"Video Lecture _ Lecture 2 Team and Execution"
In this post, I'm going to continue to discuss Sam Altman's
lecture about 'How to Start a Startup' and focus on the last two important
areas: great team and great execution.
3. The third area that is essential is a great
team. First of all co-founder relationships are among the
most influential in the entire company.
Therefore, in order to find the right one, you should consider some
features. The characteristics you have to be looking for in a co-founder can be
summed up in one: relentlessly resourceful. Being clear the lecturer brought an
example of an ideal candidate of the co-founder, she/he needs to behave like
James Bond. This means to get someone who is tough, know what to
do in every situation, act quickly, decisive, creative, and ready for anything.
Simply the team needs an expert with specific skills. There is also the limit
of having a co-founder in your team. For example, two or three co-founders are
fine, but not four or five. The problem is how to make the right decision and
choose appropriate co-founder. The ideal candidate can be the one whom, you
would have known for years. The best places to know your co-founders from are
school or companies you are working already. Aged co-founders are not advisable
because communication needs to happen fast. Equity split between you and your
co-founder should be equal. In case if you don’t want to share then you have to
think if you really want a co-founder or not. Secondly, there is an idea of trying not to hire. It will be a reason
to be proud of getting lots of things done with a few people. Hence, other
startups that have lots of people end up burning cash. In early days the goal
should be not to hire. The cost of an early hire is more important than later
on. Next, creating a team you should get the best people - hiring. How much
time do you have to spend hiring? The answer is either 0% or 25% of your time.
Thus, this means, either you are hiring _ 25% or you are not _ 0%. It’s
important to devote your time to this because a single average hire in the
first five will kill a startup. Generally, there are three things you are
looking for when you are hiring people:
- · Are they smart?
- · Do they get things done?
- · Do I want to spend a lot of time around them?
If the answer to these questions is ‘Yes’ then you should
hire them. Sometimes “knowing the person before” can be useful. If you have
already worked with him/her then you probably don’t even need an interview.
However, if you haven’t, you can do it in a quick project as “interview
process”. There is a point that very
first-time founders are very non-effective interviewers. Though they’re very
good at valuing someone after they work together. The ideal candidate has some
features:
·
Have good communication skills (and a high
tolerance for risk).
·
They need to be manically determined.
·
Think if you can actually describe the person
you are interested in hiring.
·
Ask yourself: Would I feel comfortable reporting
to them?
After hiring you should remember
"You’ve hired the best. Now keep them around!" Take into
consideration that there are three things that motivate people to do great
work: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. Therefore, you should treat your
employees well and praise your team.
There is also a case where you
are able to fire fast people who:
- · Do bad their job,
- · Creating office politics
- · Have negative influence.
You yourself should be good at teamwork as
great leaders, give the credit of successes to the team and failure to him/her.
Thus, you don’t get to choose the decision, you choose the decision maker.
Consequently, hiring an employee is a difficult process; however, having right
person in your company is important.
4. The next area
which can lead to success is a great execution. This part is the
most significant one. Execution is where the advantage comes. You can execute
by yourself and see you in the role of an execution machine. Hence, what the
founder does it becomes the production. As a CEO one has five essential jobs:
- · Set the vision
- · Raise money
- · Evangelize
- · Hire and manage
As a founder, you should have answers to these primary
questions in your mind: Can you figure out what to do? Can you get it done? The
main tools you will need are focus and
intensity. You should focus what you
are doing with your time and money. Understand the importance of what you've
been doing. Choose two things and just do those two chosen priorities. You
should work on startups not only hard but also effective. Therefore, working hard on wrong things will
result in wasting time. The founder sets the focus. Whatever the founder cares
about, that’s going to be what the company focuses on. So, communication is
important for focus. Mainly, the team should focus on growth, metrics, and momentum;
otherwise, the company will get distracted by other things.
Next, you need to be at comfort with moving
fast and be obsessed with quality. As a founder, you should be confident on
what you doing as doubt may affect the startup. There is a need to have a bias
towards action. This means to gather people who have high quality and intensity
to work. For example, every time you meet the team they have done something
new. Moreover, keep momentum and growth
this encourages people. Sometimes, competitors making noise in the press often
kills momentum. Don’t let your company feel down because its competitor is in
the press.
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