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He recently got handed multiple billions to expand from 500 HC. Secret ingredient: two decades at Mckinsey.
Biggest trend other than experience is TIME. Most businesses take a DECADE to really get going.
Either way you’re going to be figuring out a lot of stuff on your own, but I think I would have recognised that earlier and would have had a little more practice.
More than one startup talked a big game in hiring about the product, the customers and the culture only to be more of a cult of personality where decisions were made in private between cofounders despite being an "open" company, unequal pay despite "transparent" salaries with bands, a lack of managerial skills or care for personnel management (once told not to bring my feelings to work) and in almost every single instance a technical founder or early engineer that cannot or will not share work by delegating.
The most important things I have learned have absolutely came from being involved with startups and 90% are what NOT to do.
The good thing is I identified what I love:
"Devops" and adding automation and structure to processes very early. Everyone thinks is has to get in the way or will slow them down. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Building people is was more fun than building tech but you have to be on top of your hiring game early on. And you have to be willing to share and trust.
You have to ship. But that doesnt mean you dont invest in yourself. If you have money for 100 days then build for 100 days. If you have money for 2 years then build for 2 years. This means making that investment in your tools and your process.
Lastly, if you are B2B, buy a SOC2-in-a-box and get it over with and use something like auth0 or workos and just be ready with SSO integrations. Dont put off the foundational tablestakes of doing business with other tech companies.
We have a "Founders Program" for people that know they want to start a company in the next few years. I think it's better to have full transparency on both sides: As the company: You get highly motivated, amazing talent As the employee / future founder: You make your intention clear to leave in x months to start your own thing and can openly discuss strategy for your company with the current founders instead of hidin…
We have a few people who are explicitly at incident.io to gain experience of how to build companies. It may be that they won't go to do this, but their time here will put them in a great position to do so, if they ever want to.
I've seen some companies who have a standing offer to angel invest in your start-up too, though I was never sure how I felt about that.
We have a "Founders Program" for people that know they want to start a company in the next few years. I think it's better to have full transparency on both sides: As the company: You get highly motivated, amazing talent As the employee / future founder: You make your intention clear to leave in x months to start your own thing and can openly discuss strategy for your company with the current founders instead of hidin…
Hmm I feel like most founders I know just started companies after college without much experience. While people that want to get experience first seem to never end up starting a company. I think it mostly comes down to risk adversity.
I think the average US founder age is 40s. But I'm not sure since most statistics focus on successful founders. This link seems to look at all of them. https://www.zippia.com/founder-jobs/demographics/
Most successful startup founder I know is north of 60. He's been at it a decade. He recently got handed multiple billions to expand from 500 HC. Secret ingredient: two decades at Mckinsey. Biggest trend other than experience is TIME. Most businesses take a DECADE to really get going.
Most successful startup founder I know is north of 60. He's been at it a decade. He recently got handed multiple billions to expand from 500 HC. Secret ingredient: two decades at Mckinsey. Biggest trend other than experience is TIME. Most businesses take a DECADE to really get going.
We have a "Founders Program" for people that know they want to start a company in the next few years. I think it's better to have full transparency on both sides: As the company: You get highly motivated, amazing talent As the employee / future founder: You make your intention clear to leave in x months to start your own thing and can openly discuss strategy for your company with the current founders instead of hidin…
I think these programmes are awesome! We have a few people who are explicitly at incident.io to gain experience of how to build companies. It may be that they won't go to do this, but their time here will put them in a great position to do so, if they ever want to. I've seen some companies who have a standing offer to angel invest in your start-up too, though I was never sure how I felt about that.