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Side tangent, if you’re looking to share a draft book like this with a bunch of people, https://betabooks.co is a good option. Specifically designed to handle heavy load of readers and look great on mobile, etc.
>> ...the data shows that solo founders rarely succeed. The emotional burden is just too high.
I am a solo founder and yeah, I completely agree with this. I severely underestimated the emotional burden of going it alone. I am in a much better state now, but it was definitely a struggle. If I had to do it over again this is the main thing I would change - be more open towards and work harder towards finding a co-founder.
So, are people expected to be in the office for 12+ hours a day? Nobody is 100% productive from the moment they step in the door, every day. The fact that the author even wrote the number 10 here makes me a bit angry.
I'm only about 1/4 of the way through, does he have a section on employee burnout?
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…
I agree with you and see your point, but many businesses (especially B2C and high-tech) can't get to profitability without millions in venture capital. Venture capital is high-risk and high-reward, and investors won't gamble millions without a chance for a massive return. Massive returns usually happen at large scale. If you want more companies like yours and fewer like, say, Twitter, then venture capital would need…
Gavin Belson is not a fictitious character; he is literally the snapshot of a typical investor.
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…
I'd love to know some of your's book suggestions for aspiring Tech Founder-CEO.
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…
Because in the current market you can get yourself a better lifestyle burning through VC cash than by trying to get that cash from the paying customers.
And even if you fail you write some blog posts, do the speaking circuit and end up with another high paying role in a startup, VC or a services company (Government, Co-working space, law firm...)
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…
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 serves as the story of their accomplishment for the lifetime.
Then they plan to follow their other life goals like going on a world tour with the family or watch their kids growing up or creating their own small lifestyle business. It can be anything.
The key realization is that most employees do not want to work for you just because they have found themselves in such place.
When I was new in the industry, I put a lot of blood/sweat into building a company. Today, I can't force myself to put the same amount of efforts even if I want to.
The idea is to raise money fast, hire experienced people for ancillary services and develop the application in a way so that it is able to hold up till IPO. Defer all costs (application maintenance, vendor lockins, IP infringement risks) for post IPO. Create the Hype around the product which gets you eyeballs, subscriptions, MAU and other metrics which translates into the valuation. Once you've caught market attention, the solution can always get more love post IPO.
The market pressure to produce returns post IPO results in the broad application of the company's IP, resources, and talent. This might spin up new industries.
Once the employees have cashed their equity, it's up to them to stay (if they are enjoying the position) or leave (if they've other life goals).
A lifestyle business, won't be able to achieve this for each of their employees. Even very few startups achieve this for most of their employees.
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…
This is incredibly insightful and well-written.
Yep, very insightful. I hope I never work for this guy