TAPE SUCKS: Inside Data Domain, A Silicon Valley Growth Story

Like art being 99% perspiration (versus inspiration), business is 99% execution (versus strategy). A company can go a long way with an average strategy and superior execution, but they will not go far without great execution, no matter how brilliant the strategy.

They don't "work for you"—we all work for the company. As a manager, you are there to help them succeed.

Trust your team—nothing else scales.

Also, with this source document, in-person discussions quickly accelerate past the basics and become more pointed, resulting in more productive exchanges.

Making yourself "scarce" is something to ponder.

Many technologies are conceived without a clear, precise notion of the intended use. There is plenty of hoping and praying going on that some new technology will magically find a suitable problem to solve. Often, we think we know, vaguely, in the abstract—but the truth is we have no clarity on how our technology stacks up in that use-case, relative

Accounting is the bastardization of economics. It can be puzzling to see early stage ventures focusing on P&L profitability, as that mentality can choke off growth in a hurry. You should not care much about profits early on. Instead, you care about maximizing growth while maintaining sufficient cash balances to sustain it.

The magic begins when you start displaying what you mean by them in practice, when the consequences are real. One aspect of compliance was that we told new hires upfront that while we might be somewhat patient and forgiving on performance, we would not be on conduct. Conduct is a choice, not a skill set. If someone made the wrong choices in the fac

Somebody once asked me how he or she would know whether they were a driver, and I answered, "you better find out before we do." In other words, be more demanding of yourself. Are you increasing the company's speed or not?