Lost and Founder
My review of Lost and Founder, by Rand Fishkin.
A good book for startupers showing that the traditional VC-backed venture is not necessarily the only, nor the best one.
Notes
The core weaknesses of your company are your founders'
When trying to fix the lack of knowledge in a particular field, you have three options:
- Learn the process and do it yourself
- Start the company with co-founders who have this strength already
- Invest in the knowledge necessary to hire, retain, focus, and manage great talent in the field
The advice from Moz's late CEO Sarah Bird
She does NOT have a technical background, neither had any of the founding team at Moz. She took up the CEO's role after Rand (the initial founder) stepped down. At Moz they chose the third way: hiring their CTOs and technical people.
Ask questions in meetings between senior tech managers and their teams.
E.g. "What good development practices did your last company have that you don't see in play here?"When you find an engineer on the team who can articulate different strategies she has tried and the why behind them with conviction and clarity, give her the power to try implementing some of those changes here. Give her the responsibility of trying new things, even if it does not work out.
Read everything you can about different engineering cultures and best practices.
Takes notes about the technologies so that you are able to differentiate your team-members' blind devotion to a particular tech from actual good reasons to invest in it.
Recruit technical leadership with a teaching orientation: you'd better hire a CTO who loves to train and teach. Beware of CTOs who try to "shield" you from the details. Being able to explain complex things simply is a job requirement.
Key learnings for lazy people
Whatever road you take, you have to:
- Read a lot about tech, ask questions, and gather as much info as possible.
- Hire senior people who can teach to others.