There are already zillions of blogs on startups. So why another one?
I must admit that when I recently did a blog search on 'startup' this one doesn't show up in the first few pages of results (maybe never, because I ran out of patience and stopped scrolling). But that doesn't bother me too much, make it at all, as my goals for doing this blog have already been met, and now it's all icing on the cake.
After my last startup experience, I discovered two things (1) I learned a lot of stuff that I wish I'd known earlier and (2) I really enjoy thinking about and discussing the startup experience. It was important that I share what I've learned with others - spread the word, help someone, chalk up some good karma kind of thing. Some of these things can only be learned through experience, and it is much better when it is not your own. I was seriously considering writing a book, not a how-to or do-you-have-what-it-takes kind of book, but a this-is-what-you-should-think-about,
this-is-what-you-should-watch-out-for and
this-happens-all-the-time
book that you can read if you're prepping for a startup and occasionally check out to recover your balance when everything seems to be going haywire.
So, I did start writing the book. I did an outline, skimmed through a couple of how-to books on non-fiction writing, and even did the first chapter. And I realized that it takes commitment to put in a few hours a day to it, something that's hard to come by when you're working. Also, having been immersed in only business-writing (am a PowerPoint junkie) for so long, I really needed the discipline of writing frequently to polish up my general writing skills. It started to look like it'd be two years or so for the book to be finished, which seemed a very slow way to help wannabe entrepreneurs.
There was the coffee/cocktail 'advisory' circuit of course. I've been discussing these ideas with some startup dreamers, and the helping is more immediate, but it still takes time and much consumption of beverages. So a blog seemed the thing to do. It gets the word out quickly (if anyone can find it) and makes me practice my writing skills. I'm the kind of person who'd only blog about what engages me, which is why writing about the startup ethos is fun and easy (I'd be seriously bored maintaining a blog about my daily activities - I couldn't read it myself).
Yesterday I was talking to an UCLA MBA student who needed my input on some startup issues and I'd told him about a couple of posts on this blog that might be relevant. He called back and was very effusive about how helpful it was 'because it speaks to the average Joe and tells you stuff that you'd never think about unless someone told you'. I'd started this blog with the idea that it didn't matter if it wasn't popular, I'd get to work on my writing and I'd feel it was worthwhile if it was helpful to just one person. Check and check. Ahhh. Now, if I can meet my startup goals....
Channeling the inner entrepreneur who views life as a startup. Musings about people, their spirit, the startup ethos and the entrepreneurial attitude, with an emphasis on education and social ventures. The 'how-to'? Not so much. But definitely the why, the what and the whatever.
Startup value vs. values.
A few months ago I was talking to an investor who had just signed up to put in a chunk of change into the first institutional round of a startup. I asked him what his goals for the company were, and he answered 'I just want to focus on building value'.
A few days ago I was chatting with an entrepreneur who's working towards his own startup. We were discussing what to look for when staffing, and talked about how 'the team should have the same values'.
The funny thing is how often in the process of 'building value' those in the company complain that it has changed its values. Just in the past few months I've run across people from three different companies kvetching that their environment has changed, they're no longer a tight-knit team, and the intense fun they used to have has dissipated from their startup. In all cases, the most significant recent event was first round of funding. And interestingly, a drop-off in customer focus was also a common thread.
While it is the team that maintains the startup's values and delivers the startup's value, it is the startup leadership that ensures that one enables the other. First timers are sometimes inexperienced managers who may have never faced the challenge of nurturing the character of the team while delivering on goals and objectives. In the early stages it's often not an issue as the team is very small and it is easy to align everyone to the same goals as well as values. But when the team burgeons suddenly (a result of a funding infusion - the same effect is not experienced from the more controlled growth of customer acquisition), the leaders have to be aware that the values need as much attention as the goals, and there are a whole bunch of new people that have to be cultivated and meshed into the team. And it is so easy to assume it'll somehow take care of itself just because you had a great team to start with - especially when you're swamped with whole new demands for meetings, press releases, and general schmoozing and hobnobbing which are all supposed to help you increase 'value'.
Why are values so important anyway? For one, it makes for a more cohesive team. It makes it more likely that they get along and stick together. (It's somewhat like marriage. If the couple has no shared values they're not even likely to get married - unless they were in Vegas in an altered state - leave alone stick together for any length of time.) Two, the team has less to argue about (yeah! more work getting done!). Three, it fosters predictability, which can be a good thing in a company. Four, it gives the startup soul. And of course, something to put up on a poster in the front room to impress the visitors and newbies.
As for startup value, there's no need to belabor the obvious. Without it, there's no point in the startup. But the trick is to remember that you can't sustain building value without fostering values, as you will quite possibly lose your way, lose your team and wake up one day and wonder why the fun's gone and you 'can't get no satisfaction'.
A few days ago I was chatting with an entrepreneur who's working towards his own startup. We were discussing what to look for when staffing, and talked about how 'the team should have the same values'.
The funny thing is how often in the process of 'building value' those in the company complain that it has changed its values. Just in the past few months I've run across people from three different companies kvetching that their environment has changed, they're no longer a tight-knit team, and the intense fun they used to have has dissipated from their startup. In all cases, the most significant recent event was first round of funding. And interestingly, a drop-off in customer focus was also a common thread.
While it is the team that maintains the startup's values and delivers the startup's value, it is the startup leadership that ensures that one enables the other. First timers are sometimes inexperienced managers who may have never faced the challenge of nurturing the character of the team while delivering on goals and objectives. In the early stages it's often not an issue as the team is very small and it is easy to align everyone to the same goals as well as values. But when the team burgeons suddenly (a result of a funding infusion - the same effect is not experienced from the more controlled growth of customer acquisition), the leaders have to be aware that the values need as much attention as the goals, and there are a whole bunch of new people that have to be cultivated and meshed into the team. And it is so easy to assume it'll somehow take care of itself just because you had a great team to start with - especially when you're swamped with whole new demands for meetings, press releases, and general schmoozing and hobnobbing which are all supposed to help you increase 'value'.
Why are values so important anyway? For one, it makes for a more cohesive team. It makes it more likely that they get along and stick together. (It's somewhat like marriage. If the couple has no shared values they're not even likely to get married - unless they were in Vegas in an altered state - leave alone stick together for any length of time.) Two, the team has less to argue about (yeah! more work getting done!). Three, it fosters predictability, which can be a good thing in a company. Four, it gives the startup soul. And of course, something to put up on a poster in the front room to impress the visitors and newbies.
As for startup value, there's no need to belabor the obvious. Without it, there's no point in the startup. But the trick is to remember that you can't sustain building value without fostering values, as you will quite possibly lose your way, lose your team and wake up one day and wonder why the fun's gone and you 'can't get no satisfaction'.
People Picking.
The complexities of early-stage staffing. (If you're running a one-person show, you may think you don't have to worry about the kind of people you're going to pick to join your company - you're only almost off the hook. One of the advantages of working with a team is that you can try to find others with skills you lack. If it is just yourself, you have to figure out how plug the gaps on your own. Can be done of course, but it takes knowing what they are.)
First off, it is really, really hard to do it all on your own, even in the very early stages. Even if you're a super-hero, and can wear a dozen hats (sorry, this kind doesn't get the cool capes) and do everything yourself, you'll find that it just doesn't work. Things take too long, or slip through the cracks. Or, you're busy formulating a square peg for what another set of eyes would have recognized as a round hole. Worst of all, the entrepreneurial spirit starts flagging without others to fan it.
So what kind of people do you pick? Sure, it is good to round out the skill set. But in the very early stages, I think it is almost as important to round out the mind set and the perspectives as well. If you're the one with the everything-is-rosy glasses on, you need someone who is a little more skeptical. If you read a chance headline and see a market trend, you need someone who researches 100 reports to find the numbers before she agrees with you. You need to balance the view.
Do you need someone with experience in the space you're in, or someone with enthusiasm for ditto? Most of the startup gurus push enthusiasm and passion every time. And I agree with them. Though there is a strange disconnect that when you go for funding investors seem to prefer a team with eye-popping resumes, most entrepreneurs would rather have someone's who's all fired up about their venture. I have, in the past, given in to temptation and hired people with great competence but not much emotional involvement, and they didn't last too long. Their vaunted experience didn't make much of an impact either.
Of course, passion alone won't build the company. You need smarts, and not just domain specific smarts like technical skills, but an overall 'quickness of understanding' on top of that. And when you're in the early stage, you definitely can't settle for mediocrity. If someone can't pick up on your idea, doesn't bother doing research about your space, or can't extrapolate on the potential - forget about the stellar resume and top schools, however tempting they may be, that's not who you need now.
There's one other criteria (which surprisingly many experts don't often mention), pick people who mesh with your style, whatever it may be. While the crucible of the startup will meld everyone into one unit to some extent, it is not worth hassling with people who have very divergent approaches to work. If you know you're a micro-manager, you probably also know that you're not going to change anytime soon, so you might as well get folks who can handle that (and you) comfortably. If you're a 'I'll tell you what needs to get done, and you can go away and do it' kind of person, someone who likes the warm fuzzies of discussing and confirming everything up front may be left feeling very lost - and lost is a depressing way to be in a startup.
People who have passion, smarts, compatibility, and complementary perspectives - and the ability to work for peanuts. The perfect startup team.
The complexities of early-stage staffing. (If you're running a one-person show, you may think you don't have to worry about the kind of people you're going to pick to join your company - you're only almost off the hook. One of the advantages of working with a team is that you can try to find others with skills you lack. If it is just yourself, you have to figure out how plug the gaps on your own. Can be done of course, but it takes knowing what they are.)
First off, it is really, really hard to do it all on your own, even in the very early stages. Even if you're a super-hero, and can wear a dozen hats (sorry, this kind doesn't get the cool capes) and do everything yourself, you'll find that it just doesn't work. Things take too long, or slip through the cracks. Or, you're busy formulating a square peg for what another set of eyes would have recognized as a round hole. Worst of all, the entrepreneurial spirit starts flagging without others to fan it.
So what kind of people do you pick? Sure, it is good to round out the skill set. But in the very early stages, I think it is almost as important to round out the mind set and the perspectives as well. If you're the one with the everything-is-rosy glasses on, you need someone who is a little more skeptical. If you read a chance headline and see a market trend, you need someone who researches 100 reports to find the numbers before she agrees with you. You need to balance the view.
Do you need someone with experience in the space you're in, or someone with enthusiasm for ditto? Most of the startup gurus push enthusiasm and passion every time. And I agree with them. Though there is a strange disconnect that when you go for funding investors seem to prefer a team with eye-popping resumes, most entrepreneurs would rather have someone's who's all fired up about their venture. I have, in the past, given in to temptation and hired people with great competence but not much emotional involvement, and they didn't last too long. Their vaunted experience didn't make much of an impact either.
Of course, passion alone won't build the company. You need smarts, and not just domain specific smarts like technical skills, but an overall 'quickness of understanding' on top of that. And when you're in the early stage, you definitely can't settle for mediocrity. If someone can't pick up on your idea, doesn't bother doing research about your space, or can't extrapolate on the potential - forget about the stellar resume and top schools, however tempting they may be, that's not who you need now.
There's one other criteria (which surprisingly many experts don't often mention), pick people who mesh with your style, whatever it may be. While the crucible of the startup will meld everyone into one unit to some extent, it is not worth hassling with people who have very divergent approaches to work. If you know you're a micro-manager, you probably also know that you're not going to change anytime soon, so you might as well get folks who can handle that (and you) comfortably. If you're a 'I'll tell you what needs to get done, and you can go away and do it' kind of person, someone who likes the warm fuzzies of discussing and confirming everything up front may be left feeling very lost - and lost is a depressing way to be in a startup.
People who have passion, smarts, compatibility, and complementary perspectives - and the ability to work for peanuts. The perfect startup team.
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