15. How do you choose who should be the CEO when you have a co-founder? This can be a tough one if it’s not clear to everyone from the get-go. Assuming you have a B2B, enterprise, and/or SaaS play, I’d suggest the one that most fits the following criteria should be CEO: Has Raised Venture Capital Before (and Has A Positive Reputation in VC Community). One of the biggest part of a CEO’s job is to keep the company funded and not bankrupt. Investors interface with and focus mainly on the CEO, fair or not. Put the person who can get you the bucks in this role. This is more important in SaaS, enterprise, and, B2B where VCs generally are looking for a “corporate” CEO. In consumer, there’s less presumption about what types of CEOs are fundable. Strong Evangelist, Good Hustler, and Enjoys Getting Up on Stage. The CEO should be the external face of the company. Most people don’t like getting up on stage, doing whatever it takes to get PR, trying to build the first customer and BD relationships. Enjoys Interfacing With Customers. All customers (and especially early customers) want to meet with the CEO. Even if it’s just the CEO of a 4 person company. This is similar to the prior point. Wallflowers, do not apply. Clear, No Questions Commitment to Running the Company for 7-10 Years. Some founders really aren’t 100% committed for 7-10 years or even 18 months. They like the idea but want to see if it takes off before committing mentally 100% (even if they’ve committed 100% of their current time). You can’t change that. Those people shouldn’t be CEO. Turning over the CEO in a start-up is bad. Best Cross-Functional Recruiter - This Is Probably #1. I’m putting this last on the checklist but in most ways it’s first. 20%+ of the CEO’s job is recruiting. General rock stars at first and then management, etc. etc. If your best recruiter isn’t in this role, you will really suffer. No one, most likely, has it all. So grade everyone that wants the job objectively on this matrix. Then you’ll make the right decision. SAASTR.COM 13