Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 15
Previous Notes:
Observations from experiences on company building:
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 1
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 2
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 3
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 4
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 5
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 6
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 7
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 8
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 9
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 10
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 11
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 12
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 13
- Little Summaries of Company Building: Part 14
Observations from experiences on company building:
- Appeal:
- In one way, startups at the founding stage are somewhat easier to hire than at a later stage. Typical first few hires come via the networks of founders, investors, and well-wishers. Two key things attract the early team members. The startup vision and belief in the founders' ability to achieve the same.
- As the startup grows, the network effect still works. The next set of team members starts coming through early team members' networks. This is a crucial stage to ensure the startup will have high appeal going forward.
- Please note that "high" appeal is not the same as "universal" appeal. The latter is a good dream to have. What happens when the founders take their eyes off hiring post the early startup phase? Tiny pockets of toxic culture start building. Almost like tooth decay. It does not hurt right away, but the future solution is either root canal or extraction. The same applies to company building.
- A large and established company may hire a CXO-level person for culture building. For startups, a simple strategy works well and is cost-effective in the long run. Make every team member responsible for hiring the ones who fit with the culture. This is because founders will not be able to do this past a certain number of hires.
- Okay, this sounds nice, but how do you achieve this? Ingrain the startup culture from day zero in every hire. Repeat till exhaustion. Once you do this, amazing clarity gets established in every team member's mind. Clarity results in speed.
- Also, keep in mind the current environment. We are observing a high degree of polarization. Unfortunately, this has seeped into daily lives. Hiring startup-quality talent is very different than hiring established-company talent. If founders choose one side, their future choices (and hires) will need to align with those. Good to keep this in mind.
- With all this being the case, every founder should build their startup their way. Listen to every helpful soul. Take decisions with an independent and calm mind. This leans far more towards art than science. Founders need to craft their secret recipe!
Let's Talk: If you have a true experience that resonates, please send me an email.
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