Super successful companies
From the translator: Sam Altman , a successful entrepreneur from California, shares his observations on what is common to the most successful companies. Sam Altman himself, who founded Loopt, which managed to raise $ 30 million in venture capital, is among the partners of Y Combinator. BusinessWeek called him one of the “Best Technological Entrepreneurs”.
Recently, I began to think about what very successful companies were doing while they were very young. And here is a list. It is based on personal experience, and I am sure that he has many exceptions. And although many not so successful startups also fulfill some of these points, I think that there is nothing wrong with trying to match the patterns.
* They are obsessed with product / experience quality . Almost too obsessed, they spend a lot of time on details that are not very important at first glance. The founders of these companies react as if they feel physical pain when something goes wrong with the product or the user has poor support. Although they believe in early launches and cycles, these people are not going to waste their time on a bad product. (This is not a reason to postpone the launch. You, probably, hesitate with it anyway).
')
Because of this, they try not to put anyone between themselves and users. The founders of such companies are also engaged in the sale and support of the clients themselves.
* They are obsessed with talent . The founders are proud of the quality of their team and are doing everything possible to be joined by the best of the best. They are said to hire the best specialists, but the best founders do not compromise. If they really make a mistake in hiring, they will fix it very quickly.
And they are hiring very slowly. They do not get any buzz from simply owning subordinates and in the beginning they do the dirty work.
Because of this, they focus on building the right company culture.
* They can explain the company's vision in a few clear words . This is the most striking difference from companies that need several complex sentences to answer this question, because there is little good about it. In addition, they can articulate why they will succeed where others have failed, and they have a clear idea of ​​why their market is the best.
In general, their language is suspended very well.
* They start getting income very young . Often already when receiving the first user.
* They are tough and calm . The founders of great companies are always hard and deadpan. A startup can die at any second — sometimes several times a day — and sometimes it seems that the founders of truly successful companies will be able to pull out a gun and shoot a criminal without losing the thread of reflection.
You can create such an image for yourself; I saw how not the most confident founders were very quickly transformed.
* They try to cut costs . In addition to slow hiring, at first they are very modest. Interestingly, companies that do not do this (and usually fail) are often justified by the fact that they “think broadly”. When things are settled, they will be able to increase expenses, but they will still spend only where it matters.
* They make a product that a small number of users like . Paul Bakhit became the first from whom I heard it, but it really is. Successful startups almost always start with a core of super-happy users who become very dependent on the product, and then the company goes further. If you start with something that likes a huge number of people, most often it does not work.
* They grow organically . And, as a rule, they are skeptical about inorganic strategies, for example, large partnership deals and, to a lesser extent, PR. They, naturally, do not make a fuss in the press about the launch of their startup. Mediocre founders focus on powerful PR to match their growth ideas.
* They are growth oriented . Founders always know the number of their users and revenues. And we are ready to immediately tell you these numbers. They have goals that they are trying to achieve in the next week, month, and year.
* They hold a balance between growth and future strategies . They have clear plans and a strong opinion about what they are going to create, and no one can dissuade them from this. But they are more focused on this moment and are not in a hurry to make strategic plans for several years.
Another point in which this feature manifests itself is the first projects of a “suitable size”. You can not immediately jump from nothing to a huge company, you first need to establish something not too big and not too small. It seems they have an innate talent for identifying the right size of projects.
* They do little things . Paul Graham wrote about it . The best founders go very far.
* They are ready for anything . There are sad moments in the startup startup. Mediocre founders are trying to hire people who will do what they themselves do not like. Great ones just do everything that is in the interests of the company, even if they don’t “fan” from such work.
* They are well prioritized . Every day we can choose from 100 things to do. You can go off or spend time at a network event or something that would probably be useful in the mid-90s. The founders who have become truly successful are ready to do anything to achieve their two or three priorities in a day (and they can correctly determine what to do), while ignoring other goals.
* The founders are polite . I am sure that this is not always the case, but the most successful founders I know are nicer than ordinary people. They are strict, they love to compete, they are ruthless, but still they are good people.
* They don’t want to just pretend to launch a startup . They take care to achieve success, not to look successful. Possession of a “real” company does not give them much joy, they do not spend a lot of time on interviews with lawyers and accountants and do not go to network events, etc. They want to win and do not care about how they look.
One of the reasons why this item is very important is that they are ready to work on things that seem trivial, for example, on a website that allows you to spend the night on an inflatable mattress in someone else's house. Most great ideas initially seem bad, and if the outer shell is most important to you, you will not like it if someone laughs at you. But in fact, it is better to start a ridiculous company that will constantly grow than a company with a beautiful office, which seems serious, but it will close in six months.
* They know how things are done . Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about ambitious plans, while the best can work on things that seem small but do it extremely quickly. Every time you talk to them, they have something done. Even if they are working on large projects, they still make them bit by bit and show obvious progress - they never disappear for a year or donate a huge project in one day. And they are reliable - if they tell you that they do something, then it will be so.
* They move fast . They quickly make any decisions. They respond quickly to emails. This is one of the most striking differences between the great and mediocre founders. Great founders work like machines.
Recently, I began to think about what very successful companies were doing while they were very young. And here is a list. It is based on personal experience, and I am sure that he has many exceptions. And although many not so successful startups also fulfill some of these points, I think that there is nothing wrong with trying to match the patterns.
* They are obsessed with product / experience quality . Almost too obsessed, they spend a lot of time on details that are not very important at first glance. The founders of these companies react as if they feel physical pain when something goes wrong with the product or the user has poor support. Although they believe in early launches and cycles, these people are not going to waste their time on a bad product. (This is not a reason to postpone the launch. You, probably, hesitate with it anyway).
')
Because of this, they try not to put anyone between themselves and users. The founders of such companies are also engaged in the sale and support of the clients themselves.
* They are obsessed with talent . The founders are proud of the quality of their team and are doing everything possible to be joined by the best of the best. They are said to hire the best specialists, but the best founders do not compromise. If they really make a mistake in hiring, they will fix it very quickly.
And they are hiring very slowly. They do not get any buzz from simply owning subordinates and in the beginning they do the dirty work.
Because of this, they focus on building the right company culture.
* They can explain the company's vision in a few clear words . This is the most striking difference from companies that need several complex sentences to answer this question, because there is little good about it. In addition, they can articulate why they will succeed where others have failed, and they have a clear idea of ​​why their market is the best.
In general, their language is suspended very well.
* They start getting income very young . Often already when receiving the first user.
* They are tough and calm . The founders of great companies are always hard and deadpan. A startup can die at any second — sometimes several times a day — and sometimes it seems that the founders of truly successful companies will be able to pull out a gun and shoot a criminal without losing the thread of reflection.
You can create such an image for yourself; I saw how not the most confident founders were very quickly transformed.
* They try to cut costs . In addition to slow hiring, at first they are very modest. Interestingly, companies that do not do this (and usually fail) are often justified by the fact that they “think broadly”. When things are settled, they will be able to increase expenses, but they will still spend only where it matters.
* They make a product that a small number of users like . Paul Bakhit became the first from whom I heard it, but it really is. Successful startups almost always start with a core of super-happy users who become very dependent on the product, and then the company goes further. If you start with something that likes a huge number of people, most often it does not work.
* They grow organically . And, as a rule, they are skeptical about inorganic strategies, for example, large partnership deals and, to a lesser extent, PR. They, naturally, do not make a fuss in the press about the launch of their startup. Mediocre founders focus on powerful PR to match their growth ideas.
* They are growth oriented . Founders always know the number of their users and revenues. And we are ready to immediately tell you these numbers. They have goals that they are trying to achieve in the next week, month, and year.
* They hold a balance between growth and future strategies . They have clear plans and a strong opinion about what they are going to create, and no one can dissuade them from this. But they are more focused on this moment and are not in a hurry to make strategic plans for several years.
Another point in which this feature manifests itself is the first projects of a “suitable size”. You can not immediately jump from nothing to a huge company, you first need to establish something not too big and not too small. It seems they have an innate talent for identifying the right size of projects.
* They do little things . Paul Graham wrote about it . The best founders go very far.
* They are ready for anything . There are sad moments in the startup startup. Mediocre founders are trying to hire people who will do what they themselves do not like. Great ones just do everything that is in the interests of the company, even if they don’t “fan” from such work.
* They are well prioritized . Every day we can choose from 100 things to do. You can go off or spend time at a network event or something that would probably be useful in the mid-90s. The founders who have become truly successful are ready to do anything to achieve their two or three priorities in a day (and they can correctly determine what to do), while ignoring other goals.
* The founders are polite . I am sure that this is not always the case, but the most successful founders I know are nicer than ordinary people. They are strict, they love to compete, they are ruthless, but still they are good people.
* They don’t want to just pretend to launch a startup . They take care to achieve success, not to look successful. Possession of a “real” company does not give them much joy, they do not spend a lot of time on interviews with lawyers and accountants and do not go to network events, etc. They want to win and do not care about how they look.
One of the reasons why this item is very important is that they are ready to work on things that seem trivial, for example, on a website that allows you to spend the night on an inflatable mattress in someone else's house. Most great ideas initially seem bad, and if the outer shell is most important to you, you will not like it if someone laughs at you. But in fact, it is better to start a ridiculous company that will constantly grow than a company with a beautiful office, which seems serious, but it will close in six months.
* They know how things are done . Mediocre founders spend a lot of time talking about ambitious plans, while the best can work on things that seem small but do it extremely quickly. Every time you talk to them, they have something done. Even if they are working on large projects, they still make them bit by bit and show obvious progress - they never disappear for a year or donate a huge project in one day. And they are reliable - if they tell you that they do something, then it will be so.
* They move fast . They quickly make any decisions. They respond quickly to emails. This is one of the most striking differences between the great and mediocre founders. Great founders work like machines.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/209866/
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