How do I run performance reviews in a small company?
Hold a short written review every six months and keep everyday feedback for weekly one-to-ones, so nothing in the review is a surprise. Ask the person for a self-review answering three questions (what went well, what did not, where they want to grow), gather a few lines of peer input from the five to eight people they work with most, then write your own page: results against the goals set last time, strengths, the one or two things to change, and a clear rating. First Round's guide suggests three to five hours of preparation per direct report. In the meeting, walk through it, listen to their side, and agree the goals for the next six months. A shared doc and one template used for everyone is enough for a small team; review software can wait.
Rachitsky ran 50-plus reviews at Airbnb and turned it into a Prepare, Deliver, Follow-up system he explicitly says is for early-stage founders putting a performance system in place for the first time. It hands you the actual mechanics: three start/stop/continue questions to gather peer input, a 45-minute conversation structure that spends two-thirds of the time on development, and downloadable templates so you copy the doc instead of inventing the process.
This is the founder-sized version of Radical Candor: a four-step order of operations (Get, Give, Gauge, Encourage) that starts by soliciting feedback on yourself before you dish any out, which is exactly the trust move a founder needs before HR exists. The CORE script (Context, Observation, Result, Expected next step) gives you a sentence-level template for delivering direct feedback within 48 hours without it turning personal.
Ready-made review formats from a performance-management software company: self-reviews, manager reviews, peer feedback and project reviews. Copy one into a doc; a small company does not need the software to use the format.
A bank of questions for self-reviews, manager reviews and peer feedback from an employee-feedback company. Useful when you are writing your first review form and want questions that ask about results and behaviour rather than personality.
Google's research into what its best managers do, the work known as Project Oxygen. For a founder running reviews for the first time, it is a list of the behaviours to measure yourself on: coaching, regular one-to-ones, clear goals and career conversations.
The former Intel CEO's book on management as leverage, where OKRs began. It covers planning, one-to-ones, meetings and performance reviews, and the idea that a manager's output is the output of the team.
