Skip to main content

The Founder's Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman

The book:
This book is a detailed report from a study of 212 startup founders/founding teams, including Steve Wozniak (Apple), Evan Williams (Blogger, Twitter), and Tim Westergren (Pandora Media).

Noam Wasserman (author) explains the key decisions that founders and/or co-founders need to make from the day on which they decide to build their company until it is acquired by a larger corporation or goes public.

The book also gives advice on dealing with investors and boards, based on the entrepreneur´s motivations, which are typically wealth or power.



Takeaways and Paths of Action:

The following only apply to individuals that are or would like to become entrepreneurs:

1. Keep co-founder relationships in order:
Handshake contracts for equity distribution lower the value of a startup and generate confusion among the members of the team later on. A written agreement benefits everyone.

Make sure to plan for worst-case and unexpected scenarios such as bankruptcy, disease, or a co-founder exit to take care of their children (e.g., use vesting and cliffs.)

2. Try before you buy:
The most successful founding teams in the study were those whose members had previous working experiences. Being classmates in college does not count.

When looking for co-founders, give preference to people with whom you already have a healthy professional relationship, or have a test period before making a final decision on equity split. 

3. Help to find your replacement:
Successful or unsuccessful, most founding CEOs get replaced after the company reaches a certain stage. The reason is that small, fast-growing companies require a different leadership team than large corporations do. Although there are exceptions, most CEOs get replaced after the product development phase.

If you´re the CEO to be replaced, your best alternative (statistically and logically) is to recognize that your company requires a new leader with a different skill set to yours, and to help the board find that new leader. 

Sometimes, founding CEOs can maintain control by becoming chairman of the board.

4. Be consistent:

Wealth and power are the two most common motivators for becoming an entrepreneur. However, very few can reach both goals (e.g., Bill Gates). More often, founders will need to choose between ¨a large piece of a small pie or a smaller piece of a larger pie¨.

Entrepreneurs that are consistent with their (true) priorities on every stage are more likely to succeed. Pick one of the columns below:




Comments

  1. So, if you're in search of an online on line casino with loads of bonuses, then SuperSlots is certainly price trying out. Slots.lv is one of the|is amongst the|is probably considered one of the} finest playing sites that give you more bang in your buck - particularly, $7,500 price of bonus funds if you use Bitcoin. Poker aficionados may even be joyful to listen to} that the net poker bonus funds are released in $1 increments sol.edu.kg that you earn whereas half in} online poker right here. As nicely as expiry dates for each promotion, there are limits on the period of time obtained to|you have to} clear a bonus. For example, if you declare a deposit promos, you'll be given a certain period of time to hit the playthrough requirement. As we have mentioned, a no danger on line casino bonus can also be|may also be|can be} called a cashback offer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not to mention, if you end up} up and operating, the costs of overheads and ongoing prices are considerably less. Fast Offshore works predominantly inCuracao, Kahnawake and w88 login Malta. We discover that these jurisdictions offer an excellent balance of benefits and obligations. Each case is completely different and each casino operator has a different focus phrases of|when it comes to|by means of} video games, target audience, budget and timescale. The availability and integration of latest technologies have led to a full transformation of what’s on offer. This, in turn, has sparked curiosity from those that beforehand hadn’t considered on-line gambling.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The book: The hard thing is that hard things have no universal solution. This book teaches management principles not from standard definitions but from real insightful experiences narrated from a CEO's point of view. The author talks about several challenges he had to face (in specific situations) when running Opsware. Hiring an executive against the advice of the board of directors or rejecting acquisition offers that exceeded everyone else's expectations are two examples of the hard decisions Ben Horowitz made. Takeaways and Paths of Action: The following apply to individuals in a leadership position: 1. Give feedback, constantly: If you are giving feedback all the time to everybody, it is more likely that they will take it as a regular practice rather than a personal attack. Keep in mind that your goal is to help the other person's job improve, not to prove your point. You can also use the "shit sandwich" technique. Give a compliment on the g...

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

The book: This full-of-detail book uses the story of Pixar to illustrate managerial principles and important aspects of a company's culture. The book reveals challenges that the company faced during the creation of movies such as The Incredibles, Toy Story, and so on. So, if you are a big fan of Pixar like I am, you'll understand and remember what the author wants to say, with ease. The audio version of the book also includes a very particular chapter dedicated to Steve Jobs. Takeaways and Paths of Action: 1. Encourage candor and be candid yourself: Not only every person on your team must be honest with each other, but they must voice their opinion without fear of being punished. Create meetings with the sole purpose of giving feedback and let each person express their ideas and concerns. If the criticism is towards ideas and problems, not people, participants will feel more comfortable. 2. Empower people to solve problems: This is completely opposite to ...

Mindset by Carol Dueck

About the book: Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, presents her research on two thinking patterns, the growth and fixed mindsets, which have a strong influence on the way people behave, their self-esteem, and their attitude towards challenging situations. Growth-minded people are those who acknowledge that all skills can be acquired, only through practice. These include artistic, mathematical, and physical skills. Takeaways and Paths of Action: 1) Be aware and share the message. Intelligence is something you need to work for; it is not given to you. Success is not about proving you're smart, it is about learning. This is not very specific nor applicable. However, I do think that being aware that we are born knowing close to nothing but can learn anything through practice and concentration is very important. We should share this message with friends and family. 2) Be a good loser. With an open mind, look at people who are doing better ...