The Pros and Cons of a Homegrown Management Team

We have a homegrown management team at RevBoss which means that everyone on our management team is an internal promotion. A few of the people that have VP titlees on our team today started as entry level employees way back when. And to be honest, I didn’t do it this way on purpose. We’ve had outside hires that have joined our management team that just haven’t worked out over time. It just ended up this way. But I’ve become a big fan and that’s not just because I love my team. I think it’s actually a really healthy way to build a business.

There are definitely pros and cons of course. When you promote from within, you basically get an extended interview and evaluation process.

Our VP of client Success had been on our client success team for three years before we promoted her to VP and by the time we promoted her, we knew exactly how she was going to run the team, we knew exactly what we were getting in a leader, and she’s been great.

You also get deep institutional knowledge.

Our VP of Product had just about ever job he could have at RevBoss and so he knows our product, our market and our clients inside and out and you can’t get that from an outsider.

Lastly and probably most importantly, you get deep trust and honestly and understanding and I value that stuff more than experience anyway. 

There are definitely some negatives. Sometimes things take longer than they should and that’s because it’s the first time that the people on our team are doing the thing that they’re trying to do and that’s fine.

Sometimes I worry about being too insular which I know for a fact that we are by definition, but I can solve for that by getting input from investors and friends and clients when we’re tackling complicated problems. 

In the end, I’m a big fan of the homegrown team. The positives dramatically outweigh the negatives.

Go team!