Two Key Things to Look For Before Joining a Startup

In Chapter 12 of 20 in his 2014 Capture Your Flag interview, mobile business executive Geoff Hamm answers "How Did Working at Your First Startup Inform What You Looked For at Your Second Startup?" When looking for a new startup job, Hamm first looks at the founders' story and experience. He learns a hard lesson about inexperience working with first-time founders and chooses a founding team with previous startup experience when he joins his next startup. Additionally, he learns to understand what to look for in an advisory board and the importance of board involvement in the company.

Geoff Hamm is a business development executive and VP Strategic Alliances at mobile marketing platform start-up Applovin in San Francisco, CA. Previous to Applovin, Hamm held senior sales management positions at Tapjoy, Scribd, Electronic Arts, Yahoo!, Orbitz, IAC and Excite where he built deep relationships with advertisers and brands. Hamm graduated from the University of Illinois.