Ely Lerner: Should Startups Hire Advisors & How much should they be paid? | E1075

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

October 25, 2023

Duration

1h 1m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Every single 20VC episode is recorded with Riverside.FM. It is the one product that I could not live without. Try it today here (https://creators.riverside.fm/20VC) and use the code 20VC for 15% off. ----------------------------------------------- Ely Lerner is an EIR at Reforge and an advisor for startups transitioning from traction to hypergrowth. Previously he was Head of Consumer Product at Chime, and before that spent an incredible 8 years at Yelp in a number of different roles including Head of Product at Eat24, and Product Leader/GM at Yelp. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (00:21) Background and Experience (04:57) Business Challenges and Lessons (08:21) Advisory Roles and Leadership (14:02) Hiring and Working with Advisors (28:36) Compensation and Equity in Advisory Roles (31:27) Building Relationships and Team Dynamics (34:57) Strategic Bets in Business (46:32) Prioritization and Mistakes in Advisory Roles (51:39) Personal Reflections and Decisions (57:12) Quick-Fire Round Insights ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Ely Lerner We Discuss:

1. Entry into Growth: How did Ely make his way from engineering manager to growth leader? What are a couple of his single biggest takeaways from his time with Yelp and Chime? Why do employees in large companies have to have P&L ownership when innovating within the larger company they are in?

1. Advisors: What, When and How: What are the three different types of advisors founders can work with today? When is the right time to engage with each of them? Should the advisor have had direct experience with the problem you need help with? How should these advisors be compensated; what is normal? What are 1-2 of the biggest reasons startup advisory roles do not work out?

1. Offense vs Defence: The Tricky Balance: What is the difference between offense and defense in product strategy? What should the resource allocation be between the two? What is the right amount of offensive strategies to have on at the same time? How can leaders prevent their defensive teams from feeling like second-class citizens?

1. Ely Lerner: AMA: Why does Ely disagree with many and suggest that horizontal products do have a core ICP? Should growth teams sit on their own or within functions in the org? What are the core reasons teams fail to ship fast? What state should your data be in when you bring in your first growth hire? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Ely Lerner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/elylerner Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #ElyLerner #Reforge #venturecapital #20vc #HarryStebbings

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Ely Lerner

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Ely Lerner and Harry Stebbings, Ely Lerner: Should Startups Hire Advisors & How much should they be paid? | E1075 explores ely Lerner Explains Startup Advisors, Compensation, Strategy, And Growth Levers Ely Lerner, former Yelp and Chime product/growth leader and Reforge instructor, unpacks how founders should think about advisors, when to use them, and how to pay them. He distinguishes company-level, functional, and domain advisors, and contrasts coaching, high‑level advising, hands‑on advising, fractional roles, and full‑time hires. A major theme is that founders must own the strategy around their primary growth lever, use advisors to ‘teach them to fish,’ and rigorously differentiate offensive vs defensive work. He also shares practical frameworks on incentive alignment, activation and retention, org design, and how big companies should run zero‑to‑one initiatives like true internal startups with P&L ownership.

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