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Lessons Learned After Two Years as a Startup Founder
- jacobrobbins 14y agothis was great, thank you for taking the time to pull your thoughts together.
- derekflanzraich 14y agosure thing, Jacob-- appreciate this.
- alexatkeplar 14y agoFire people who aren't 10x unicorns as fast as you can? You need a Rictus Director, not a Smiles Director.
- rabbithunterxxl 14y agoThe "startup" guy's an idiot. Typical clueless 23 year old living in their parents' basements asking overly complex financing questions that position themselves like a Goldman Sachs hedge fund manager.
- rabbithunterxxl 14y agoCross correlation post from the "I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane" thread: Clueless company employee, who either doesn't understand his precarious, cannon fodder, expandable position OR is part of the management (computer science OR, both statements can be simultaneously true and most likely they are) says: "In my opinion, you should only use 80% of your working hours doing the "real stuff". Devote 20% of your working hours to non-technical work, active career development and image management." Guess what any smart 10x unicorn would do? :P
- derekflanzraich 14y agoLess catchy of a title?
- jonathanjaeger 14y agoGreat openness and willingness to be transparent about the fact you don't always feel in control (as much as you would want your investors, team, and users to think so 24/7).
- derekflanzraich 14y agothanks Jonathan!
- colemorrison 14y agoAwesome post! I loved the part about building up the long-term network to reach out to later.
- derekflanzraich 14y agoTotally-- hard when you're starting out, but definitely starts to click over time... thanks Cole!
- drorweiss 14y agoIMO you don't need a team of only unicorns. In fact, ego management will be very difficult if you miraculously manage to build such a seemingly perfect team. You need a good balance between leaders and "followers", who can be great people, but not superstars.
- derekflanzraich 14y agoI don't disagree, really. Some positions obviously aren't made for "unicorns" but, that said, have found that just because someone is brilliant doesn't mean they're necessarily a pain in the ass.
- medell 14y agoGreat post, from the heart. And a beautifully designed website. Great to see someone using their exit money to spread good in the world.
- derekflanzraich 14y agoThanks! Not sure what you mean by "exit money," but hey-- I'll take it.
- therobot24 14y agoi constantly wonder whether it's worth entering the startup world after finishing my phd, hearing of 'hire fast/fire fast', looking for 'unicorns'....is this rat race even worth it? What's wrong with just wanting to solve problems, why do you need to build fast as opposed to building something that's awesome and works well - find a niche and grow from there. I can almost feel the 'pressure of the job' for those engineering the system when reading posts from founders/ceos with regards to recruiting - here's a hint "it's always about finding the right employees" (well no shit sherlock).
- derekflanzraich 14y agoIf you're wondering whether it's worth it, definitely sounds like it probably isn't for you. Like all fulfilling things in life (I imagine like getting a PhD, eg.), it's freakin' hard-- so you better go after the things that you think will be worth it & more, IMHO.