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Even then, some startups, like Github, have managed not fire anyone in 4 years[1]. Of course, there are people that say that Github is a special case[2]. Which

Even then, some startups, like Github, have managed not fire anyone in 4 years[1]. Of course, there are people that say that Github is a special case[2]. Which I believe is a nice way to deflect the hard question: "how can we do better?" Which, as it seems, is the very question that Chris Dixon is tackling. [1] https://twitter.com/timanderson/status/178093828111208449 https://twitter.com/timanderson/status/178093828111208449 [2] http://swombat.com/2011/3/30/github http://swombat.com/2011/3/30/github

swombat 14y ago
I don't think I'm so much deflecting the question as much as just highlighting that Github is a special case, so one should take extra care when translating their insights and lessons to one's business. Github is a product for geeks (few of those take off), build by a founder team consisting exclusively of uber-geeks, with the exact right timing (wasn't possible before, and someone else would have done git hosting later - and did, but less well), in a winner-takes-all market (which, to be fair to them, they engineered - source code hosting didn't use to be a winner-takes-all market, but github's social features made it so). Moreover, Github lent itself very well to a viral spread model (doesn't work in most cases, and is hard to bolt on to an unsuitable product), and so had less need for sales efforts than most B2B products. I'm not putting down Github's team (they executed brilliantly), or even the lessons that they garnered - those are worthwhile lessons to pay attention to and learn from. However, be careful when translating those to your startup, which is probably a very different beast and may crash and burn if you just apply Github's lessons directly!
- DanielRibeiro 14y ago
  I obviously completely agree with you (being a long time reader of your blog). The point is not that Github is a special case, but that all startups are a special case, and every founder has to figure out what works and what it doesn't for their own. I have spinned up the contrarian touch a bit in order to exactly get this kind of reaction, and to raise this conversation, which I don't think we have enough.
  - swombat 14y ago
    > I obviously completely agree with you (being a long time reader of your blog). Hey, you don't have to agree to read my articles :-) Disagreers are welcome too ;-)
raverbashing 14y ago
They don't need to fire anyone They just make some people use svn, and they go and quit by themselves
shalmanese 14y ago
This is false. I know of at least one person who has left/was fired from github.
mprat 14y ago
I don't think it should be a goal of a startup (or any business for that matter) to not fire any employees. The whole point of a business is to be successful monetarily. Sure, initially it may be to get a product out to market or get a technology out there, but eventually the goal is to make money. If the goal of a company is to keep all of it's employees, then it by assumption the employees will have no motivation to do well in their jobs, if it is known in the company that there is no threat of firing. While firing sucks, it is always there looming. In a startup, this forces people to push themselves, work hard, strive for good results. It is the role of a manager to determine the extent of the hard work, but it is also his role to say when enough is enough. Bottom line, if a company never fired anyone it would have no implicit motivational pressure of it's employees.

swombat 14y ago

I don't think I'm so much deflecting the question as much as just highlighting that Github is a special case, so one should take extra care when translating their insights and lessons to one's business. Github is a product for geeks (few of those take off), build by a founder team consisting exclusively of uber-geeks, with the exact right timing (wasn't possible before, and someone else would have done git hosting later - and did, but less well), in a winner-takes-all market (which, to be fair to them, they engineered - source code hosting didn't use to be a winner-takes-all market, but github's social features made it so). Moreover, Github lent itself very well to a viral spread model (doesn't work in most cases, and is hard to bolt on to an unsuitable product), and so had less need for sales efforts than most B2B products. I'm not putting down Github's team (they executed brilliantly), or even the lessons that they garnered - those are worthwhile lessons to pay attention to and learn from. However, be careful when translating those to your startup, which is probably a very different beast and may crash and burn if you just apply Github's lessons directly!

DanielRibeiro 14y ago
I obviously completely agree with you (being a long time reader of your blog). The point is not that Github is a special case, but that all startups are a special case, and every founder has to figure out what works and what it doesn't for their own. I have spinned up the contrarian touch a bit in order to exactly get this kind of reaction, and to raise this conversation, which I don't think we have enough.
- swombat 14y ago
  > I obviously completely agree with you (being a long time reader of your blog). Hey, you don't have to agree to read my articles :-) Disagreers are welcome too ;-)

raverbashing 14y ago

They don't need to fire anyone They just make some people use svn, and they go and quit by themselves

shalmanese 14y ago

This is false. I know of at least one person who has left/was fired from github.

mprat 14y ago

I don't think it should be a goal of a startup (or any business for that matter) to not fire any employees. The whole point of a business is to be successful monetarily. Sure, initially it may be to get a product out to market or get a technology out there, but eventually the goal is to make money. If the goal of a company is to keep all of it's employees, then it by assumption the employees will have no motivation to do well in their jobs, if it is known in the company that there is no threat of firing. While firing sucks, it is always there looming. In a startup, this forces people to push themselves, work hard, strive for good results. It is the role of a manager to determine the extent of the hard work, but it is also his role to say when enough is enough. Bottom line, if a company never fired anyone it would have no implicit motivational pressure of it's employees.