The Mitochondria in Startups

Livingston: What would you tell someone who wanted to start their own company? van Hoff: If you have the energy to do it, then you should try it yourself. But you do need to have the ability to form a team around you with good people. Talent attracts talent. A lot of people get stuck on the idea. They all want to invent something and go execute on

So when I unexpectedly found myself running this high-growth successful software company, the thought of making it be the kind of place that I would want to work at and different from all those other places was incredibly appealing.

The next thing you look for is: What are the key zones of expertise, networks, ways of thinking that add the most value into the company that you couldn’t hire for? Because if you can hire it, great, hire it. Add it into the genetics of the company. But there are a bunch of people like, for example, me or Peter Chernin—you can’t hire us into the co