Beyond the Founding Team | A Leadership Playbook for Growth: People

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People leaders are appointed to formalize organizational systems that support and enable both a current and future state.

Chief People Officers are typically the last executive hire, and half of these leaders stay through IPO.

^{Source: 2022 RRA Growth Co Analysis, n = 30 Chief People Officers}

Chief People Officers at time of IPO

The profile of leaders who built people strategies to support continued growth, culture and innovation:

^{Source: 2022 RRA Growth Co Analysis, n = 22 Chief People Officers}

^{*Chief People Officers stepping into the role for the first time were either divisional or regional HR leaders, came from a strategy & operations background; or had HR advisory/consulting experience.}

^{Source: 2022 RRA Growth Co Analysis, n = 11 First Time Chief People Officers}

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Authors

• Robert Alexander is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Technology Knowledge team. He is based in New York City.
• Agnes Greaves co-leads the firm’s Core & Growth Technology practice globally and the Consumer Digital & Media practice in Europe. She is based in London.
• Tuck Rickards heads the firm’s San Francisco office and co-leads the Core & Growth Technology practice. He is based in San Francisco.

Methodology and Notes

• Analysis of 40 tech/tech-enabled companies that were founded since 2005 and IPO’d 2017-2021, were largest by region according to valuation at time of deal, and achieved ≥20% revenue growth rate over the three-year period prior to IPO
• Industry verticals included: fintech, healthtech, automotive/transportation, eCommerce/marketplace, software/cloud
• Analysis includes only the appointment of non-founder executives
• Major funding rounds: approximate point in time at which each company reached series C/later stage funding
• APAC excluded from study due to data accessibility
• Sources: Pitchbook, Board Ex