Hello!
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Success Insider. We'll be delivering the inside scoop on how to make big things happen in your life, career, and organization.
It's all about empowering you, the reader.
With emails that get jobs and land business. With insights from the top of venture-capital firms, startups, and global businesses. With the latest in human resources. With the paths to the most sought-after jobs in all the land.
Let's get going.
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One email I wrote brought in 100% of my clients after I started my business - here's the template
Courtesy of Adrian Granzella Larssen
Adrian Granzella Larssen.
- Adrian Granzella Larssen is a content strategist, editorial director, and founder of Sweet Spot Content, which helps early-stage companies and entrepreneurs create engaging content.
- Two years ago, when she left her full-time job to start her consulting business, she decided to email all the people she'd known and worked with in the past to let them know about her career transition.
- She now calls that outreach email "the smartest move" she could have made because it led to a full 100% of her clients in that first year of business.
There are few things more truly helpful than concrete examples of tools that actually work.
As with the template from Larssen - or a cold email that helped a Twitter employee make a lateral move from consumer marketing to human resources.
Direct communication gets results. So ask for what you want.
While we're on the topic of career development, you'll want to map your way to the next gig by speaking with the powerbrokers of tech.
Our correspondent Shana Lebowitz spoke with the HR chiefs of world-changing brands.
They include:
- Lori Goler, head of HR at Facebook.
- Jessica Neal, chief talent officer at Netflix.
- Gerard Ohen, vice president of talent acquisition at Oscar.
If you're looking for a new adventure, or simply trying to think about how to position yourself for the next step, be sure to check it out.
Lebowitz also profiled Betterup, an HR-focused startup that just closed Series C funding. The company offers coaching and management training at scale, with clients like Airbnb, LinkedIn, Lyft, and Instacart. It's a sign of human resources to come.
Venture, market fit, and 'egomaniacal' founders
WeWork
Adam Neumann is the cofounder and CEO of WeWork.
If you haven't seen it yet, our in-depth interview with WeWork CEO Adam Neumann unpacks how the $47 billion startup is scaling across the world, and how Neumann has grown as a leader along with it. The more-than-coworking platform has nearly half a million members worldwide and operations in 28 countries.
Elsewhere in startup-land:
- Groupme and Blade cofounder Steve Martocci shares his lessons for pitching, building, and leading a company. He reveals how VCs can "sniff out" if you're just trying to get rich with a lottery ticket of a startup.
- Scott Kupor, Andreessen Horowitz's managing partner and first hire, explains how jumped from banking to entrepreneurship, throwing his hat in with a software guy by the name of Marc Andreessen. (Turns out that's a good bet to make.) He also spoke about what the prestige VC firm is looking for in founders and market opportunities.
And following up on our deep dive into why investors and the public can be fooled by pseudoscience-y healthcare startups, we spoke with researchers and investors on how to avoid falling for the next Theranos.
Management tip of the week: 'Skip' the bosses
Mondelez International
Mondelez International CEO Dirk Van de Put.
As the CEO of Oreo maker Mondelez International, Dirk Van de Put is putting employee autonomy to the forefront of company strategy and culture. That means empowering employees to make their own decisions and directly communicate with executives, forgoing the sometimes unnecessary mediation of middle management.
"We're trying to create an environment where people feel like, 'I can make my own decisions, and I can work the way I want to work. I can go as fast as I want to,'" Van de Put said. "That's the way you will get the highest motivation, you will get the best results, and you will get a unique group of colleagues that we will be proud of."