Everyone Said Don’t Hire Him. They Hired Him Anyway.
Almost everyone voted no. The executive team (save one) thumbed him down. The entire board did the same. The message was nearly unanimous: don’t do this.
On paper, Mark Cranney didn’t fit. An unfamiliar school. Short. Stocky. Built like a box. He didn’t project executive polish. He didn’t make people comfortable. He didn’t look the part. But Ben had already done the hardest part of the work. He knew exactly what the role required. And Mark had it.
This was Opsware’s fourth VP of Sales in three years. If they got it wrong again, there wouldn’t be a fifth. The company didn’t have much life left in it. They’d just made a brutal transition from cloud services to enterprise software. The margin for error was gone. This hire wasn’t an upgrade. It was survival.
So Ben Horowitz, Opsware’s CEO, did something unusual before this search: he took over sales himself. He ran the function. Carried the number, sat in the calls, felt the problems firsthand. That’s how he learned what the role actually demanded. Not what it looked like on paper. Not what the board expected. What the business needed right now.
And what he learned was this: Opsware didn’t need another polished executive who fit the culture. They needed someone who could build a repeatable sales machine. Someone who understood process. Someone who would grind out wins when the product was hard to sell and the market was skeptical.
When he eventually returned to hiring, the clarity was different. He interviewed more than two dozen candidates. Then he met Mark. Ben called all of Mark’s references. Every reference confirmed it: Mark had what Ben was looking for. He could build the sales machine. He could deliver the numbers.
Then came the call. An executive on his team reached out. A friend of hers knew Mark and wanted to give a negative reference. Ben called him. “Under no circumstances should you hire Mark Cranney.” The sales trainer explained why. Mark had been invited as a guest speaker, and the first thing he told a room of new trainees was that if they couldn’t deliver, he’d put a bullet in their head.
But Ben didn’t stop there. He asked the questions that mattered. Is he unethical? No. Is he bad at hiring? No, he brought in some of the best salespeople. Can he close big deals? Yes. What looked like a disqualifying reference was actually confirmation. Mark was exactly who Ben thought he was.
Ben needed Marc Andreessen onboard. Marc was co-founder and chair of the board. Without him, this didn’t happen.
Ben made his case: If Mark were perfect, he wouldn’t be willing to work here. He’d be CEO of IBM. Marc’s reply: “Got it. Let’s hire him.”
Someone had to put their name on the decision. Ben did.
Ben needed Marc Andreessen’s support on the hire. Marc was co-founder and board chair. Ben made his case: If Mark were flawless, he wouldn’t take this job – he’d be running IBM. Marc agreed.
The hire was contentious. But Mark delivered – Opsware hit its numbers and sold to HP for $1.65 billion. He’d replicate that success at three other companies before joining Andreessen Horowitz as a founding operating partner.
The Trap
The trap isn’t hiring someone imperfect. The trap is holding out for a perfect candidate who doesn’t exist. When leaders delay a hire, it’s rarely because the bar is too high. It’s because they haven’t gotten clear on what truly matters.
Great hiring starts with clarity about the problem you’re trying to solve. Not the role you think you need. Not the profile that looks impressive. The actual problem the business is facing right now. Ben ran sales himself to get that clarity. You might get there in a different way. But you have to get there.
Ben knew Opsware didn’t need another leader who looked good in the org chart. They needed someone who could build a sales machine that hit targets, quarter after quarter. Someone who knew what it meant to go to war. Ben understood the moment.
At some point, hiring stops being about evaluation and becomes a test of leadership. The data is imperfect. The opinions are mixed. And still, progress requires a decision.
The best leaders don’t wait for consensus. They get clear, build conviction, make the case, and own the call.
When was the last time your hiring process stalled, not because there was no good talent, but because the requirement itself wasn’t sharp enough yet?