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Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

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Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#211

Post by ilangorajagopal »

typeliftr wrote: post #24

I feel like there’s an ‘all or nothing’ attitude recently around starting a business which doesn’t make sense to me. Either you’re making millions and have 100 employees or nothing. I work in a company that has 5-10 employees, nobody is working their ass off and there’s steady income and gradual growth. Our CEO is not a millionaire, but he enjoys his work and the company he works for. There is no plans for fast growt…

Obviously there are multiple schools of thought. There are companies/people who don't go for funding and sustain on revenue from customers. Basecamp is a great example. They never used the funding they got from Jeff Bezos, instead putting all the money in a hedge fund. David Heinemeier Hansson, a partner at Basecamp talked about why they made this decision in a Tim Ferris podcast episode. He thinks that a company should be built for the long run instead of making a spectacular exit. These are the companies you usually don't hear about in the news. It's not to say that these companies don't grow but do so gradually, at their own pace. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS.

There also companies/people who think they need an exit strategy, rapidly iterate and grow, get multiple rounds of funding from VCs or angels, then sell it to one of the bigger tech companies. There are so many examples of these types of companies. You only need to visit Techcrunch or one of many tech news sites.

There are other types too. The company I work at, we do put in great work, have steady growth. We did get funding from VCs but working towards self-sufficiency. Funding was necessary to keep the company alive, while delivering great value to our customers. In the end it comes down to what kind of a culture you want to set for the company and what you think will be good for the company and the employees.

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#212

Post by manigandham »

privacypoller wrote: post #186
douglaswlance wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right before that happens, eat a good meal then meditate or take a nap. You'd be surprised how much more you can squeeze out your day.

Except my days are not oranges where I'm trying to squeeze every last drop of juice out of them, leaving nothing but pulp, peel and seeds before I throw them in the green bin. Life is most certainly a marathon where pace of play is far more important than local maxima.

...or you can just do more everyday and live a better life.

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#213

Post by JonoBB »

typeliftr wrote: post #24

I feel like there’s an ‘all or nothing’ attitude recently around starting a business which doesn’t make sense to me. Either you’re making millions and have 100 employees or nothing. I work in a company that has 5-10 employees, nobody is working their ass off and there’s steady income and gradual growth. Our CEO is not a millionaire, but he enjoys his work and the company he works for. There is no plans for fast growt…

There are infinitely more companies taking the slow and steady route versus the "Startup -> IPO/Buyout" strategy.

Don't let the hype/marketing make you think otherwise.

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#214

Post by majani »

xstartup wrote: post #38
typeliftr wrote: post #24

I feel like there’s an ‘all or nothing’ attitude recently around starting a business which doesn’t make sense to me. Either you’re making millions and have 100 employees or nothing. I work in a company that has 5-10 employees, nobody is working their ass off and there’s steady income and gradual growth. Our CEO is not a millionaire, but he enjoys his work and the company he works for. There is no plans for fast growt…

>> Can anyone explain to me where does this obsession with VC funding and huge growth come from? I feel like if you grow your company by more then 50% YOY you will end up with a totally different company culture, and you might end up hating your own company. Startups need an exit strategy. Employees want to work 5-10 years max and end up with millions to retire peacefully while working in an intense environment which…

All the dreams you mentioned can be achieved earning anything over $100k per year in a company with good work-life balance located in a place with reasonable cost of living.

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#215

Post by soneca »

mooreds wrote: post #94
austenallred wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I think I have learned is that building a small business with around 5-10 people and making a regular salary of £200k a year is a much more enjoyable existence than trying for the millions and never quite getting there. But what if you get there?

Would you rather have a 1% chance of $100M/year or a 99% chance of $200k/year? If all one thinks about is the math, they'd take the chance at 100M, because it is a higher number when multipled by the probability. But you can't pay a mortgage with a probability, and some folks want a mortgage (or other lifestyle features).

99% chance of $200k/year does not exist.

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#216

Post by tudorizer »

Tarks wrote: post #184
oldandlesswise wrote: post #49

An interesting article; i was reading the replies to this. So here is my take. A UK 40++ entrepreneur. I have been there and done that - made good £££ from the first boom in 2000. Since then tried a couple of startups all of which failed, for one reason or another. Sadly we did burn through quite a lot of investor £££ in the process and gained no personal value other than experience. What I think I have learned is th…

As a recent 30 year old dev in London looking to do just this, I'd really appreciate any advice :)

Join the club!

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#217

Post by [deleted] »

majani wrote: post #214
xstartup wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Can anyone explain to me where does this obsession with VC funding and huge growth come from? I feel like if you grow your company by more then 50% YOY you will end up with a totally different company culture, and you might end up hating your own company. Startups need an exit strategy. Employees want to work 5-10 years max and end up with millions to retire peacefully while working in an intense environment which…

All the dreams you mentioned can be achieved earning anything over $100k per year in a company with good work-life balance located in a place with reasonable cost of living.

[deleted]

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#218

Post by siddharthdeswal »

xstartup wrote: post #38
typeliftr wrote: post #24

I feel like there’s an ‘all or nothing’ attitude recently around starting a business which doesn’t make sense to me. Either you’re making millions and have 100 employees or nothing. I work in a company that has 5-10 employees, nobody is working their ass off and there’s steady income and gradual growth. Our CEO is not a millionaire, but he enjoys his work and the company he works for. There is no plans for fast growt…

>> Can anyone explain to me where does this obsession with VC funding and huge growth come from? I feel like if you grow your company by more then 50% YOY you will end up with a totally different company culture, and you might end up hating your own company. Startups need an exit strategy. Employees want to work 5-10 years max and end up with millions to retire peacefully while working in an intense environment which…

>> Employees want to work 5-10 years max and end up with millions to retire peacefully while working in an intense environment which serves as the story of their accomplishment for the lifetime.

Nopes, founders want millions by (ideally) using technology to disrupt a market and gaining from the windfall.

VC want millions/billions by betting money on such founders.

They both agree to buy talent by promising employees a share of the windfall.

Employees don't start out thinking "hey I want millions, let me join this unknown company".

They usually start out "I need a good, well paying job where I do interesting work."

Edit: spelling

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#219

Post by kentt »

opportune wrote: post #202
onion2k wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there’s a huge bias towards startups compared to the rest of the world. Of course. That's not the point of contention here. HN is mostly about startups. The post I replied to suggested that there's a "pro-VC / anti-bootstrapping" slant on HN. That's what I think is wrong. Many people who post here are sensible enough to understand that both approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages. People don't gene…

just curious if you can give examples of other (online) startup communities so that I can follow them too

Indie hackers

Re: Founder to CEO: How to build a great company from the ground up

#220

Post by avn2109 »

zeeshanm wrote: post #52
xstartup wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know lots of smart people who worked for at least 10 years in very intense startup environments and got essentially nothing out of it. Often, they have to fallback on a life of contract work for huge boring corporations. Yes, it's not guaranteed by anything. I also know of cases where founder alone ended up with billions and early employees got nothing. I just see those startups as poorly executed who decided to…

"We should strive for execution where at least your comrades also win." --> this won my heart! It is not a zero-sum game. You win when your comrades win. The glory is not in taking it all but taking pride in what you have created and can potentially create and expand on over and over again. :)

From the perspective of all VC's and some founders, this is in fact the very definition of a zero sum game.

Every dollar of an exit given to an employee is a dollar that the VC or founder can't have.

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