ppumang

software engineer

2 minute read

Team and execution

3. Team

  • Choosing a cofounder randomly is really really bad.
  • Almost every successful companies are built by cofounders.
  • Cofounder has to be tough and calm.
  • Try not to hire. Only hire when you are desperate.
  • Before hiring a first employee, write down what culture your company want. Hire carefully and get the best people.
  • Mediocre engineers do not build great companies and they can kill a startup. Hiring a new employee is betting your company’s future.
  • Build at least 100 employees with personal referals.
  • What to consider
  1. Are they smart?
  2. Do they get things done?
  3. Do I want to spend a lot of time around them?
  • Also
  1. Good communication skills
  2. Risk taking (Mckinsey between startup? probably not work out)
  3. Manically determined(workaholic)
  4. Pass the animal test(describe what the employee is good at)
  5. Would feel comfortable reporting to them?
  • Do some project together before hiring.
  • Be generous in equity for your employees.
  • Give credit to your team, take responsibility by yourself.
  • Don’t micromanage.
  • Fire fast if not working out, company politics, being nagative.
  • When your cofounder leaves before 4 years, he will get nothing. This is a promise between the cofounders.
  • Don’t work remotely in early startup.

4. Execution

  • Becoming a CEO means your signing to do the execution for years-long time. What you do becomes a culture of the company.
  • The CEO has five jobs.
  1. Set the vision
  2. Raise money
  3. Evangelize
  4. Hire and manage
  5. Make sure the entire company executes
  • Execution = What to do? + Can you get it done?
  • Can you get it done? = Focus + Intensity
  • Focus
    1. What are you spending time and money on?
    2. What are the two or three most important things?
      • Most startups are not focused enough
      • Startup is zero or one. If you work really hard in fields that people don’t care so much, nobody cares.
      • Set overarching goals and repeat them. KPI
  • Intensity
    1. Quick
    2. Do whatever it takes
    3. Show up(get on plane in marginal situations)
    4. Don’t give up
    5. Be courageous
      • Relentless operating rhythm(Facebook : move fast and break things)
      • Obsession with execution quality
      • Bias towards action. Great founders sticks to small things, but move quickly and get things done quickly. Every time you talk to them, they’ve gotten new things done. For this, you need to break it down into smaller projects.

Always keep momentum. Keep growing. Vision is no use before winning. Before that, focus on your product and win in the market. Sales fix everything.

  • The best way to keep momentum is to set an operating rhythm.
    • Shipping product
    • Launching new features
    • Reviewing/reporting metrics and milestones

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