LinkedIn? If they ghost former employees, that’s a massive red flag. If they cheer on former employees, you’ve hit the leadership-EQ jackpot.

Assessing the EQ of your future colleagues can prevent you from entering an environment full of roadblocks and passive-aggressive emails. It’s essential to only join high-EQ teams—for your professional growth and your mental health.

Will you be reporting directly to the CEO? If not, keep looking.

Rare is the marketing lead who has an easy time convincing the CFO to spend discretionary funds on an experimental, disruptive campaign, even when this campaign could unlock revenue for the business. In my experience, it’s essential for marketing organization leaders to report directly to their CEOs. Marketing requires visionary thinking to break through the clutter. Left-brained thinkers (commonly CFO or COO types) are incredibly analytical and methodological—fantastic qualities for managing finances and operations. But unfortunately, sometimes, left-brain thinkers can become roadblocks when managing creative-thinking marketing leads. Show me the CFO who readily approves spend on brand campaigns that fuel demand generation but lack fast attribution for ROI assessment and I’ll stand corrected.

Reporting directly to the CEO gives you the best chance at successfully creating a balanced marketing ecosystem. Your right-brained CEO boss should be as excited by experimentation as you are—and more willing to put dollars behind it. Position your marketing organization as a revenue driver and change-maker that reports directly to the CEO.

Is the executive team already committed to investing in marketing?

Speaking of dollars, you’re going to need a few. Although startup budgets are scrappy, driving revenue still requires investment. It’s important to make sure that any startup you join is led by an executive team that’s ready to invest in building out your marketing strategy. Ask this question directly now so you can avoid the trap of trying to do it all yourself and burning out completely.

From the temperaments of your future leadership team to the strength of the product you’ll be marketing to who you’ll report to, I hope this guide helps you choose the right startup and gives you a better shot at winning once you get there. Good luck out there!

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