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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

#41

Post by Numberwang »

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…

This is mainly due to the demographic of HN. Lot's of young people here with a lot of energy and little life experience.

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

#42

Post by lordnacho »

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…

On this site, "startup" is short for "high-growth startup". Of course you can open a neighbourhood restaurant and it will be a startup, just not the kind people like to talk about here.

On HN "startup" means the kind of business whose ambition is to be a household name, used by millions of people if it's in the consumer space, or all the major customers if it's in B2B.

That kind of thing tends to require a business that grows a lot while generally not making free cash, which is why it needs outside investors. Those investors see a lot of these firms and this is one take on the accumulated learnings.

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

#44

Post by grosjona »

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

This sounds like either it is an extremely unrealistic expectation or it's extremely unfair.

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.

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

#45

Post by xstartup »

grosjona wrote: post #44
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…

>> Employees want to work 5-10 years max and end up with millions to retire peacefully while working in an intense environment This sounds like either it is an extremely unrealistic expectation or it's extremely unfair. 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 hug…

> 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 kill their army after victory way home.

We should strive for execution where at least your comrades also win.

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

#46

Post by sonnyblarney »

askafriend wrote: post #30
chrisparton1991 wrote: post #27

I'm about a quarter way through this book and I'm enjoying it so far. This line, however, didn't resonate with me: > To encourage 8-10 productive hours, serve dinner 8-10 hours after morning stand-up. As a person who enjoys life outside of work, the idea of having a job where they were serving me dinner every day is baffling. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

You don’t have to eat it. They serve dinner every day where I work. I simply go home earlier than that. Nothing happens. It’s quite simple really. On days where I happen to need to stay late, it’s a really nice convenience. For people who go to the gym after work and come back to eat, they save money by grabbing a quick dinner meal at work.

"You don’t have to eat it."

Yes, but there's an inherent, almost clear expectation in this treatise that you do in fact, 'eat it' or at least stay those hours.

If you're staying >10 hours at the office the least they can do is get you dinner, but when it starts to be a cultural expectation it's going to be a long term problem.

The way most equity is shared - if you are working 10-12 hours a day and the company is not growing wildly, i.e. looking like a Unicorn - it's probably not worth it, and you've drunk too much koolaid.

Koolaid and hard work are good, but I think the goal is kind of 'self aware Koolaid' ...

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

#47

Post by skrebbel »

I read the comments before clicking the link, and found myself agreeing with commenters who complained about this line:

> In addition, if people are working less than 8-10 productive hours per day, then they are clearly not being as productive as they could be.

I almost dismissed the book as a "yet another VC-driven, work-your-people-to-burnout story" but really, there's more to that. I've found it an excellent read so far and it's very concise, it wastes zero space on nonsense. I realized that I don't have to agree with everything an author writes to be able to get value out of a book. Warmly recommend you check it out.

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

#48

Post by dfee »

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…

Actually, the most refreshing, zero bullshit thing I’ve read in a while.

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

#49

Post by oldandlesswise »

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 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.

Working for a large corp, contracting etc is depressing (other than doing it abroad which was fun for a few years and allowed me to travel in my 30's).

We now have a funky office, a very tight team of devs. I guess in some ways I modelled on what Joel did.

After everything, I have learned "bootstrap" + "lifestyle business" is the best route to have a happy and productive life. Our business is a digital agency - mostly wordpress sites for SME market, a few apps etc. Its regular and good money. it is no way as interesting as some of the "startup" ideas we tried over the years, but no VC still on my shoulder anymore :)

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

#50

Post by sonnyblarney »

deedubaya wrote: post #4

> “If we were to make you the following offer (state the offer in full detail, including cash, equity, benefits, etc), would you accept?” If they say yes, then make them offer. This is most effectively done on a paper note, passed between classmates, so that there is plausible deniability if they say no /s

This is a funny tactic because it should not work with a thoughtful negotiator.

"If we were to make the offer" is de-facto an offer, it's just not official, and though there might be a legal difference between an 'if we made it' and 'actual offer' ... for all intents and purposes, it's the same. It's the start of the negotiation.

A half-smart negotiator would simply say: "Yes, if you included moving expenses" or whatever they would say otherwise.

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