On building of All Trades
As an extension of this “don’t hire until it hurts” philosophy, Foster notes that Zapier was very hesitant in the early days to bring on anyone with management experience (even though the founding trio themselves didn’t have any). “Our first people managers were just me, my co-founders, and early employees that we promoted into those roles. We were... See more
The Not So Cookie-Cutter Approach to Company Building — 8 Lessons from Zapier
Early stages require both execution and strategy, the doers and the managers. Find both.
Projects rarely unfold in a linear fashion; they require frequent course correction. Most trainees should spend more time on a project’s decision tree than they currently do. Once you get into a project, you will have learned from your initial experiments, new papers will have been published, and technology will have advanced. As a result, at any... See more
Problem choice and decision trees in science and engineering: Cell
A solid foundation requires a robust team structure. Hiring individuals who not only have the requisite skills but also align with the company’s culture is crucial. However, building a foundation goes beyond just assembling a team; it involves nurturing and equipping them with the tools and knowledge to excel. Continuous training and professional
New approaches will never be embraced by everyone at first. If you need unanimous consent, you’re not going to move forward.
And it’s not convenient. If it were, someone would have done it already.
Finally, it’s not sure to work.
If you need any or all three of these things for your project to move forward, you probably should pick a different... See more
And it’s not convenient. If it were, someone would have done it already.
Finally, it’s not sure to work.
If you need any or all three of these things for your project to move forward, you probably should pick a different... See more
Three things about innovation
Education can be the biggest time investment for founders who are bringing something to the work that isn’t unanimously accepted, isn’t convenient, and is beautiful at scale (but not there yet).
Generalists are force multipliers.
The internet and software is only accelerating this trend: as coordination costs get lower, it becomes easier and easier for companies to use outside services instead of building capabilities internally, concentrating knowledge in fewer and fewer organizations.
Ise Jingu and the Pyramid of Enabling Technologies
How do you preserve a source of truth when your team looks like teams of the future, connected with individuals who care but may be working in different systems and organizations to help you achieve your business goals? How can you assign an arbiter of truth?
A century-long vision allows you to build something that mostly ignores short-lived fluctuations in public perception or personal feelings. With a vision of that duration, you can think outside of yourself. If you couple that with a hum-drum process of Google Sheets and brain-trust meetings, you can build something meaningful.
There is something... See more
There is something... See more
Evan Armstrong • The Art of Scaling Taste
“If done well, from a perspective of making everyone feel safe to share, to give themselves permission to fail or to not be perfect, virtual can potentially even nudge out face-to-face
Joshua Davies of Knowmium makes workshops feel like augmented reality with mmhmm
We are in an age of noise.
The frameworks that got us here, of jobs-to-be-done or product-market fit, will be insufficient going forward. For founders to have extraordinary outcomes, they will have to find alpha in markets that aren’t easily understood.
Which is to say, technology alone won’t be enough. The other essential ingredient will be taste.... See more
The frameworks that got us here, of jobs-to-be-done or product-market fit, will be insufficient going forward. For founders to have extraordinary outcomes, they will have to find alpha in markets that aren’t easily understood.
Which is to say, technology alone won’t be enough. The other essential ingredient will be taste.... See more