Advice for a startup

Desi Fun(da)

I started off on my first job at a small startup back at PennState working with 5 other guys and one person who was supposedly one of the founders and ought to have lead the development effort due to his computer savvy skills and his knowledge of the field of chemistry we were dealing in. Suprisingly for a startup there seemed to be an equally large contingent of management aides on the payroll for the company. Going into all the specifics is not my intention. The dude gave me a swell letter of recommendation and hey for that he rocks.

Some points I would like people running startups to possibly have in the back or even better if its in the front of their minds during their daily work.

1. The whole benefit of a startup is the small team.
This leads to a friendly and competitive work environment which encourages learning and understanding of various problems faces while solving the same. Encourgage thought sharing, not just for how cool it sounds, but because it actually enables in arriving at the best solution for the problem being discussed.
And hey since most of you will be all crammed up in a small room somewhere don't keep emailing the littlest things to each other. Instead just howl out the question for everyone. Be a bit more personal.

2. Don't feel shy to fire someone.
You just have one shot at either making your company work or going bust in the dog-eat-dog world of venture capitalist begging. If there is a weak link get it replaced on the first signs of the same. Waiting means you just waste time, money, effort and worsen your chances, that too not just of yourself but of all the other hardworking people in the group.

3. Use the term workaround tightly.
A workaround is supposed to mean that you need to get around to working on it again sometime soon and replace the workaround with a solid and permanent solution. Keeping a workaround, around, for too long means there is going to be a disaster pretty soon.

4. Make your game plan and stick to it.
People will keep asking you if you can do this or that. You need to have a clear picture of what you are out there to deliver. Make sure that you have that picture clear in your mind. While talking to customers tell them about that picture. If you see too many people not seeing the uniqueness of your picture you need to go back to your drawing board and paint a new one. After you have done that stick to it. You need to keep this cycle to a minimum. Hint# If you have to re-paint your picture too often either you are not marketing your idea well or it just aint good enough to be appealing.

5. Know your prize horse and bet on it.
You will have few people working for you in a startup and you are bound to know each of them well. If not personally then you will definitely know how good they are at what they were hired to do. Make sure you ignite the passion in your prize horse and keep him/her as keen to get the whole thing successful as you are. If you can do that you have a chance to be in the race and probably win some too.

6. Push your guys.
Keep your guys on their toes. Make sure that each of them is being pushed to their maximum. Extract the most out of them and make sure that you are giving the most of yourself for them.

7. Don't feel shy to take a lesson from a stranger.
If someone comes up to you and says hey your idea sucks you should take that guy out to lunch and know exactly why he/she thinks so. You will definitely learn to improve on something from that lunch.

8. Make promises and deliver beyond them.
Being successful is not just about delivering what has been promised but delivering beyond the promises made. If a customer is promised ABC and you deliver AB he/she is going to be unhappy. But if you promise AB and delive ABC he/she is going to be thrilled out of his/her mind.

These are the few things that come to my mind. I used to discuss this a lot with one of my roomies, Pyush. He too worked in a startup and went on to form his own team and had promised that he would stick to these thoughts while leading the team. Hope he has, because I know he is a kick-ass guy and well if he could follow these simple and obvious things then the guys in his group would have gained a lot and so would he.

Though the rules are obvious. I thought I'd put it out here. After all people have made millions by writing the somewhat obvious into a bestseller and then coming back to say one more obvious thing (7 habits of highly effecitive people, or was it 8 habits or 9 habits ...)

disclaimer** the term guys is used loosely to refer to a male or female person. no sexism intended.