Hiring for the startup

from Naeem Zafar
The Startup Advisor
20 Year Silicon Valley Veteran
University of California, Berkeley Haas Business School Faculty Member

There a huge difference between what I call an "owner's mindset" and an "employee mindset." Founders, cofounders, and even early employees must possess an owner's mindset, which involves being willing to do whatever is necessary to make the business successful. An employee mindset, on the other hand, centers on entitlement. Employees expect a salary, vacation time, and benefits. An owner does not think that way.

The presence of an owner's mindset should be one of your criteria, in addition to a technical proficiency test relevant to your business. You should also look for startup experience and/or innate entrepreneurial ability.

I have paid a heavy price for hiring the wrong people and not firing them soon enough. There is no room for this luxury in a startup business. It's like being stuck in a mineshaft--you must preserve the available air or everyone will die. No smoking allowed!

Tim’s Top Ten Reasons Why Start-Ups Fail (ZT)

Tim’s Top Ten Reasons Why Start-Ups Fail


1. They run out of money. Usually, they are too optimistic about when their product is going to be accepted by the market.

2. Founders don’t have complete faith in each other. They fight instead of delegate, trust and verify with each other.

3. CEOs hire weak team members. Strong CEOs sometimes try to carry everyone with them rather than hiring people who stand up on their own.

4. They want to do too much. Usually, successful start-ups figure out a narrow niche that they can dominate and then expand from there.

5. They go after too small a market.

6. They don’t charge enough from their customers to survive. They often think their VCs are their customers and that a nice sale is all they need to make to get more money.

7. They hire too many people up front. Too many mouths to feed too early can sink a company. Keep a low burn until you have your business model in place.

8. They get unlucky. Broadsided by competitors, new technologies, big companies changing direction, etc.

9. They don’t work hard enough or fast enough or smart enough. All those little decisions add up to an outcome. Awareness of the subtleties of their market dynamics, etc.

10. They don’t take enough risks. Some start-up entrepreneurs think that they should operate as though they are big companies. This is wrong. They will never beat Microsoft or Google at their own game. They must get creative and do things differently, even at the risk of embarrassment.



PS. Tim Draper is Founder and Managing Director of DFJ

10 Top Entrepreneur Challenges (ZT)

10 Top Entrepreneur Challenges

1. Finding clients/customers (44%)

2. Wearing too many hats (41%)

3. Not enough hours in a day (38%)

4. Getting business model right (34%)

5. Getting paid / cash flow (30%)

6. Too many distractions (29%)

7. Lack of connection with others (17%)

8. Lack of guidance (15%)

9. Retaining staff (6%)

10. Non-supportive family / friends (5%)

Google WAVE rocks

At Google I/O conference today, Google WAVE uproared the crowds. It is absolutely a new way to do the online communication. It was called "hosted conversations" and it combines email and IM. Long time ago, I kept questioning why we couldn't group IM and Email together (check my blog on 11/15/2007 - Did we say e-mail was the future? What we meant was, e-mail is dead). Now WAVE defines a total new protocol and a total new user interface - it is a new communication platform. It is called INNOVATION! The whole WAVE team is only around 50 engineers in Sydney. Best of all, WAVE will be open sourced and allow the server to be hosted on company's own server. Wait and see how developers can add more innovations about it.

Check techcrunch for Google Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Communication Platform For A New Web.

Useful links about Wave:

• http://www.waveprotocol.org/
• http://wave.google.com/
• http://code.google.com/apis/wave/
  

管理与领导有何不同 - ZT

领

导和管理缺一不可。二者并不是一回事，却无疑是相互联系、互为补充的。任何将二者分开的做法都可能会造成事倍功半的结果。

不 过，关于领导和管理之间区别的描述已有很多。管理者的工作是计划、组织和协调。领导者的工作则是激励人心、鼓舞干劲。华伦•班尼斯(Warren Bennis)在1989年出版的《领导者该做什么》(On Becoming a Leader)一书中列出了领导者和管理者之间的不同。

-管理者从事管理，领导者进行创新。

-管理者是“拷贝”，领导者是“原版”。

-管理者着重维护，领导者着重发展。

-管理者关注系统和结构，领导者关注人。

-管理者依靠控制，领导者激发信任。

-管理者看眼前，领导者看长远。

-管理者问的是“怎样”、“何时”，领导者问的是“什么”、“为何”。

-管理者关注利润，领导者纵观全局。

-管理者模仿，领导者创造。

-管理者接受现状，领导者挑战现状。

-管理者是标准的好兵，领导者自有主见。

-管理者把事情做好，领导者则做正确的事。

或许曾有一度管理者和领导者的工作可以被分开。工业时代，工厂中的工长或许不需要太多地考虑自己在生产什么或是考虑工人的情况。工长的工作就是听从命令、组织生产、让合适的人去完成必要的工作、协调结果、确保工作如指令的一样完成。他关注的是效率。

不 过在新经济时代，价值越来越多地来自人们的知识，工人们不再是机器上一模一样的齿轮，在这种情况下，管理和领导不能简单地分开。人们看着他们的管理者，不 光是等他交待工作，还等他给他们定一个目标。管理者们必须组织工人，不光是将效率最大化，还要培养技能、发展人才、产生结果。

已故管理大师彼得•德鲁克(Peter Drucker，又译杜拉克)是最先认识到这种变化的人之一，他还发现了很多其他管理真理。他确定了“知识工人”的出现，以及由此带来的企业管理方式上的深刻变化。

德鲁克写道，随着知识工人的崛起，一个人并不是“管理”其他人，他的任务是领导其他人，目的是充分发挥每个人特有的优点和知识。

（编者按：上文节选自即将由Harper Business出版的The Wall Street Journal Guide to Management，作者是Alan Murray。）