My buddy David was part of the founding team at Soundcloud and he has helped them scale to the 300(?) person team they have now and yesterday dropped lots of knowledge on Twitter (@david). Follow him for more kinds of awesome.
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1. don’t get fooled by disproportionally spending energy externally. Companies are built from within. Focus on that.
2. when crossing 200 people, identify and invest in the context-setters and dots-connectors in your org, they’re key to collaboration
3. overcommunicate rather than undercommunicate. Early investment in documentation and information-sharing will pay off in long term.
4. hire those excited about the future vs. those nostalgic about the past.
5. solution-orientation > problem-orientation. BUT: make effort to truly understand the problem and once done, move on to solution.
6. never underestimate (read: underinvest) the power of a remarkable People function. Related: People function = more than HR.
7. take the time to pause and start with providing clarity of purpose even when it’s tempting to jump into tactics. It will pay off.
8. for things to move fast, sometimes you need to start slow.
9. a remarkable People function can be the business’ best internal partner.
10. start by defining (and agreeing to!) the ways of working before, well, working.
11. good hiring managers hire with diligence. Remarkable hiring managers hire with diligence *and* trust their gut #culture
12. building a company > doing a startup
13. hire (and develop) builders, not runners.
14. as a leader, use every opportunity to connect with a team member. A look, a high five, a thank you, a challenge, an ask for help..
15. if you think defining co values is “corporate”, you’re missing an incredible opportunity to define long-lasting tool for guidance.
16. defining your company values can be your most powerful tool for guidance. Culture = manifestation of the values in day-to-day.
17. company culture = values + people.
18. people are tempted (and attracted) to join startups. Ensure that they know what they are signing up for. Clarity of expectations.
19. when startup people say they’re crushing, nailing, killing it, what they often really mean is that they worry, fear, and sweat.
20. you’re one company. There are no ‘they’, there’s only ‘us’.
21. start with a philosophy, then create a process. Not the other way around.
22. guidance > policies