Startup Systems
systems that power startups
Startup Systems
First-principles thinking, or thinking from first principles, sounds a lot more complicated than it is. It’s simply a technique for approaching problems with a beginner’s mind. Instead of working within assumptions and what people around you “know” to be true, you do the hard work of figuring out what’s actually true and, thus, what’s truly... See more
Lenny Rachitsky • First-Principles Thinking
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.
I like to say the devils and the details and the devils and how you execute. And so coming back to how do we execute just a little bit differently and some of the learnings there where I think the first time we started growth, we could have been more user-centric and been a lot more hypothesis driven. We were following a lot of best practices that... See more
Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)
Not all best practices fit for all orgs. Right-size and test when trying on your ops!
the way that you execute ends up really mattering. That was the second learning. The third is just focus.
Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)
From Tiago Forte of Building A Second Brain-- We have spent most of our lives in the Attention Era. Our attention today is clearly the most scarce, valuable resource we have, which means we feel the need to capitalize on every bit of attention available, which often means filling almost every minute of the day with information consumption. Even
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The demands of a startup are dizzying. To anchor yourself, you must schedule time to write things down.
The 100 Best Bits of Advice From 10 Years of First Round Review
To actually engage in deep work, they not only have to create the time on their calendar, but also have to experience the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with being offline. Getting more precision around what you find aversive is the first step in learning more effective ways to deal with the emotions that come up.