article thumbnail

How to Make Better Reference Calls

Both Sides of the Table

Reference calls. Ask for at least 5 references. As your candidate for at least 5 references. Ask for at least 5 references. As your candidate for at least 5 references. Don’t worry about the fact that these are the references that the candidate has hand-picked – that’s part of the process.

Startup 302
article thumbnail

An experienced coach has seen your movie before.

Berkonomics

Business coaches come in all sizes and shapes. Photo courtesy IBM Business Coaching. But by far the best coaches are those that have lived through the process you’re going through and built successful enterprises in your same industry. Email readers, continue here…] How do you pay a coach? It is worth asking.

Coach 243
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

An experienced coach has seen your movie before.

Berkonomics

Business coaches come in all sizes and shapes. How do you pay a coach? If the coach is also a significantly large investor such as a VC fund, the board member-coach will offer a limited amount of time outside of board work at no extra cost, all for the good of the investment. Email readers continue here.]

Coach 179
article thumbnail

Do you even need a business coach?

Berkonomics

Everyone, even seasoned CEO’s can use a good coach who knows how to bring out the best in a person, is knowledgeable about the business process, and who has an extended list of relationships to call upon to fill needs that become obvious in the coaching process. Business coaches come in all sizes and shapes.

Coach 156
article thumbnail

The Valuable Unsung Heroes of Startups

Both Sides of the Table

And speaking of coaching, if you haven’t read Googled by Ken Auletta you should. And in it he profiles the work of Coach Campbell who was once on the boards of both Google & Apple. EXECUTIVE COACHES. I loved the quote so had to include it, “All medal winners have coaches. It’s a great read.

Startup 363
article thumbnail

What I Would Look for When Choosing a VC – Knowing What I Know Now?

Both Sides of the Table

VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. I think of VCs as coaches. But successful coaches find a way to get the most out of all the existing players on the field and avoid too much unnecessary trading. The best way – of course – is to reference check. Startups are hard.

article thumbnail

Don’t Cede Control: Why You Need to Cut out Middle Men in Negotiations

Both Sides of the Table

Often recruiters want to handle the final negotiations on package and/or do the reference calls. I’m also reluctant to hand over reference calling. I know that no recruiter will agree with me on this point, but I’ll tell you that I’m certain there’s a positive bias in reference calls.