Team. Hiring. Managing. Culture.
It takes a village.
Mediocre teams do not build great companies. It starts with the founder. The most important characteristics are unstoppability, determination, formidability, and resourcefulness. Intelligence and passion rank highly. These matter more than experience or expertise with language X and framework Y.
Lecture 06 of 08 · Taught by Ali Sina
"Culture is defined by who you hire, fire, and promote."
TEAM — As CEO you must: 1) Set the vision and strategy. 2) Evangelize the company. 3) Hire and manage. 4) Raise money. 5) Make sure the company executes. It's intense. The company will be on your mind all the time.
HIRING — Try NOT to hire. Employees are expensive, add complexity, slow direction changes. When you do hire: Are they smart? Do they get things done? Do you want to spend time around them? Don't compromise — bad early hires almost kill companies. Fire fast.
MANAGING — Three motivators: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. Don't micromanage. Delegate responsibilities. Give credit for successes, take blame for failures.
CULTURE — At STEALTH we embrace BAM (Business Athlete Mode). Authenticity, Passion, Dedication, Mental + Physical Conditioning, Crazy Work Ethic, Hyperfocus, Compete & Fight, Become Automatic. Same principles that produce elite athletes produce elite operators.
Take these to heart.
- Don't hire chronically negative people. The rest of the world will predict your demise — the team must be united in its belief to the contrary.
- Value aptitude over experience for almost all roles.
- Be transparent. Have glass walls. Share metrics internally. The more information shared internally — good and bad — the better.
- The first 10 hires define culture forever.
Your homework.
- Write down who you need on your team — job title, duties, compensation (equity or salary or mix)
- Create a Core Value Cheat Sheet
- What characteristics will NOT work in your company?
Insolar + BAM — culture as operating system
We make our intentions, missions, and what we value transparently clear. We embrace BAM attitude: Authenticity & Transparency · Passion · Dedication · Mental & Physical Conditioning · Crazy Work Ethic · Focus 2.0 · Compete & Fight · Become Automatic. Same details that make an elite athlete make a great programmer, designer, chef, founder.
Lecture 06 of 08 · Back to curriculum