There are four types of Government Relations functions in startups. Understanding what kind of GR function you’re building is essential to knowing who to hire.
Most startups never need GR. Instead, GR arises only in response to one of four government catalysts: government as Threat, Gatekeeper, Customer, or Neighbor. Each leads to a different type of GR function, requiring a different GR persona:
Government as … | You need to hire … | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Threat | A bill or law threatens to shut down a major part of the business | Amy, the Lobbyist | ||||||||||||||||||||
Gatekeeper | The startup operates in an industry with a regulator or other government gatekeeper | Reggie, the Expert | ||||||||||||||||||||
Customer | The startup wants to generate revenue from government (procurement, subsidies, tax credits, etc.) | Selma, the Seller | ||||||||||||||||||||
Neighbor | The startup has created local touchpoints via its physical presence or by expanding into a new geography | Luke, the Local | ||||||||||||||||||||
Government as Threat: Amy, the Lobbyist
Historically the quintessential GR role, Amy’s responsibility is straightforward: defeating bad bills and passing good bills. She does this through both “inside game” (meetings, testimony, amendments) and “outside game” (coalitions, grassroots, media), underwritten by her relationships in the relevant legislature.
Amy typically reports into the General Counsel, given her role as a shield against legal risk. She’s also the most commonly outsourced GR profile: lobbying firms excel at being Amy and the economics are compelling. But few firms can be handed a brief and handle it all on their own; it’s better to think of them as support (i.e., renting the hands, keeping the head).
Key need: Battle experience. Amy should have actually passed or killed a bill in the relevant legislature. In some sense, Amy is the easiest GR persona to hire: any good Amy can show you the portfolio of bills she’s worked on and her role in each.
Underrated need: Strategic comms. At disruptive startups, Amy is often fighting for not just a bill, but the right of the startup and its market to exist at all. These wars are fought in the press as much as in the legislature, so you want an Amy with a PR skillset strong enough to earn the (rare) trust of a Chief Comms Officer.
Watch out for: The Big Name. It’s immensely tempting to hire the former Senator or Minister to just make it all go away. But government doesn’t work like that. Changing legislation usually requires unglamorous “shoe leather” work, and it’s rare that the Senator is the right person for it.
Sometimes: Jack, the Generalist
Startups hit with bad bills across many states face a dilemma: Amy is almost always jurisdiction-specific, but you can’t start a GR function by hiring fifteen Amys in fifteen states. Accordingly, startups often look to a different profile for the first few GR hires: Jack, capable of handling any jurisdiction even if he’s the ideal owner of none.
What distinguishes Jack from Amy is his approach. GR operates on a spectrum from persuasion to relationships: Amy leverages both, but Jack must rely almost solely on persuasion. So you’re looking for first-principles reasoning, cognitive empathy, and charisma: the ability to figure out who matters and how to persuade them, despite having never met them. (This also means Jack has to be the most nonpartisan among all the GR personas.)
As an early hire, Jack is by default also responsible for justifying GR and its strategy, and thus needs strong alignment with the business. Misalignment can cause irreparable reputational damage, particularly in startups without prior GR exposure, which also makes Jack the rare GR role better based at HQ than at a capital.
Government as Gatekeeper: Reggie, the Expert
Reggie is closely related to Amy, but he’s at a startup in a heavily regulated industry like healthcare, transportation, energy, etc. A key tell is that Reggie often works alongside a Regulatory team distinct from the Legal team. (For example, a drone startup might have a “regular” Legal team handling employment, contracts, etc., and a separate Regulatory team handling drone laws specifically.)
Reggie’s job is to unblock the Regulatory team when their normal channels get stuck. The Regulatory team focuses on the regulator and civil servants (e.g., FAA staff), while Reggie handles political air cover (e.g., FAA politicos, Congress). These two functions usually end up as peers, both reporting into the GC or the CEO.
What distinguishes Reggie from Amy is that his ultimate goal is usually influencing a regulation (set by a department or agency) rather than a bill (passed by elected politicians). The tactics are very different (think fundraisers vs working groups), so the roles are rarely interchangeable.
Key need: Expertise. Reggie, more than any of the other GR personas, demands subject-matter expertise. He can’t be an effective partner for a pharmaceutical regulatory team without deeply understanding the FDA and drug approval processes.
Underrated need: Teaching ability. Reggie will spend most of his time explaining dense, boring regulatory concepts to politicians with limited attention spans. So Reggie needs to be able to translate complex ideas into simple, persuasive advocacy.
Watch out for: The Bureaucrat. It’s tempting (and often right) to hire an experienced former regulator. But you need a Reggie who will draw on that experience (and credibility) to sell your brave new world, not one trapped in the regulator’s mindset of status quo preservation and risk avoidance.
Government as Customer: Selma, the Seller
The fastest-growing GR role, Selma exists because the startup generates revenue from government (public procurement, tax credits, subsidies, etc.) and discovers that GR support can help win deals (or stop them from being killed).
Selmas come in many kinds, united only by a focus on revenue rather than rules. Accordingly, unlike Amy (the shield), you rarely want Selma (the sword) reporting into Legal. She’s better off reporting to a smart CRO who understands how Selma’s work differs from (but complements) the rest of the sales team - more like enterprise sales, with bigger, slower, and fewer deals.
Key need: Balancing politics and business. Selma is a senior member of the sales team who happens to have particular domain-specific access. The best Selmas are part of a broader sales motion and aren’t limited to arranging introductions for others.
Underrated need: Mastering the leviathan. Government procurement is the ugliest, most complex, and most rules-bound process in all of sales. Great Selmas who have fully internalized the process don’t just make their sales team better; they make the buyer happier too - buyers often hate the process even more than sellers do!
Watch out for: The Transplant. Selma’s role is surprisingly jurisdiction-specific given the bespoke complexity of procurement processes. Even an exceptional state-level Selma will face a steep learning curve moving to FedRAMP and Congressional appropriations calendars. A good CRO will define Selma’s target markets rather than treat her as a global government whisperer.
Government as Neighbor: Luke, the Local
Luke’s role typically arises from a startup’s physical presence - major facility construction, lots of vehicles on the roads, or other significant local infrastructure. This creates enough touchpoints with local government that the startup inevitably needs an “ambassador” - someone to represent the startup and serve as the town’s first point of contact on all issues.
Luke often reports into the local GM, who probably did the job herself early on, before the market grew enough to justify a dedicated hire. And like a GM, Luke is usually expected to cover a wide swath of business/Ops issues beyond what’s technically “GR”.
What sets Luke apart from other GR roles is the smallness of the arena: Luke can realistically know everyone who matters. As such, Luke’s schedule should rarely have gaps. The best Lukes don’t separate their personal and professional lives; they embed themselves deeply in the community, knowing it serves both the company and their own careers.
Key need: Local relationships. There is no substitute whatsoever for a well-networked person on the ground. If Jack represents the persuasion end of the persuasion-relationships spectrum, and Amy is in between, then Luke is firmly on the relationships end.
Underrated need: Operational fluency. No matter how charming Luke is, any meaningful local fight will eventually require operational concessions. The best Lukes are in lockstep with their Ops team on what matters and what doesn’t - which, in turn, hopefully means Ops respects Luke enough to honor those concessions!
Watch out for: The Courtier. Politics in small towns can change quickly, and a Luke whose relationships are purely political can soon become a liability under a new administration. The best Lukes have deep roots that go beyond whoever happens to be in office right now, with proactive relationship building a key part of their responsibilities.
Sometimes: Indy, the International
Indy is the international version of Luke, hired in countries where everyone knows everyone, and GR and business are woven together in a way foreign to most American founders.
Indy’s hiring profile mirrors Luke’s, but with three accentuated considerations:
- Local. Every GR hire benefits from being local, but Indy is GR hiring at its shallowest: cultural fit, accent, and appearance (unfortunately) matter greatly. Parachuting in an American can be actively harmful, worse than having no one at all.
- Passion. Every GR hire needs passion, but Indy is thousands of miles away, embedded in networks far deeper than her connection to you. Indy needs to be a true believer in the company and her role in it, or her loyalty will default to others.
- Ethics. Every GR hire needs ethics, but Indy creates unique compliance risks for American startups thanks to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. FCPA violations are easy to commit, easy to prosecute, and expensive to resolve; even an honest Indy may not realize that ordinary local norms can run afoul of US law, while a “fixer” Indy can sink your business.
Conclusion
The most common mistake in building a GR function is hiring an outstanding resume for the wrong role. Strong GR hires start with the “why” before the “who”: understanding which of the four types of GR functions you’re building helps clarify which GR persona you’re looking for.
(Thanks to Adam, Adriana, and Michael for reviewing drafts.)