EU: Just heard some of the worst advices someone can give a tech startup founder.
And within minutes had a dozen people asking me what did he say.
Well, it's not a single thing, but a class of things. Lynn Taylor of Taylor Protocols was the speaker and he talked a lot about hiring/firing, but he used the context of medium and large size companies. That absolutely don't apply to startups.
The one thing that didn't go well with me was when he said that "...don't let people define their own role in the company... that's a myth and it doesn't work..."
In a tech startup environment that's not true. I will not say hire a person and then ask him what he wants to do, but you have to have flexibility and give people independence to find where they will contribute the highest value to the company.
As with all things, there's a give or take. Or a fine balance. I tend to agree that you need agile minds in a startup who can wear many hats. It's next to impossible to know all the random, unforeseen things that could happen to a startup to plan set-in-stone definite roles. Flexibility is key. However, it can't be a completely amorphous environment either.
"don't let people define their own role in the company..." Wow, that is funny.
Startups do not even have roles. You have 5 to 50 people working 173 different jobs, around the clock, sipping coffee, injecting caffeine, supporting hair loss clubs, and trying to survive another ninety days so you can sign "that big deal" that may be right around the corner before your funding dries up.
Startups need to focus on people who have niche specialties, but who are eager and willing to work in other roles when it is needed. Most workload planning at a startup changes on a weekly (if not daily) basis, and that type of flexible and optimistic professional is critical to the survival and prosperity of a startup.
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Comments (4) for "Bad advice for entrepreneurs"
- 11/6/2008 2:55 AM
June, 2008