Q: Managing Rockstars: have tried out a few things, like interviewing for fit, agreeing on general milestones and such, but appreciate all your advice on tools for ensuring that rockstars deliver, while not destroying company culture. Also helpful to hear about talent strategies in general, growing from 5 to say 50 employees. I personally value rockstar names in front but diamonds in the rough from small colleges providing great bang for my buck
A: This is a deep topic. There are short answers here, but would advise booking office hours with:
Gnani Palanikumar: Grew Apigee to IPO, and is good with managing teams
Aaron Kalb : Good w/ working w/ rockstars
Oliver Staehelin: Also really excellent w/ teams
You also might want to read our textbook
The main piece of advice here is:
* Don't hire assholes / non-culture fits. Most studies show that if the hire lacks culture fit it will be the most damaging -- especially if they are very competent. So you need to make sure this is correct or be willing to have the spirit / mission of your company completely change
* Co-create OKRs / goals with them -- 20- 40% of these can be driven by the rockstar but 60% at least should be from the company's needs
* If they are not delivering, give them a warning w/ a measurable outcome and ask what they need to perform well the next time, and say if they miss again after that they will either be let go or they will get one more try and then be let go. So expectations are set in advance
You generally want to fire quickly and give full time offers slowly