As friends and former colleagues play musical chairs with new positions, I’ve been asked repeatedly for my opinion about various companies. I have no working knowledge of many of these, so for the benefit of those who requested it (and those of you who haven’t) here are six core items for assessing a company’s likelihood of success:
1) Executive Management Team
2) What is the Market
3) Sales Approach
4) Marketing Approach
5) Available Budget
6) Oh yeah, and The Product
Executive Management Team
Although previous success may seem like an obvious indicator of future success, it is important to assess how realistic the executive management team is at this very moment. Just because they are in love with their idea doesn’t mean the rest of the world will be. Two questions to ask yourself:
Does the executive management team have a clear understanding of the marketplace and existing competition?
Does the executive management team plan to be aggressive enough to get-to-market and support significant market share growth?
What is the Market
Just as the executive team should continually assess if there is a market for their product or service, so should anyone thinking of joining a company. It is incredibly frustrating to land the job you love, only to find out after the fact there are only a few potential customers who love it.
Sales Approach
The sales approach needs to fit the product and marketplace. Remember, to achieve significant revenue you need to either have a low price tag and high volume of sales OR if you have a high enough price tag you can have less sales. A danger with the second version is that the company is too dependent on a handful of customers. If a deal is delayed or lost, it can be devastating to the company’s revenue targets.
Marketing Approach
Once you know what the sales approach is, ask yourself if the marketing approach supports this type of sale. A much-quoted IDC study states the 80/20 Rule: “up to 80% of the content marketing generates is not used by sales, even though a lot of it is specifically created for sales and channel enablement. “ If the sales and marketing teams aren’t aligned in common goals and what should be an effective lead-to-opportunity-to-closed sales approach, there is no way the company can be successful.
Available Budget
So you love the management team, there is definitely a market for the product or service, and sales and marketing seem to have their act together. Great. How much budget is allotted to the sales and marketing effort? Second, when does the operational budget run out?
I’m not suggesting forgoing a great opportunity if they don’t have tons of cash on hand today, but know what the situation is before you walk in the front door.
The Product
What the product’s capability is today may be very different than what you’ve read online. No matter what your role is, if at all possible, speak with someone technical at the company. I’ve found that in general, the technology guys are the most likely to tell you what is missing. Either way, it seems perfectly reasonable to request a tour of the product roadmap.
With investment and the job market both on an upswing, candidates have more options than any time in recent years. There are a lot of good companies now hiring. It’s the candidate’s job not to find a new position, but to find the one that is right for them.
Fork In The Road 