5 ms·

How To Be A Great Startup CEO

40 points by jasonlbaptiste 16y ago

mraybman 16y ago
Awesome article. How important do you think is experience in attaining these vs good instincts/personal qualities?
- jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
  Thank you :). Experience is good for self awareness. Eventually you fk up on something enough, you recognize it. That's why it's good to dip your toes into the waters early. It prepares you for the big company that you one day hope to build. A lot of it just develops over time. Surround yourself with good advisors that will help you catch these early.
- akauppi 16y ago
  Experience and good instincts/personal qualities go hand in hand, in my opinion. Experience comes from observing what works and what not - it's not necessarily a matter of age. If you keep your eyes and mind open, you'll raise experience faster. Don't do the same mistake twice. And - don't forget to have fun. In an investment gathering in November I was congratulated for helping others. That felt good. Experience is making note of such things and letting it affect our behaviour (in the same gathering, I made a not-so good pitch. learning from that, too. :)
robfitz 16y ago
I saw a title of "14 Ways" and was ready to criticise, but this is an impressively practical list. Two additional qualities I prioritise in a startup CEO are 1) the knack for making friends with a room full of strangers under hostile circumstances and 2) a terrific amount of empathy. Social comfort has obvious applications in sales & fundraising, while empathy is key for knowing how far to go with the other points you raised. For example, buffering the team from pain is good, but going too far removes their sense of agency and destroys morale. Same with firm decision-making.. the balance between spending time explaining and simply saying "do it" is a very human issue with big long-term performance implications. So many questions in a startup are completely arbitrary... how much equity do you give to that early employee? When's it going to do more good than harm to ship the entire office out to the pub for an afternoon of camaraderie? Each member of an early startup has exclusive access to such a significant chunk of the company's institutional memory that being able to walk that efficient/emotional line seems increasingly important. While I largely agree that a traditional management education/experience is damaging, I do think that theory & book learning have important roles to play. The biggest is an understanding of how your industry fits together and how the business models work (which you could certainly pick up from a uni course or book if anyone chose to teach it). You see a lot of websites using subscriptions because that's what the sites they use do when there's actually a much better model out there for them.
- jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
  Thanks for the feedback Rob :). I changed the 14 ways title on HN within a couple of minutes. For the blog, those titles seem to do well (we've tested the crap out of this). Definitely two other great traits. I probably could have made it 114 traits. It's all about people, you're right. The amount of equity isn't about the number, but what within reason keeps them motivated, passionate, and feel like they're doing something big.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
  Not claiming to be one myself, nor do I anywhere. Tons and tons to learn. On the other hand, that doesn't mean I can't share lessons learned and extrapolated from trying to learn from those that are great. That's actually what most writers do: observe, extrapolate, and try to make sense of it in an article. I could gladly attribute each bullet point to a great startup CEO. The infoporn comment was pretty mean spirited though. I don't get paid to write these articles and only do it because I love sharing things observed. It's purely for the love of the game and not for "linkbait traffic". If enough people like them, I get to continue doing it.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
    - jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
      I know there's been a lot of fluff here and I try not to contribute to that. If you feel I have/things that are not "all good" for the audience, can you pinpoint something specific in the content?
      - deleted 16y ago
        [deleted]
    - nhangen 16y ago
      Well I suppose that's the beauty of the Internet; we get to pick and choose what we read and furthermore, what we find value in. Perhaps rather than try to discredit the author, and his piece, write a contradictory piece on your own blog?
  - revorad 16y ago
    Jason, I apologise for coming across as mean. I thought you would understand what I meant, I even prefaced my comments so. Anyway, I've deleted them now. If all my criticism does is make you look or feel bad, then I won't do it. I was hoping to have a more honest discussion.
auxbuss 16y ago
Fred Wilson recently used the following (which he borrowed from one of his mentors): "A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank." I like concise, so I like this. Jason has obviously expanded on that, but omitted the all important cash flow advice, not that it detracts from the piece.
akauppi 16y ago
I especially liked the "Have An Uncanny Ability To Say No". Will keep a tag to this set and revisit it at least yearly. It's a good reminder of how to keep growing - and in the right direction. Had at least one "should have said no" in the prior year. 6000 eur to visual planning from which we ended up using the logo only. Should have said no. :&

Awesome article. How important do you think is experience in attaining these vs good instincts/personal qualities?

jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
Thank you :). Experience is good for self awareness. Eventually you fk up on something enough, you recognize it. That's why it's good to dip your toes into the waters early. It prepares you for the big company that you one day hope to build. A lot of it just develops over time. Surround yourself with good advisors that will help you catch these early.
akauppi 16y ago
Experience and good instincts/personal qualities go hand in hand, in my opinion. Experience comes from observing what works and what not - it's not necessarily a matter of age. If you keep your eyes and mind open, you'll raise experience faster. Don't do the same mistake twice. And - don't forget to have fun. In an investment gathering in November I was congratulated for helping others. That felt good. Experience is making note of such things and letting it affect our behaviour (in the same gathering, I made a not-so good pitch. learning from that, too. :)

I saw a title of "14 Ways" and was ready to criticise, but this is an impressively practical list. Two additional qualities I prioritise in a startup CEO are 1) the knack for making friends with a room full of strangers under hostile circumstances and 2) a terrific amount of empathy. Social comfort has obvious applications in sales & fundraising, while empathy is key for knowing how far to go with the other points you raised. For example, buffering the team from pain is good, but going too far removes their sense of agency and destroys morale. Same with firm decision-making.. the balance between spending time explaining and simply saying "do it" is a very human issue with big long-term performance implications. So many questions in a startup are completely arbitrary... how much equity do you give to that early employee? When's it going to do more good than harm to ship the entire office out to the pub for an afternoon of camaraderie? Each member of an early startup has exclusive access to such a significant chunk of the company's institutional memory that being able to walk that efficient/emotional line seems increasingly important. While I largely agree that a traditional management education/experience is damaging, I do think that theory & book learning have important roles to play. The biggest is an understanding of how your industry fits together and how the business models work (which you could certainly pick up from a uni course or book if anyone chose to teach it). You see a lot of websites using subscriptions because that's what the sites they use do when there's actually a much better model out there for them.

jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
Thanks for the feedback Rob :). I changed the 14 ways title on HN within a couple of minutes. For the blog, those titles seem to do well (we've tested the crap out of this). Definitely two other great traits. I probably could have made it 114 traits. It's all about people, you're right. The amount of equity isn't about the number, but what within reason keeps them motivated, passionate, and feel like they're doing something big.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
Not claiming to be one myself, nor do I anywhere. Tons and tons to learn. On the other hand, that doesn't mean I can't share lessons learned and extrapolated from trying to learn from those that are great. That's actually what most writers do: observe, extrapolate, and try to make sense of it in an article. I could gladly attribute each bullet point to a great startup CEO. The infoporn comment was pretty mean spirited though. I don't get paid to write these articles and only do it because I love sharing things observed. It's purely for the love of the game and not for "linkbait traffic". If enough people like them, I get to continue doing it.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
  - jasonlbaptiste 16y ago
    I know there's been a lot of fluff here and I try not to contribute to that. If you feel I have/things that are not "all good" for the audience, can you pinpoint something specific in the content?
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
  - nhangen 16y ago
    Well I suppose that's the beauty of the Internet; we get to pick and choose what we read and furthermore, what we find value in. Perhaps rather than try to discredit the author, and his piece, write a contradictory piece on your own blog?
- revorad 16y ago
  Jason, I apologise for coming across as mean. I thought you would understand what I meant, I even prefaced my comments so. Anyway, I've deleted them now. If all my criticism does is make you look or feel bad, then I won't do it. I was hoping to have a more honest discussion.

auxbuss 16y ago

Fred Wilson recently used the following (which he borrowed from one of his mentors): "A CEO does only three things. Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders. Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company. Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank." I like concise, so I like this. Jason has obviously expanded on that, but omitted the all important cash flow advice, not that it detracts from the piece.

akauppi 16y ago

I especially liked the "Have An Uncanny Ability To Say No". Will keep a tag to this set and revisit it at least yearly. It's a good reminder of how to keep growing - and in the right direction. Had at least one "should have said no" in the prior year. 6000 eur to visual planning from which we ended up using the logo only. Should have said no. :&