Startup Systems
systems that power startups
Startup Systems
The most exciting thing about professional project management is that it trades away excitement for systems thinking and intentional action. We make heroes out of people who show up with the last-minute save, but the real work is in not needing the last minute.
And it’s helpful to realize that it’s a skill, a choice, a set of tools to be learned,... See more
And it’s helpful to realize that it’s a skill, a choice, a set of tools to be learned,... See more
Project management
The teams are currently structured by function (product, R&D, design, business, etc.), and different teams think about different layers of the company and stack. But all energy is directed toward improving the core product. We design objectives that translate to common top-level metrics and improve the user experience holistically. For example, all... See more
Lenny Rachitsky • How Perplexity builds product
Perplexity reporting
“Working on a startup is like riding a broken bicycle. You have to both ride and fix it at the same time.”
How We're Working Without Managers at Buffer
At a big company, you're trained to get it right and get it out. You can’t risk experimenting on your customer base. When you're at a small company, you don't have any product-market fit, so you have to get it out, then get it right.
How to Scale Yourself Down
Customer math for a new business
How much does it cost to get a new customer?
How much do you make from every interaction with that customer?
How long does the customer stick around?
How many new customers will existing customers bring you over time?
How much does it cost to get a new customer?
How much do you make from every interaction with that customer?
How long does the customer stick around?
How many new customers will existing customers bring you over time?
Customer math for a new business
When talking to people, look for two things: pain and pull . Pain tells you there’s an opportunity to solve a problem. Pull tells you that you’re actually solving the problem.
Here’s what pain and pull look like in practice:
Here’s what pain and pull look like in practice:
- People pay you money: Several people start to (or offer to) pay for your early product, ideally people you don’t have a direct
Lenny Rachitsky • What to Do if Your Product Isn’t Taking Off
The Jenga situation
seths.blog
The early days are exciting. Customers are seen and heard and served. Variations are created and value is produced as problems are solved.
In the early days, the most celebrated employees are the ones who figure out what someone needs and then determines a way to fill that need.
Once the organization gains traction, it’s possible that a short-term profit maximizer will join the team. They push to treat the customers as replaceable flanges, almost identical, income opportunities to be processed. And the employees? They are expenses, not part of a team.
It can seem like the fastest way for a stable business to increase profits is simply to remove some sticks. Process more flanges with fewer expenses. Lower overhead, measure the easy stuff, do it faster.
We spend too much time dealing with shaky towers. The resilience of people connecting, of organizations evolving, of service and clarity and generative work is far too important to be threatened by a few hustlers who insist on measuring the wrong thing.
“Almost always, when I look at a team or project at a larger org trying to make a decision with differences in opinions, the root of those differences almost always starts with shared context,” Weiss says. “Or lack thereof.”
The first step to identifying if your team is lacking shared context is to ask yourself a series of questions, Weiss says.... See more
The first step to identifying if your team is lacking shared context is to ask yourself a series of questions, Weiss says.... See more
firstround.com • How to Take Bigger, Bolder Product Bets — Lessons From Slack’s Chief Product Officer
What sort of bicycle?
seths.blog
Little decisions compound and then anchor systems.
Our commitment to defending sunk costs keeps those systems long after they’re no longer serving a purpose.