Amy Volas on Setting Expectations Early And Often Together - Season 2: Partnerships - Episode #33

The GTM Cheat Code

Amy Volas is the CEO of Avenue Talent Partners, Founder of Better Together with Amy Volas, and a Limited Partner of Stage 2 Capital. Amy joins Hosts Justin Gray and Josh Wagner to discuss why it is so critical to set expectations together with your partners as early as possible. Amy also shares insights into how much time and money are wasted due to poor communication, why it’s imperative to maintain the trust of your customers and partners, and hiring pitfalls for founders to avoid.

Takeaways:

• It’s vital to lay down mutual expectations at the beginning of any partnership. This foundational step ensures clarity and aligns goals, minimizing misunderstandings down the line.
• Create a detailed, evolving plan that both parties agree to and will be invested in. This not only sets the partnership on a trajectory of success but also prevents misalignment of expectations.
• Diving deep into what each party truly values and expects from the partnership can reveal if there’s a genuine match or if expectations are unrealistic.
• Acknowledge the importance of not just setting a partnership in motion but also considering how it integrates with broader business operations and how both teams will be enabled to support the partnership effectively.
• Leaders need to go beyond the surface in interviews, demanding specific examples of achievements and failures. This helps in understanding the true capabilities of a potential hire beyond their resume or network.
• When hiring, do your best to look beyond the allure of big company names that a candidate has worked for and focus on the tangible skills and cultural fit of a candidate to the company’s current needs.
• $1.2 trillion is lost yearly due to poor communication. Startups need solid communication skills across all levels of an organization. Consider enrolling all new hires is some type of communication training or boot camp, this will pay massive dividends.

Quote of the Show:

• “If I were leading a big team, again, the very first thing that I would do for any hire is invest in communication. ” - Amy Volas

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyvolas/
• Avenue Talent Partners Website: https://avenuetalentpartners.com/
• Better Together Website: https://bettertogether-amyv.mn.co/

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