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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

#21

Post by dnc »

jdotjdot wrote: post #19
giladvdn wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I couldn't agree more. I would never want to work for someone who is able to fire anyone after only a week for whatever reason (assuming he does good screening of candidates, otherwise the problem is his broken hiring process and I don't want to work for him in that case either).

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

#22

Post by Retric »

TheBiv wrote: post #3

This is very helpful deck in the context of B2C (business to consumer) companies who are looking for funding. The deck does not contain the text, so here is the text of all high-level points in the deck: 1. Identify your perfect customers --Focus on them and on nothing else. 2. Stop writing code. --Did you talk to customers yet? 3. Investment != success --It's a means to an end. 4. Investor meetings aren't job interv…

While spam filers work well, posting someone else's email in plain text seems rude IMO.

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

#23

Post by TheBiv »

Retric wrote: post #22
TheBiv wrote: post #3

This is very helpful deck in the context of B2C (business to consumer) companies who are looking for funding. The deck does not contain the text, so here is the text of all high-level points in the deck: 1. Identify your perfect customers --Focus on them and on nothing else. 2. Stop writing code. --Did you talk to customers yet? 3. Investment != success --It's a means to an end. 4. Investor meetings aren't job interv…

While spam filers work well, posting someone else's email in plain text seems rude IMO.

Fair. Although the individual did post it in his slide deck to be reached for contact.

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

#24

Post by medde »

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…

while a week might be really short to draw your conclusions on a new employee, I would probably be living in a hotel for at least the first couple of months before moving... to reduce risks...

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

#25

Post by tmzt »

A question that's been on my mind. Since this deck discusses B2C startups, how to do you reach out to a consumer on a telephone to determine if they would be a good customer? How do you figure out what that consumer wants?

I see all the advice to do all of this stuff before writing code, but I see others that suggest "failing fast" by building something and seeing who ultimately uses it and what they use it for.

Let's say I wanted to make a picture hosting site (I don't), I would find my unique selling proposition and build a site around that, get the URL out in front of people that probably want to host pictures, then see how many of them sign up and how many ultimately use the USP feature that I built.

In my case it's not as broad or generic a concept, so I can't throw a URL out there and just see how many people sign up for the site. I mean I can but I can't expect that to actually work, for anybody to actually show up.

I know there are online communities out there I need to reach, blogs that focus on the target audience I am reaching for, and quite possibly thought leaders.

What am I missing when it comes to building and marketing a B2C product?

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

#26

Post by lifeisstillgood »

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…

Isn't that very good reason to work remotely - certainly for a trial period

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

#27

Post by pavedwalden »

TheBiv wrote: post #23
Retric wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While spam filers work well, posting someone else's email in plain text seems rude IMO.

Fair. Although the individual did post it in his slide deck to be reached for contact.

I think the concern is that there are crawlers that collect plaintext addresses, so typing out an address is a different level of disclosure than including it in an image.

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

#28

Post by sreitshamer »

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…

Instead of firing the person, you could make every effort to find a situation for the person that's a better fit for him/her. Almost all people can add value in some way. If they can't, you probably wouldn't have hired them in the first place.

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

#29

Post by johnjlocke »

dnc wrote: post #21
jdotjdot wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I couldn't agree more. I would never want to work for someone who is able to fire anyone after only a week for whatever reason (assuming he does good screening of candidates, otherwise the problem is his broken hiring process and I don't want to work for him in that case either).

That's why the screening process is so important, and should not be rushed.

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

#30

Post by randartie »

pavedwalden wrote: post #27
TheBiv wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair. Although the individual did post it in his slide deck to be reached for contact.

I think the concern is that there are crawlers that collect plaintext addresses, so typing out an address is a different level of disclosure than including it in an image.

At least he had good intentions, I wouldn't call it rude like Rentric did.
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