As is GGR tradition, three key TL;DRs to kick off the year:
📊 A few fun graphics that show what our business (as a reflection of the broader startup hiring market) looked like in 2023
💰 2023 Compensation Survey is live HERE - below for more details
🌟 A few new roles! It’s about time…
But before that, a quick recap on the wild year that was 2023 and our take on what to expect for the year ahead.
As we said a few months back, we witnessed a number of ups and downs last year: a continued hesitancy as we entered 2023, a sluggish summer, followed by an uptick starting Labor Day and through the end of the year. While the majority of the year was dominated by a tech downturn, as we look forward, it feels like we’re headed towards something of a balance. There are still layoffs happening and startups shutting down, but there’s a steadier pace of new roles cropping up, and companies / candidates / investors all seem a bit more bullish on the year ahead.
We’ve noticed a particular focus on hiring for the “go-to-market” team. But it’s not necessarily just hiring more AEs and SDRs. Companies are trying to come up with new, creative and often slightly unconventional, ways to grow revenue. This might be building processes to make sales/customer success more efficient and “tech enabled.” It might be tracking the sales team and doing “sales ops” more strategically. Or it might be building an entirely new data-driven customer success organization to demonstrate “value” to customers to drive upsell and renewals.
As for GGR, we’re in decent (not stellar, but certainly not bad) spirits around what 2024 will bring, and already have a few roles lined up that we’re kicking off as we start out the year.
❤️ Phil, Nick, Mia and the Golden Gate team
2023 GGR Year in Review!
Gender parity: we placed exactly equal numbers of men and women this year - something we’re pretty proud of! We continue to focus and partner with companies and hiring managers that are prioritizing diverse candidate pools.
The 2023 rollercoaster: this year definitely had its ups and downs - starting with placements in Q1 that were carryover from the hot 2022 job market, followed by general market hesitancy that dominated the middle of the year. However, the end of the year left us feeling optimistic about the trajectory for 2024!
Entering the world of PE: we added a few PE-backed companies to our repertoire this year, an exciting addition to the list of companies we partnered with to hire business generalists (however, startups and VC funds continue to remain our focus!).
Focus on early stage: we experienced even greater demand from early stage startups and felt the biggest pullback from the late-stage, pre-IPO unicorns who had raised at all-too-high valuations and typically needed to cut vs. grow.
Back in office: startups moved even further toward in-person (or at least hybrid) vs. remote opportunities, as both companies and candidates yearned for human connection.
Top talent: our partners continue to focus on young, hungry up-and-coming stars who are punching above their weight class and working towards leadership positions.
That’s a wrap! In case anyone is interested, here’s last year’s 2022 year in review.
Annual Compensation Study
Many of you likely got an email from us already, but we recently launched our annual comp survey for startup generalists, and would love more input! If you’re currently in a generalist role at a startup/non-public tech company (BizOps, Strategy & Ops, Chief of Staff, GM, go-to-market, VP Operations, etc.) we'd love to hear from you.
Please feel free to fill out your information HERE - it should take no more than 5 minutes to complete, and the more data we get, the more helpful it will be for everyone (plus you'll get a link to last year's data).
In the meantime, check out last year's summary output.
Open Roles
Axion Ray [AI Platform]: GTM
Axion's Ray's platform uses AI/ML for manufacturing to help 'hard tech' accurately predict maintenance needs and issues. They're building out their go-to-market and customer-facing team, and looking for folks across a variety of seniorities.
Fay Nutrition [Healthcare]: Operations
Fay helps individuals find a board-certified and registered Dietitians/Nutritionists who will design a custom plan and work through insurance to get it covered. They’re looking for someone on their operations team, particularly focused on building out customer delivery, core operations, and product growth.
For the full list of the exciting opportunities we are currently working on check out our Openings page.
Some content we’ve found interesting…
📝NEXT is an awesome community for people looking for their next startup created by friend-of-GGR Anthony Nardini - who is also just an absolute gem of a human being + connection builder. **Sign up deadline for Cohort 3 is Feb 12th
🎧 “The Biggest Breakthroughs in Science Happening Right Now”(Plain English): Covering some of 2023’s biggest achievements in science and tech, from space tech to life extension and GLP-1s.
🎧 “Tired? Distracted? Burned-Out? Listen to This.” (The Ezra Klein Show): Conversation with a professor who has devoted her work to studying attention and how being present can enhance our well-being.
🎧 “A Conversation with Charlie Munger & John Collison” (Invest with the Best): An in-depth interview with two very different business minds about a range of topics, from dorm rooms to crypto to life lessons, released posthumously in honor of Charlie’s recent passing.
📖 “How to Stay Energized All Year Round” (NYT Well): Tips and tricks to keep energy high in the new year and think about boundaries. Also love this newsletter for weekly tips and thought pieces on general wellness!