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Why Titles Will Kill Your Startup
You need to leave room for growth — even at the top
Job titles make a lot of sense within a decades-old, GE-style hierarchy. But in a world where “product manager” means seven different things at seven different organizations, and where the number of self-employed U.S. workers could triple to 42 million people by 2020, job titles can create more confusion than clarification.
Without clear value and meaning, titles are outmoded markers of status that emphasize superficial distinctions among employees and encourage them to fixate on the next promotion. In startups, where teams are in the business of building something from scratch, titles can be downright toxic. They appeal to the ego and our sense of possibility, encouraging candidates to take a leap into joining a risky venture. This is why venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z) encourages startup founders to give out titles: Employees want them, and they are virtually free.
The problem is they aren’t. They serve as a ball and chain that encourages people to act the way a “VP of business development” would act rather than taking on whatever initiative a startup needs to reach its next milestone.
No one gets out of bed in the morning, looks in the mirror, and thinks, “I’m the VP of product.”
When my co-founder and I started our company, Hello Alfred, we tried a different approach focused on goals. Instead of filling conventional boxes on an org chart, we started with the company mission and outcomes we needed to achieve. We wrote these specific outcomes on Post-its and moved them around into practical groups, which became a collection of goals a team member could own. Because this was posted on the office wall, everyone could see the goals they were responsible for, as well as the goals of their teammates. These groups needed no names — they were all working toward the same company mission. I believe an approach like this made for a more creative, collaborative, fungible, and resilient organization.
Here are some ways you can rethink titles to focus on people, not boxes.
