Founders at Work
Chapter 1: Max Levchin (Cofounder, Paypal)
pg 7: Part of having a CEO is that you can respectfully disagree, but you can resign if you don't like it that much.
pg 12: Invites to sign up work better if they grant access to something valuable left by a friend who invited them.
pg 16: Your company shouldn't have clarity on what it does until whatever it's doing is working.
Chapter 2: Sabeer Bhatia (Cofounder, Hotmail)
pg 20: Giving right of first refusal to the VC allows them to enter every funding round while scaring away others.
pg 27: A subscriber base is an unassailable lead, and good leverage when negotiating an acquisition price.
pg 28: You don't need to monetize customers immediately; eventually you will be able to.
pg 29: A business plan should try to answer every possible question that a person could raise.
Chapter 3: Steve Wozniak (Cofounder, Apple Computer)
pg 56: Don't be a prima donna; hack away until you can figure out how to get something tested and working.
Chapter 4: Joe Kraus (Cofounder, Excite)
pg 68: When a new medium emerges, it adopts the business models of the old medium, and that always fails.
pg 68: Existing companies' biggest problem is legacy; they can't focus on new businesses while managing old ones.
pg 70: Great people don't look for jobs, they're sold on them; they'll say no, and then you must win them over.
pg 71: Great teams are better than great ideas, for they can turn a bad idea into a better one.
Chapter 5: Dan Bricklin (Cofounder, Software Arts)
pg 78: Most can't apply a general purpose tool to their problems; instead, they adapt a solution close to their problem.
pg 85: Lawsuits are expensive and distracting; unless you're a very big business, find other ways to solve things.
pg 86: Selling at the peak is optimal, but don't be greedy: you can make money at the rise or fall of your business.
pg 87: Arguing about something is just the way some people learn; they test your understanding of it.
Chapter 6: Mitchell Kapor (Cofounder, Lotus Development)
pg 96: After launch, a technologist founder has to find a board and grow the company; this requires connections.
pg 97: Being a software designer in your own company is about control, like directors who are in their own studio.
pg 101: If you're a first-time entrepreneur, be wary of VCs -- it's been called "vulture capital" for a reason.
Chapter 7: Ray Ozzie (Founder, Iris Associates, Groove Networks)
pg 104: Project technology and market roadmaps several years out; it will take that long to build anything worthwhile.
pg 105: By hiring friends, you avoid the trust issue involved in understanding what they're actually good at.
pg 107: Taking VC money will give you connections, but now your focus is on an exit event, not organic growth.
pg 109: Changing people's habits is difficult, so building a market around something new is very difficult.
pg 110: You must be comfortable with the team and financiers having joint custody over your product.
Chapter 8: Evan Williams (Cofounder, Pyra Labs / Blogger.com)
pg 112: Funding is about networking; whether in good times or bad, you need to know the right people.
pg 118: The enterprise may have money, but then you have to sell and service companies, which may be alien.
pg 124: If you see something someone else doesn't see, it could be powerful; if everyone agrees, it could be unoriginal.
pg 125: Resist the temptation to add more to your product; simplicity is powerful.
Chapter 9: Tim Brady (First Non-Founding Employee, Yahoo)
pg 131: Interim management put in place by VCs may not be fully invested in making your company thrive.
pg 132: When you talk to Microsoft, their mindset is either to partner with you, or do it themselves.
pg 135: Offering links to your competitors when you product fails sends the message to your users that you care.
pg 137: If you want to appear and act big, you can't just work hard, but need a professional look and feel.
pg 138: Ponder at what point you'd quit before you start; answering this under pressure leads to irrational actions.
Chapter 10: Mike Lazaridis (Cofounder, Research in Motion)
pg 149: If no one's ready for your product, start by dumbing it down and offering an improvement over something they know.
pg 151: Only first or second year co-op students will join a startup; beyond that you've lost them to other companies.
Chapter 11: Arthur van Hoff (Cofounder, Marimba)
pg 153: In Silicon Valley, every other company you rely on is geared toward getting you started, then you pay.
pg 155: Not saying what your company does adds mystique, but no customer comes demanding what you have.
pg 156: Anyone can run a company up to 100 people; beyond that, you need a CEO who can make hard decisions.
pg 156: The business plan is just a tool to sell the idea to VCs; add a few extra zeros everywhere, and no one notices.
pg 157: Be frugal, but spend some money to create an environment where employees feel happy and valued.
pg 159: You'll take a lot of advice from people, but it might not be the best; don't be afraid to go with your gut.
pg 160: Only plan anything or write anything down until you've left your job; your employer could be litigious otherwise.
Chapter 12: Paul Buchheit (Creator, Gmail)
pg 166: When operating a big service, it takes a lot of work just to deal with growth and improvements.
pg 167: Starting a service as invitation-only makes it easier to control the quality of service, and any abuse.
pg 168: Be judicious when deciding that an existing solution or technology doesn't apply, and you roll your own.
pg 170: People are uncomfortable with and will attack things that are different, but not necessarily bad.
Chapter 13: Steve Perlman (Cofounder, WebTV)
pg 175: Cofounders have to agree on where the product is going to go; otherwise you're just locking horns all the time.
pg 176: Print up a company letterhead, and you can get free samples from chip companies.
pg 180: Tell employees when you hit a wall, but telling them you're just running low on cash may scare them.
pg 181: If you're about to run out of money, VCs may not invest but see you as carrion ready for the taking.
pg 185: Designing for someone who's not you is hard; do a lot of usability testing to know their point of view.
Chapter 14: Mike Ramsay (Cofounder, TiVo)
pg 195: To hire great engineers, convince them that you're working on a difficult problem, and get their imagination going.
pg 199: The technology press might say your product isn't "techie" enough, but what matters is consumer opinion.
pg 201: If you're afraid that a company might try to compete with you, a licensing deal with them might avert this.
Chapter 15: Paul Graham (Cofounder, Viaweb)
pg 209: Adding features may delay your release, but will also distance you from any competitors at release.
pg 210: If writing software for end-users, you're writing for an audience that has been traumatized by bad experiences.
pg 212: Its never a deal until the money's in the bank; so many things can go wrong with them.
pg 213: Find someone wiling to be the COO and do the business stuff and let the engineers handle technical matters.
pg 214: Investors may need to be bossed around; it reassures them that you're in control.
pg 217: It's bad when an acquirer plays hardball, since you'll get squeezed and then have to work for them afterward.
pg 218: You don't need to be eloquent, just tell the truth; then you'll never have to remember what you've said.
pg 221: Avoid taking money as long as you can, not only because you relinquish control but because it's a painful process.
Chapter 16: Joshua Schaechter (Founder, del.icio.us)
pg 226: Outsource things that have to be executed better than competently but is of no value for you to do yourself.
pg 229: Plan for things to go wrong, because they will; just do your best to mitigate the disaster.
pg 230: Consumers are the best marketers; if they love your product and give you marketing tools, they'll do it.
pg 231: A VC will never call you to tell you no; they don't want to close the door in case they want to open it again later.
pg 232: Do as little as possible to get what you have to get done; don't add features or add stuff.
Chapter 17: Mark Fletcher (Founder, ONElist, Bloglines)
pg 234: Solve a problem that you have, first and foremost, and chances are other people may have the same problem.
pg 237: Ay technology can be copied, any concept can be copied, but the users make a company valuable.
pg 238: Because the company in your life, it can be jarring if the VC wants to replace you as CEO.
pg 240: Ship and then iterate, because shipping itself is this huge hurdle; it's a web app, so shortcomings can be fixed.
pg 241: Shipping your first version with few features can elicit feature requests; implementing them will improve customer loyalty.
pg 242: Boutique investment bankers can serve as middlemen in an acquisition; they'll drive up the price, then take a cut.
pg 243: When entertaining acquisition offers, figure out what you want to do with your startup and your life.
pg 244: Don't set yourself up as an LLC; VCs only want to deal with a C-corp because that's what they understand.
Chapter 18: Craig Newmark (Founder, craigslist)
pg 251: For the most part, people are good; if you incorporate something like flagging, it works.
pg 253: Forcing people to pay for some service can deter spammers and eliminate "sleazy" customers.
Chapter 19: Caterina Fake (Cofounder, Flickr)
pg 258: It's okay to have rockstars working remotely, but for the most part, everyone being in the same place is important.
pg 260: Social networking itself is pointless, but only if not using it to connect people with a core interest.
pg 263: If a company tries to acquire you, it's a good sign that they're not trying to copy you.
Chapter 20: Brewster Kahle (Founder, WAIS, Internet Archive, Alexa Internet)
pg 286: Pick your office setting carefully, so you can go for long walks when stuck, for example.
pg 270: Having clients that are best of class is a luxury; they know what they want because they're pushing the envelope.
pg 272: Businesspeople just want to make money; lay out a path of how they can make more, and they're on board.
pg 274: Running a company means you need a positive outlook every day, because employees always look to you.
pg 277: Pick a big, difficult project that will take years; otherwise once you make money, you'll run out of thing to work on.
pg 278: When a company has 20-40 employees, each can specialize and concentrate on what they're good at.
Chapter 21: Charles Geschke (Cofounder, Adobe Systems)
pg 284: If you fail, VCs can assume that you won't make that set of mistakes the next time.
pg 285: The first business plan is to please VCs; if your customers demand something different, rewrite it.
pg 289: It's risky to develop a solution for where the market will be in a few years and wait for it to catch up, but advantageous.
pg 292: Treat your customer as you'd like to be treated; if you fail, you may cause their business to fail.
pg 296: Work smart and not long, because you need to preserve all of your life, not just your work life.
Chapter 22: Amy Winblad (Cofounder, Open Systems, Hummer Winblad)
pg 302: Don't let any one of your founders make all the calls; you need to work as an ensemble in the beginning.
pg 305: Be smart and maximize your time; when you're young, you may be superhuman, but you're not efficient.
pg 306: Leading a company is not about you; it's about fending for shareholders, employees, customers, and your mission.
Chapter 23: David Heinemeier Hansson (Partner, 37signals)
pg 310: Set a humble goal, err toward simplicity, and people will be impressed by what your product doesn't do.
pg 311: Making a product more focused can exclude unexpected customers who would use it in unexpected ways.
pg 312: Offering a shallow upgrade curve and allowing customers to cancel easily is a powerful marketing tool.
pg 314: Giving a major update of a product within 30 days of launching reinforces customers' feelings about the project.
pg 315: Having too little money is a great way of getting great product, because it's a way to get focused.
pg 316: Distributing a team allows each member to have alone time with no interruptions by coworkers.
Chapter 24: Philip Greenspun (Cofounder, ArsDigita)
pg 322: Each company has one class of rockstars; leverage that class in making a value proposition to customers.
pg 327: Bigger companies with more cash can use it to recover from mistakes, so choose your management wisely.
pg 328: Some potential employees may not want to work for you unless you have backing from VCs that dazzle them.
pg 330: An employee only wants to make his boss happy; don't put him in a businessman's role with profit-and-loss responsibility.
pg 337: If you're a for-profit organization, your job is to make money; if you don't, you're not doing a good job.
pg 341: People remember how you made them feel more than what you said.
pg 342: Business people don't have any basic ethics; simply possessing them is an operational advantage.
Chapter 25: Joel Spolsky (Cofounder, Fog Creek Software)
pg 346: A limitation of consulting is that your revenue is simply a multiple of the number of people you can hire.
pg 349: Raising the price of your product can increase sales because it seems "more legitimate."
pg 354: Developer time dedicated to implementing wild marketing ideas is better spent on improving your product.
pg 354: Talk to your customers and find out what they need; don't pay any attention to the competition.
pg 360: If you don't take the leap and quit your job, it's easy to give up the dream at any time.
Chapter 26: Stephen Kaufer (Cofounder, TripAdvisor)
pg 368: If your business is fledging, don't do something rash or act too quickly simply to raise capital to survive.
pg 372: Spend time thinking through the roles and responsibilities between the founders before starting.
pg 373: Do whatever the hell it takes to get your first customers; when you're growing, become independent and risk-taking.
pg 374: A recruiter as part of your first half-dozen employees can help you get the right next dozen employees.
Chapter 27: James Hong (Cofounder, HOT or NOT)
pg 379: Outsource whatever services you can to other companies if it reduces your costs.
pg 383: The biggest roadblock to the entrepreneur are your liabilities in your life, so do it while you're young.
pg 384: Plans don't mean much when you're moving as fast as you can; don't dwell on your plan when it's not working.
pg 385: If you raise money, spend it as if it's your own and you have none.
pg 385: Whether you cash out early depends on how tied you are to one concept being the legacy for your entire life.
Chapter 28: James Currier (Founder, Tickle)
pg 388: To build a successful company, you should have low to zero cost for acquiring users.
pg 391: Hire people who are nice, communicative, smart, and capable.
Chapter 29: Blake Ross (Creator, Firefox)
pg 401: Marketing is just making a good product that people spread, and giving them the tools to do that.
pg 403: Constantly communicate with people who will eventually use your product.
Chapter 30: Mena Trott (Cofounder, Six Apart)
pg 407: Working out of the home is the hardest thing to do, because you can never leave work.
pg 409: The more money you spend, the more you need, and the less ownership you have.
pg 412: Charging for services is fine, but never charge for something that was once free.
pg 416: If you're getting picked on, that can be a good thing; no one picks on the underdog.
Chapter 31: Bob Davis (Founder, Lycos)
pg 421: Until your product becomes sexy and admired, hiring good people will be hard.
pg 424: PR is the cheapest form of advertising and the most effective way to spread word to customers.
Chapter 32: Ron Gruner (Cofounder, Alliant Computer Systems; Founder, Shareholder.com)
pg 428: When looking for money, you want a sense of exclusivity, and a sense of urgency.
pg 431: VCs fear "the living dead," or companies that don't hit it big or die quickly, but grow organically and slowly.
pg 438: Get a candidate psyched about your project, but don't misrepresent it, or they won't work hard for you.
pg 441: Almost any negative situation can be turned into a good one if you work hard enough; karma exists.
pg 444: Being self-funded makes you proud, but take a little money if you need to grow quicker, not organically.