Jack Altman explains how to build your early team, the key to building successful investor relationships and more!

Jack Altman, Lattice’s Co-Founder and CEO, spoke with Harry Stebbings for the Twenty Minute VC podcast, discussing his hiring, product, and VC funding philosophies. (He also spoke with Harry last week, on the SaaStr Podcast, about his experience scaling Lattice.)

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In this episode, Jack discusses three subjects: building the Lattice team, developing a great product, and his philosophies on finding VC funding.The Team

• Jack’s advice is to scour your network and find the diamonds in the rough
• Great investors make better people want to join your company, because it indicates to employees that the homework has already been done by people with more experience than them, and you’re probably a good bet to take
• Check out Kim Scott and her “Radical Candor” philosophy, which she discussed with him on the Resources for Humans podcast.
• Realize that there are two phases of hiring: before you find it (“it” being a successful product), and after it. The key with the former phase is finding people who will help you find “it.”

Product

• Similarly, Jack pinpoints when he knew when he got “it” -- when customers’ responses to the product changed drastically
• Visions shouldn’t live in a vacuum -- they should be constantly bumping up against reality
• You can be stubborn about vision and your north star, but you can’t be too stubborn about how you’re gonna get there

Funding

• Discusses relationship with Miles from Thrive -- specifically, that it doesn’t matter how they communicate, but that they can communicate openly and trusting what the other has to say
• Personal red flags when it comes to investors
• And finally, the secret to moving up in a company