A common cause of early failure for VPs in startups is misalignment on priorities with the CEO, according to saastr.com. The site highlights the importance of VPs, especially in marketing roles, creating detailed 60-day plans before starting. These plans should outline key priorities, initial actions, hiring needs, and areas to preserve, helping ensure clarity and agreement with the CEO from day one.
The 60-day plan exercise involves VPs drafting a structured presentation or document detailing their first steps, including who they would hire, what consultants they might engage, and what fixes or changes they intend to implement. The plan’s first slide should force-rank the top five priorities, providing a clear summary of what matters most. This approach aims to prevent the common pitfall of priority misalignment, which is a leading reason VPs lose their jobs.
This guidance follows observations from over 30 startups where mis-hires of VPs, particularly in sales and marketing, have led to setbacks. The site notes that marketing roles often have the widest gaps between CEO and VP expectations due to their diverse responsibilities, such as demand generation, field marketing, and product marketing. Ensuring early alignment through a 60-day plan can help avoid these costly mismatches and improve startup leadership effectiveness.
The advice to create and agree on a detailed 60-day plan before a VP starts was emphasized by saastr.com as a best practice to reduce early VP turnover and improve startup outcomes. This recommendation is based on extensive experience working with and investing in startups, underscoring the critical nature of early priority alignment.