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Things about being a founder I wish I had known two years ago

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Re: Things about being a founder I wish I had known two years ago

#11

Post by jbapple »

giladvdn wrote: post #10
jbapple wrote: post #6

Slide 16: "Be careful with hires and team ... If you aren't sure and don't like the person after a week, fire them. There's enough people that you WOULD like after a week" I moved hundreds of miles for my last two jobs. If I were fired a week into a new job in a new city by a boss who "wasn't sure and didn't like me after a week", I would be devastated. I would rather get 100 job rejections than have to go through on…

Good point. I did not consider people relocating for the job. In that case, I would want to try the person out before actually hiring her. If that's not possible, then obviously I wouldn't recommend ruining someone's life logistically for the sake of getting a better hire. My main point was that after a week you'll probably either get along with an employee or not get along with them. In my experience, if you don't g…

How many people have you fired after a week?

Have you ever been fired after a week?

Re: Things about being a founder I wish I had known two years ago

#13

Post by giladvdn »

jbapple wrote: post #11
giladvdn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. I did not consider people relocating for the job. In that case, I would want to try the person out before actually hiring her. If that's not possible, then obviously I wouldn't recommend ruining someone's life logistically for the sake of getting a better hire. My main point was that after a week you'll probably either get along with an employee or not get along with them. In my experience, if you don't g…

How many people have you fired after a week? Have you ever been fired after a week?

TBH, I've never been fired. I have fired a handful of people. All of them have been fired after more than a week (in some case, much more). I believe that all of them could have been fired earlier, saving both us and them a lot of time and trouble.

I know this is a black-and-white type of argument, and in real life things are obviously more complicated.

Re: Things about being a founder I wish I had known two years ago

#17

Post by [deleted] »

kjhughes wrote: post #9
jbapple wrote: post #6

Slide 16: "Be careful with hires and team ... If you aren't sure and don't like the person after a week, fire them. There's enough people that you WOULD like after a week" I moved hundreds of miles for my last two jobs. If I were fired a week into a new job in a new city by a boss who "wasn't sure and didn't like me after a week", I would be devastated. I would rather get 100 job rejections than have to go through on…

I agree that the author is taking the suck-it-up-and-fire-when-you-must advice a bit far there. Also, per the preceding point on that slide, Your first 5 employees are like 5 bullets in your gun. Each hire needs to make an impact. if employees are like bullets, firing them would be key to having them make an impact. [Yes, I know what the author meant, but the gun/bullets analogy is distracting while providing firing…

[deleted]

Re: Things about being a founder I wish I had known two years ago

#18

Post by cynusx »

vermontdevil wrote: post #16

What does it mean by identify the perfect customer? Does it mean to find the customers that you know needs your product and focus on them first? Persuade customers that may or may not need your product later?

it means you make a list of 20 companies (existing, real companies) that you think would be your perfect customer. This is a very good tip as it helps you focus resources. The biggest benefit is that you define the characteristics of your customer segment. In fact, it becomes very simple to find out if your product is suitable for this customer segment since you can contact any of those companies (or similar) on that list and test product fit.

Re: Things about being a founder I wish I had known two years ago

#19

Post by jdotjdot »

giladvdn wrote: post #13
jbapple wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people have you fired after a week? Have you ever been fired after a week?

TBH, I've never been fired. I have fired a handful of people. All of them have been fired after more than a week (in some case, much more). I believe that all of them could have been fired earlier, saving both us and them a lot of time and trouble. I know this is a black-and-white type of argument, and in real life things are obviously more complicated.

Or maybe some of them could have been mentored away from the problems they had? Or maybe someone could have done a better job not hiring them in the first place and not starting a relationship?

I don't agree so much with the implication of "VC meetings aren't job interviews, they're relationships." Jobs are relationships, too. In fact, your employees are often sacrificing more than your investors to be with you. For your investors, it's just money, and they have enough or they wouldn't be risking it in investments. For your employees, it's their livelihood, health insurance (in the US), families, and 8+ hours out of every day--time which is key when in your life, time is really all you ultimately have.

In other words, don't be so non chalant about employees. They're people too.

Re: Things about being a founder I wish I had known two years ago

#20

Post by 7Figures2Commas »

I think "stop writing code" is decent advice in principle, but is practically difficult. A few points:

1. If you have no domain experience or expertise, you shouldn't just stop writing code, you should stop what you're doing. A lot of startups fail before any code is written because the founders know little to nothing about the market or industry they're targeting.

2. While it is absolutely possible to sell software before it has been written, unless you're well-connected and have trusted relationships that will deliver customers on tap, to get meaningful conversations started, you will often need to have something to show, even if it's mockups or a basic prototype.

3. A lot of startups write too much code because they try to support use cases that they think are important. Ironically, some of these use cases are actually discovered through conversations with potential customers, which highlights the fact that it's not simply enough to talk to people you hope might become your customers; you need to know how to talk to them.

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