On building of All Trades

For the past decade, our idolatry of startups and innovation has meant the focus has been: What can we disrupt? How fast can we grow? How big can we get? How much can we raise?

Founders are taught to possess enough faith that they can build something very big very fast. This creates a pressure cooker of responsibility that distorts reality to the... See more

Sari Azout • Can I Ramble for a Sec?

Founders need a new way of thinking, of building, of support that allows them to drive systematic, methodical and meaningful change.

So much of building something new is showing others that their problem deserves to be solved, that they should be seen for who they are and what they want to be. Generalists deserve better.

Generalists, with their diverse skills, adaptability, and ethical awareness, are at the vanguard of this new epoch. They aren’t just visionaries but also implementers, merging AI-generated efficiency with human creativity and ethical discernment.

Adhithya • The rise of generalists in the AI era

I am ambitious. But in almost every other respect,

I am the opposite of the archetypal Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

I am allergic to bullshit, risk averse, introspective, have no interest in “going big or going home”

Superhuman

in my role as a more traditional COO (which I also thoroughly enjoyed) I was touching on a large number of parts within Buffer. It also created a certain level of pressure, one that Joel described very well in this post. I felt the urge to try and “keep everything together” and within an arm’s reach so everything would go according to plan.

With... See more

How We're Working Without Managers at Buffer

The COO role shifts when you’re building a networked instead of a structured organization

Learning is complicated.

While we’re doing it, it’s easy to imagine that those around us are completely sure of themselves, moving forward in a well-lit space.

In fact, if you visit a growing company, a useful school or anywhere that growth is happening, you’ll quickly see that everyone is stumbling forward in the shadows.

That’s part of the deal.

Stumbling in the dark

Conventional hiring processes are designed to recruit the most skilled people to fill a specific role at the right price. The experience can feel dehumanizing — it’s laden with unwritten rules, negotiation, posturing, and indirect communication (if you’re lucky) through recruiters.

The process, at its core, is a transaction of resources. It’s not... See more

Sharan Bal • Hiring Humans, Not Resources