American - Businessman | 1953 -
Unfortunately, as you hire more people, the casual, informal 'do what it takes' culture, which worked so well at less than 40 people, becomes chaotic and less effective.
Steve Blank
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In the past, when venture-funded startups told their investors they'd found a profitable business model, the first thing VCs would do is to start looking for an 'operating exec' - usually an MBA who would act as the designated 'adult' and take over the transition from Search to Build.
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Startups have finite time and resources to find product/market fit before they run out of money. Therefore startups trade off certainty for speed, adopting 'good enough decision making' and iterating and pivoting as they fail, learn, and discover their business model.
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In corporations, the penalty for repeated failure on known tasks is being reassigned to other tasks or asked to leave the company.
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Persuading employees to let go of old values and beliefs and adopt new ones can be challenging.
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All too often, a corporate innovation initiative starts and ends with a board meeting mandate to the CEO followed by a series of memos to the staff, with lots of posters and one-day workshops. This typically creates 'innovation theater' but very little innovation.
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You can get a good handle on a company's culture before you even get inside the building. For example, when companies say, 'We value our employees' but have reserved parking spots, a private cafeteria, and over-the-top offices for the executives, that tells you more than any PR spin.
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Measuring how hard your team is working by counting the number of hours they work or what time they get in and leave is how amateurs run companies.
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Long hours don't necessarily mean success.
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If you think the job of a CEO is to increase sales, then Ballmer did a spectacular job.
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Visionary CEOs are not 'just' great at assuring world-class execution of a tested and successful business model: they are also world-class innovators.
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Visionary CEOs are product- and business-model-centric and extremely customer focused.
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