Notes From “How to Start a Startup” Lecture 2

You need to have technical co-founders.

Don’t brag about how many employees you have. Better to have fewer not more employees.

Airbnb medical diagnosis question 9:45

It can easily take 1 year to get someone if they’re the best. The best people have options.

25% should be dedicated towards hiring once you’re in that mode.

Mediocre engineers do not build great companies (sign on the wall).

Referrals for the first 100 employees

HR person should ask you for every smart person you’ve ever met once you join the company

1. Are they smart?

2. Do they get things done?

3. Do I want to spend lots of time with them?

Do a project with them for 1-2 days rather than interview them. You’ll get a much better sense. 15:45s.

Zuck: You should be comfortable reporting to this person if the roles were reversed.

Give away 10% to the first 10 employees.

Employees add more value over time, whereas investors write the initial check then don’t add much (some exceptions).

The team gets all credits. You take all blame.

Dan Pink: Three Things people need to be happy at work: Autonomy. Mastery, Purpose

Firing is the worst part of running a company.

“You don’t get to pick their decisions, but you do get to choose the decision-maker”

4 years is the standard vesting period, the clock begins 1 year in

Don’t be remote in the early days of a startup.

Set key goals. Everyone in the company should be able to tell you what they are.

You should know your weekly growth metrics. Who cares about PR? 35:30

Two key ingredients:

0.99 (death) vs. 1.01 (exponential growth) consumer web viral coefficient example

Break down large projects/products into smaller projects and ship them super quickly

In marginal situations get on a plane

Keeping momentum is the most important part of running a startup.

Sales fix everything

You must be decisive and execute, not just talk about cool ideas

Facebook’s growth slowed in 2008.

Created a “Growth” group.

Worked on very small things to contribute to growth. In isolation seemed small but improved the growth curve.

In order to maintain momentum you need to establish an operating rhythm for:

Team and Execution With Sam Altman