Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
josephwalla.com
Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
1–10 of 23 posts
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#2I don't remember where I read it (probably on a HN post or comment) but there was a great suggestion regarding organization chart. Instead of doing one only when you scale from 10 to 20 people like this article suggests, the idea was to do one on day 1.
On day 1 every position from CEO, CFO, to mail delivery messenger is filed with one or 2 names: the founder(s). As the company grows, you hire people and start delegating the work so that they can fill the positions on the organization chart.
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#3Forget about scaling, tell me what are all/most of the possible worker roles (part-time or full-time) that a startup needs in its: first month, 2nd-6th month, rest of 1st year, and so on.
This kind of knowledge "beforehand" is a valuable startup insight that is not disseminated well enough IMO.
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#4I don't remember where I read it (probably on a HN post or comment) but there was a great suggestion regarding organization chart. Instead of doing one only when you scale from 10 to 20 people like this article suggests, the idea was to do one on day 1. On day 1 every position from CEO, CFO, to mail delivery messenger is filed with one or 2 names: the founder(s). As the company grows, you hire people and start delega…
I understand the appeal of this, but the hardest thing in the very beginning is keeping a laser focus on the critical task of building and validating something people want. Resources are so precious at that stage, and the green field is so wide open, that you have to be obsessive about keeping an eye on the ball. It's extremely easy to drink your own koolaid and start believing the narrative in your pitch deck before you are anywhere near traction.
Mulling over an org chart is one of the easiest of the thousands of nice-sounding things you need to brutally cull from your todo list in the early days.
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#5I don't remember where I read it (probably on a HN post or comment) but there was a great suggestion regarding organization chart. Instead of doing one only when you scale from 10 to 20 people like this article suggests, the idea was to do one on day 1. On day 1 every position from CEO, CFO, to mail delivery messenger is filed with one or 2 names: the founder(s). As the company grows, you hire people and start delega…
I understand the appeal of this, but the hardest thing in the very beginning is keeping a laser focus on the critical task of building and validating something people want. Resources are so precious at that stage, and the green field is so wide open, that you have to be obsessive about keeping an eye on the ball. It's extremely easy to drink your own koolaid and start believing the narrative in your pitch deck before…
I think you've misunderstood the parent. By making explicit that the founder does all these things, it makes the urgency of hiring and delegating clear.
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#6can somebody explain why posthaven is so widespread? i don't see any reason to use it over medium etc
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand the appeal of this, but the hardest thing in the very beginning is keeping a laser focus on the critical task of building and validating something people want. Resources are so precious at that stage, and the green field is so wide open, that you have to be obsessive about keeping an eye on the ball. It's extremely easy to drink your own koolaid and start believing the narrative in your pitch deck before…
I think you've misunderstood the parent. By making explicit that the founder does all these things, it makes the urgency of hiring and delegating clear.
It's only helpful if it adds something to the feedback loop. That's what an organization and its projects need at every stage: healthy feedback. If it's too far into fantasy, it gets forgotten and replaced with something more expedient; if it goes completely unaddressed, the absence manifests as some other failure.
So, early org chart is only useful if it doesn't jump too far ahead of what the business is: If you discover you need a different organization to execute on the plan, there's no point in planning for scaling the existing one out. But if what's being followed is a "hire a great team and great things will happen" kind of plan, then there's no conflict since it just means you've considered both near and long-term aspects of building a great team.
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you've misunderstood the parent. By making explicit that the founder does all these things, it makes the urgency of hiring and delegating clear.
It's only helpful if it adds something to the feedback loop. That's what an organization and its projects need at every stage: healthy feedback. If it's too far into fantasy, it gets forgotten and replaced with something more expedient; if it goes completely unaddressed, the absence manifests as some other failure. So, early org chart is only useful if it doesn't jump too far ahead of what the business is: If you dis…
I think you should read the GP again.
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#9can somebody explain why posthaven is so widespread? i don't see any reason to use it over medium etc
It's affiliated with YC (created by alumni), promises to stick around and even keep your content online. Whereas Medium is still looking for a sustainable business model.
Re: Lessons scaling from 10 to 20 people
#10can somebody explain why posthaven is so widespread? i don't see any reason to use it over medium etc
It's affiliated with YC (created by alumni), promises to stick around and even keep your content online. Whereas Medium is still looking for a sustainable business model.
It offers immortality (of your texts). And people are afraid of death, beeing forgotten and leaving no mark behind.