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"Management is a tremendously undervalued skill on the tech startup scene, and that single fact contributes, I believe, to the failure of more companies than an

"Management is a tremendously undervalued skill on the tech startup scene, and that single fact contributes, I believe, to the failure of more companies than any other factor." Truth.

seiji 13y ago
If a company let's children be managers without any prior experience or training, the company should force all their child prodigies to at a minimum read http://www.amazon.com/Great-Danes-Barrons-Dog-Bibles/dp/0764197541 http://www.amazon.com/Great-Danes-Barrons-Dog-Bibles/dp/0764...
- rpedela 13y ago
  Why?
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - seiji 13y ago
    If you can't learn how to manage a dog, what hope do you have in managing multiple divergent human personalities?
    - rpedela 13y ago
      I am allergic to dogs so never learned how to take care of one. I seem able to manage others effectively and of course always more to learn. Honestly, a pretty odd choice for a book. If you really believe that book is a prerequisite, wouldn't it be better for that person to just get a dog?
      - seiji 13y ago
        If you "just get a dog," are you assuming everybody has innate knowledge on how to raise and train a dog? It takes—looping back to the main point here—education to know the best ways to take care of a dog. Sure, you can just practice by trial and error for a while, or you could use knowledge from people who have done The Right Thing for years and get ahead of many common mistakes you would have made out of "intuition."
    - kyzyl 13y ago
      Sorry but that's a pretty outlandish statement. dogs may occasionally act like people, and they may require management, but they are not people. It doesn't follow that if you can't/haven't managed dogs you have no hope with people. I've done both and it's a different ball game.
      - seiji 13y ago
        I've worked under multiple managers who: gave no positive feedback, set no expectations, and provided no treats. That's really the minimum you should do with dogs or people.
        michaelt 13y ago
        Have you told your employees that you're managing them based on techniques you learned from a dog training book? How did they react?
        UK-AL 13y ago
        "gave no positive feedback" "provided no treats" Seriously? If you try to control people pain and reward system, most people see through it and hate you for it. You want them to have a innate feeling of accomplishment. You completed something difficult? And that felt good. You don't need cookies from a master for that. The number one thing you need to do, is set something up which they can measure themselves against. 90% of the time people will enjoy improving it, without any input.
        seiji 13y ago
        The world isn't full of self-involved creatives who just want to create to create. Most people like being rewarded (money), promoted (power), and growing in their positions (knowledge).
- UK-AL 13y ago
  That's just plain offensive. If you start trying to command people like you command dogs, people are just going to disrespect you. You will have no power. People don't react to pain/rewards like dogs do. They see through it instantly.
  - seiji 13y ago
    They see through it instantly. You vastly overestimate the competency of people.
    - nostrademons 13y ago
      It's more that if you treat people like dogs, only the people who already think of themselves like dogs will be willing to hang around with you. They do, after all, have freedom of association. So if you find that you're surrounded by idiots, it's not that the world is full of idiots, it's that the way you treat people ensures that only idiots will hang out with you.
lincolnq 13y ago
Most companies fail without hiring a single non-founder! How can management be a factor in these failures? I would suspect that poor management is a contributor to high-profile failures. But only a minor factor for startups in general. Not making something people want, and giving up too early, are far more critical problems for early-stage companies than mismanagement, and there are a lot more early-stage companies than later stage ones.
- timr 13y ago
  "Most companies fail without hiring a single non-founder! How can management be a factor in these failures?" Most young startups fail because of founder disputes. Working closely with another person is a skill gained with time and experience, and has a lot in common with management.
  - nostrademons 13y ago
    Well, that's true, but it's also a skill that has a lot in common with dating, being in a relationship, maintaining friendships, or having a good relationship with your parents. Should we recommend founders do that too? (Actually, maybe we should.) I think management is important. I think interpersonal skills are important. I don't think that either of them are the most important reason that startups fail. I think that market is. When I look at the many projects I've worked on, led, or had firsthand experience with, working at a big company, the biggest common denominator was that all the successes were things worth doing. And the failures, barring some glaringly mis-managed ones, were things not worth doing. When you're working on something worth doing, a pressing problem for the company or your users, all the wind is at your back. You naturally find lots of other talented people willing to work with you; they forgive your little screwups and move on; and you don't have trouble getting more resources once you can demonstrate some minor successes. By contrast, I've known some incredibly talented managers - we're talking folks who have sold companies to Google, who have worked on products with userbases in the billions, who have managed hundreds of people successfully before - that crashed and burned because the project they were working on fundamentally did not need to be done. Good management makes a good project go more smoothly; it cannot transform a bad project into a good project. That's probably the biggest thing I've taken away from my big-company experience, and the one that (should I choose to start a startup again) alters my thinking the most. With my last startup, I thought "Well, the idea isn't quite all the way there yet, but solid engineering and raw talent can take it across the finish line." This time, I'd be much more likely to insist on verifying it with real users and making sure that they really, really want it before getting other people (beyond a cofounder) involved or taking it to investors.

"Management is a tremendously undervalued skill on the tech startup scene, and that single fact contributes, I believe, to the failure of more companies than any other factor." Truth.

seiji 13y ago

If a company let's children be managers without any prior experience or training, the company should force all their child prodigies to at a minimum read http://www.amazon.com/Great-Danes-Barrons-Dog-Bibles/dp/0764197541 http://www.amazon.com/Great-Danes-Barrons-Dog-Bibles/dp/0764...

rpedela 13y ago
Why?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- seiji 13y ago
  If you can't learn how to manage a dog, what hope do you have in managing multiple divergent human personalities?
  - rpedela 13y ago
    I am allergic to dogs so never learned how to take care of one. I seem able to manage others effectively and of course always more to learn. Honestly, a pretty odd choice for a book. If you really believe that book is a prerequisite, wouldn't it be better for that person to just get a dog?
    - seiji 13y ago
      If you "just get a dog," are you assuming everybody has innate knowledge on how to raise and train a dog? It takes—looping back to the main point here—education to know the best ways to take care of a dog. Sure, you can just practice by trial and error for a while, or you could use knowledge from people who have done The Right Thing for years and get ahead of many common mistakes you would have made out of "intuition."
  - kyzyl 13y ago
    Sorry but that's a pretty outlandish statement. dogs may occasionally act like people, and they may require management, but they are not people. It doesn't follow that if you can't/haven't managed dogs you have no hope with people. I've done both and it's a different ball game.
    - seiji 13y ago
      I've worked under multiple managers who: gave no positive feedback, set no expectations, and provided no treats. That's really the minimum you should do with dogs or people.
      - michaelt 13y ago
        Have you told your employees that you're managing them based on techniques you learned from a dog training book? How did they react?
      - UK-AL 13y ago
        "gave no positive feedback" "provided no treats" Seriously? If you try to control people pain and reward system, most people see through it and hate you for it. You want them to have a innate feeling of accomplishment. You completed something difficult? And that felt good. You don't need cookies from a master for that. The number one thing you need to do, is set something up which they can measure themselves against. 90% of the time people will enjoy improving it, without any input.
        seiji 13y ago
        The world isn't full of self-involved creatives who just want to create to create. Most people like being rewarded (money), promoted (power), and growing in their positions (knowledge).
UK-AL 13y ago
That's just plain offensive. If you start trying to command people like you command dogs, people are just going to disrespect you. You will have no power. People don't react to pain/rewards like dogs do. They see through it instantly.
- seiji 13y ago
  They see through it instantly. You vastly overestimate the competency of people.
  - nostrademons 13y ago
    It's more that if you treat people like dogs, only the people who already think of themselves like dogs will be willing to hang around with you. They do, after all, have freedom of association. So if you find that you're surrounded by idiots, it's not that the world is full of idiots, it's that the way you treat people ensures that only idiots will hang out with you.

lincolnq 13y ago

Most companies fail without hiring a single non-founder! How can management be a factor in these failures? I would suspect that poor management is a contributor to high-profile failures. But only a minor factor for startups in general. Not making something people want, and giving up too early, are far more critical problems for early-stage companies than mismanagement, and there are a lot more early-stage companies than later stage ones.

timr 13y ago
"Most companies fail without hiring a single non-founder! How can management be a factor in these failures?" Most young startups fail because of founder disputes. Working closely with another person is a skill gained with time and experience, and has a lot in common with management.
- nostrademons 13y ago
  Well, that's true, but it's also a skill that has a lot in common with dating, being in a relationship, maintaining friendships, or having a good relationship with your parents. Should we recommend founders do that too? (Actually, maybe we should.) I think management is important. I think interpersonal skills are important. I don't think that either of them are the most important reason that startups fail. I think that market is. When I look at the many projects I've worked on, led, or had firsthand experience with, working at a big company, the biggest common denominator was that all the successes were things worth doing. And the failures, barring some glaringly mis-managed ones, were things not worth doing. When you're working on something worth doing, a pressing problem for the company or your users, all the wind is at your back. You naturally find lots of other talented people willing to work with you; they forgive your little screwups and move on; and you don't have trouble getting more resources once you can demonstrate some minor successes. By contrast, I've known some incredibly talented managers - we're talking folks who have sold companies to Google, who have worked on products with userbases in the billions, who have managed hundreds of people successfully before - that crashed and burned because the project they were working on fundamentally did not need to be done. Good management makes a good project go more smoothly; it cannot transform a bad project into a good project. That's probably the biggest thing I've taken away from my big-company experience, and the one that (should I choose to start a startup again) alters my thinking the most. With my last startup, I thought "Well, the idea isn't quite all the way there yet, but solid engineering and raw talent can take it across the finish line." This time, I'd be much more likely to insist on verifying it with real users and making sure that they really, really want it before getting other people (beyond a cofounder) involved or taking it to investors.