Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World

do not attempt to raise money or talk to potential investors without reading Brad Feld’s superb, transparent, and surprisingly fun-to-read guide Venture Deals.

Clarity and shared understanding of goals (i.e., everyone gives the same answer to the question “Why are we building this and what do we hope to achieve with it?”). Unity around the specific work required and how each person will contribute to it (i.e., everyone can give an answer to the question “What am I supposed to be doing and how does that fi

let’s be real: phone calls are terrifying). This approach has been historically uncommon

What traits and behaviors should be rewarded and recognized in our employees? Which ones should be discouraged?

One final, unorthodox tip: if possible, build your expertise before you build your network, and build your network before you build your company. Each one leads elegantly into the next.

path for ICs to progress means you get the best people in the right roles with the ability to advance their careers and their pay. Forcing management to be the only way up will cost you talent in places you need it, and worse, install the wrong people in those roles, harming everyone on the team. CHAPTER 15 VULNERABILITY ≠ WEAKNESS In Silicon Valle

Finally, and perhaps most broadly, in a design review of the first version of Moz Analytics, one of our software tools,

Ask questions during skip levels (meetings where a senior manager meets with team members who report to the managers below them) with engineers that go beyond identifying problems and into concrete solutions. For example, asking, “What good development practices did your last company have that you don’t see in play here?” surfaces best practices.

Transparency can’t just be a tactic, though. It has to be a core value