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A case study in early-stage startup execution

wave.com

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Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#21

Post by beaconstudios »

Gaessaki wrote: post #20
beaconstudios wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do wish that there were was a way to increase the number of startups that were organised as worker cooperatives so that they could be run democratically by the workers themselves - unfortunately, equity investment precludes this possibility.

Our startup is a multistakeholder cooperative with workers representing 1/3rd of the governance. We’ve also received equity funding. Albeit challenging, raising funds through equity doesn’t necessarily preclude a cooperative structure.

True, you can take equity investment if you're a multi-stakeholder coop and that's still a huge improvement over a traditional corporation in terms of worker ownership. Respect for that!

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#22

Post by sokoloff »

jackblemming wrote: post #6

I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy working for companies where a major goal is “hustle hard, increase velocity, measure and optimize everything”. For what purpose? Making our bosses richer? Maybe taking 1/100th of the value created for ourselves? In my experience, really gifted people don’t put up with environments like this. But I guess you don’t want that in employees if you’re trying to setup a grind farm.…

> Maybe taking 1/100th of the value created for ourselves?

It’s relatively rare for an SWE to create $20M/yr in value every year. It’s quite common for one to make more than $200K in salary, with total cost being higher.

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#23

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

simonhamp wrote: post #14

I'm all for the ideological sentiment behind this setup and approach. In many ways, this is 'the right way' when you're a small and close-knit team. And that's the major caveat: this really only works at the very early stages. In my experience (5 years at a startup that has gone from 30 to now 300 people) and with a heavy bent toward pragmatism, simply put, this doesn't scale. If growth of the team is imperative for…

The 3000 employee company I was at had more transparency than the 30 person company I was at.

Almost anything can scale, with the right leadership and incentives. That part is exceedingly hard to get right. Generally I find from experience that the culture mirrors the leadership more than anything. A leader who cannot delegate, trust, or make decisions as a group builds silos, intentionally or unintentionally. Leaders who are humble, defer to others, trust but verify, and are open and transparent themselves are more than capable of building similar orgs.

Be ever vigilant in eliminating cognitive dissonance, for it is the culture killer.

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#24

Post by dasil003 »

jackblemming wrote: post #6

I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy working for companies where a major goal is “hustle hard, increase velocity, measure and optimize everything”. For what purpose? Making our bosses richer? Maybe taking 1/100th of the value created for ourselves? In my experience, really gifted people don’t put up with environments like this. But I guess you don’t want that in employees if you’re trying to setup a grind farm.…

You quote "hustle hard, increase velocity, measure and optimize everything", but none of those words even appear in the article. In fact, the culture described seems to be the opposite. Did we read the same article?

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#25

Post by rmbyrro »

simonhamp wrote: post #14

I'm all for the ideological sentiment behind this setup and approach. In many ways, this is 'the right way' when you're a small and close-knit team. And that's the major caveat: this really only works at the very early stages. In my experience (5 years at a startup that has gone from 30 to now 300 people) and with a heavy bent toward pragmatism, simply put, this doesn't scale. If growth of the team is imperative for…

Why do you consider it an "ideological sentiment"? The author is speaking from seemingly years of first hand experience.

It's anecdotal, sure,but doesn't seem fair to label as an ideolog.

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#27

Post by bspear »

> all salary data is available internally

That's pretty amazing, wonder if that applies to equity too. Most startups that are transparent about their metrics still don't share comp. If they did, I'm sure many people would be shocked at the variance: https://topstartups.io/startup-salary-equity-database/

Wave, if you're reading this, keep it up! Some of these principles will unfortunately break under the strain of a bigger company but stay nimble as long as you can

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#28

Post by simonhamp »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #23
simonhamp wrote: post #14

I'm all for the ideological sentiment behind this setup and approach. In many ways, this is 'the right way' when you're a small and close-knit team. And that's the major caveat: this really only works at the very early stages. In my experience (5 years at a startup that has gone from 30 to now 300 people) and with a heavy bent toward pragmatism, simply put, this doesn't scale. If growth of the team is imperative for…

The 3000 employee company I was at had more transparency than the 30 person company I was at. Almost anything can scale, with the right leadership and incentives. That part is exceedingly hard to get right. Generally I find from experience that the culture mirrors the leadership more than anything. A leader who cannot delegate, trust, or make decisions as a group builds silos, intentionally or unintentionally. Leader…

The reality being that there are very few people like this who can genuinely do this.

Again, pragmatism

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#29

Post by simonhamp »

rmbyrro wrote: post #25
simonhamp wrote: post #14

I'm all for the ideological sentiment behind this setup and approach. In many ways, this is 'the right way' when you're a small and close-knit team. And that's the major caveat: this really only works at the very early stages. In my experience (5 years at a startup that has gone from 30 to now 300 people) and with a heavy bent toward pragmatism, simply put, this doesn't scale. If growth of the team is imperative for…

Why do you consider it an "ideological sentiment"? The author is speaking from seemingly years of first hand experience. It's anecdotal, sure,but doesn't seem fair to label as an ideolog.

I don't believe this is labelling anything - I'm simply saying that I agree with the fundamental principles of the ideology behind this piece.

Not decrying anyones first-hand experience, just stating that my first-hand experience is slightly different.

Re: A case study in early-stage startup execution

#30

Post by jollybean »

simonhamp wrote: post #14

I'm all for the ideological sentiment behind this setup and approach. In many ways, this is 'the right way' when you're a small and close-knit team. And that's the major caveat: this really only works at the very early stages. In my experience (5 years at a startup that has gone from 30 to now 300 people) and with a heavy bent toward pragmatism, simply put, this doesn't scale. If growth of the team is imperative for…

I think just one thing that would help immensely with transparency is just informing silos of what other silos are doing, and how.

The dev team kept in the lurch on a every little marketing program and tactic, and visa versa, is not helpful.

Making mid-level managers explain their stuff to a wider audience I think is super helpful.

This way, people have an idea of the direction they are headed, and what it is that they are trying to do.

Honestly, I think that's 80% of inter group 'transparency'.

The other things, like salary transparency etc. is a bit more complicated but I generally don't think it's necessary.

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