If we work together, we'll be in the trenches side by side, so I want to be upfront about how I operate. None of this is a test. It's just how I work best, and I'd rather you know it now so you can decide whether it's a fit for you too.
My style is to hand you a really big problem and then get out of the way. "Go figure out our partnership strategy." "Model out our growth." "Plug the leaks in our funnel." I'll give you the objective and the high-level budget. The rest is yours to define and execute.
What this means in practice: I expect you to manage up, not the other way around. Come to me with "here's my plan, tell me if I can move forward." If I don't respond, assume yes and keep going. Tell me proactively when you're blocked, when a deadline is at risk, and what your plan is. You set the deadlines; you flag when they'll slip.
The people who thrive with me run their own thing and report back often. The people who struggle are the ones waiting for me to ask before they'll tell me they're stuck.
I'm often out selling, visiting customer sites, at conferences, or wedged between meetings, and some days I'm not in the office at all. I won't hover over your projects like a hawk, but if you put time on my calendar, I will absolutely show up and dig in. If you don't book the time, we won't connect. The flip side of all that absence is a huge amount of autonomy.
I mean it. My marketer joined and I told her to go figure out our entire conference strategy. She sourced the booth, the swag, the invite list, wrote my speaker script, came up with the tagline. My only guardrail was "don't spend over $20k, just go do it." That's the deal here: run the business side, make the calls, find opportunities, go to the biz-ops dinners and bring back what you learn, text our advisors, and just do the thing. As long as it's pointed at the objective, it's yours to run.
I work really well with people who are blunt. One of my reports is super harsh and direct with me and it works beautifully, because I need someone who'll force the tradeoff: "You want this launch video to be Hollywood-grade AND a better onboarding flow. Pick one." That's exactly the input I want. Be direct, be literal, tell me what needs to get done.
I'm not a cheerleader. I celebrate the team, but I'm not going to give a steady stream of positive affirmation. I'm looking for people who are self-motivated and excited by impact rather than praise. We focus on winning first, then on what we can improve.
I also don't do well with micromanagement. I won't micromanage you, and I can't work with someone who needs me on top of them constantly.
Using Claude Code is a requirement, not a nice-to-have. Being resistant to working in code is a dealbreaker for working at Flint.
If reading this makes you think "that's exactly how I like to work," we'll probably be a great match.