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The Art of Start(up)

March 12th, 2008

For the last several months I’ve been hunkering down on trying to create a compelling, empowering and engaging product. While I have much more to learn, here are some things I’ve learned in being apart of a Silicon Valley Startup.

2. It’s not just a product, it’s a culture
In the midst of trying to create a product that sticks , a culture is being created within your organization. The decisions you decide within product affect the vision, approach, and way of thinking that is carried through the way people interact with each other at the startup.

3. Hire slowly, fire quickly
Since it takes a lot of time and resources hiring and finding the right person, once you find out it’s not a good fit you should quickly get rid of them. The longer you take to get rid of them, the more you eat away at finding the right person. Also, if the person has an abrasive/bitter attitude, it can spread quickly to the rest of the team. One of the highest priorities should be protecting your team. Without your team, your organization and product are nothing.
When you find the right person for the job, a great thank you is to purchase gift baskets. Thoughtful presents brings happiness which encourages productivity.

4. Do the things that only you can do, and outsource the rest
I’m guilty of wanting to do everything and feeling terrible asking people to do things. However, there are just so many things call for your attention that you really can’t spend your time wasting it on things that can easily be outsourced. While you can never see any task as beneath you, you are on the team for a certain skillset that no one on that team has. Make sure you are doing the thing you were brought on to do first and give up the rest.

However, since the startup is small and aims to mature, that person will need to take a leadership role and grow out of the initial role he/she was hired to do. This means that roles need to be rigid enough so that flawless execution can happen, but loose enough so that the person can develop a visionary mindset.


Posted on: April 27, 2010