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

This journey, by the way, is getting longer. National Venture Capital Association data showed that the average time from funding to exit (via an acquisition or an IPO) increased dramatically from 3.1 years in 2001 to 6.8 years by 2014.

To this day, I’m a huge believer in the power of Conversion Rate Experts’ objection-gathering and objection-addressing methodology. It’s something I urge marketers of all stripes to attempt on their own landing pages.

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

Airbnb’s hack was to scrape Craigslist’s vacation and rental home listings, then contact all of the owners and convince them to also list their properties on Airbnb (or, according to some accounts, do so without even getting permission).

Funding: Today, there are vastly more funding options to those building a new tech-enabled business. Venture capital comes in more variety than in the past, particularly with the rise of “micro-VCs,” who raise smaller funds, invest smaller amounts, and also require less massive exits to meet their LPs’ expectations. A fund that raises $40 million

However, if things take a turn for the worse, and it appears the company is in serious trouble, one of the primary powers a board of directors holds is to replace the CEO. Sometimes, this can only be done with the CEO/founder’s consent, but other times, preferred stockholders (a.k.a. investors) have the ability to remove you or your cofounder from

The best entrepreneurs . . . know how to tell an amazing story that will convince talent and investors to join in on the journey. —Alejandro Cremades, 2016

What criteria should be applied to people we hire, those we promote, and those we let go? What makes someone a good person versus a bad person? How should hard-to-resolve conflicts be handled at our organization? What’s your preferred form of communication and why? What enables you to deliver your best work? What stops you from it?