https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fQHLK1aIBs

<aside> 💡 This is relevant when the focus shifts from building a product to building a company.

</aside>

1. Building a company is like taking all irrational people you know, putting them in a building and living with them for 12 hours a day.

2. With company building - essentially you are building a high performance engine that keeps running, something no one has to worry about at all,

3. You want to build a company that can be run by idiots, because someday it will be.

4. Leader's real job (refer high output management by Andy Grove) - is to maximize output of an organization and those around you.

5. You want to focus on output, not the input.

6. In the initial days - its ok if things are a mess and chaotic. Too many processes kill innovation, speed and creativity.

7. Concept of editing / being a editor - as a leader you shouldn't do most of the work.

   1. Simplifies things - clarify and simplify everything possible. Campaigns, initiatives etc. Something that people can easily remember and internalize. Do not accept complexity.

   2. Clarify - help the entire team get clarity on every possible thing.

   3. Allocate resources - you should expect your team to come up with most new activities and initiatives. Sometimes its ok if top down initiatives are created.

      1. Over time, you want to reduce amount of feedback you are giving to the team to do things the right way. If the amount of feedback you are giving doesn't decrease over time, you are probably not going a good job of building a high performance team.

   4. Ensure consistent voice - every company related piece, website, PR, recruiting pages etc., should feel like it has been written by one person.

   5. Delegate - micromanagement vs abdication. Both are sins. You should balance the two depending on who you are working with.

      1. Task relevant maturity (has this person ever done this task before) - the more someone has done a task before, give them more freedom. The less someone has done something, you want to stay on top of things and micromanage to ensure objectives are being met.

      

      ii. Leaders should not have a single management style. It should depend on who you are working with.

      

8. In decisions with less consequence → allow people to make mistakes and learn

9. Think of your team as barrels and ammunition

   1. When hiring people, output doesn't necessarily increase. In-fact, it slows things down at times.
   2. Most people are ammunition, but you actually need barrels. Barrels are people who can get things done quickly, from start to finish. They are rare to find, take care of them.
   3. Barrel in one company is not necessarily a barrel in another company.
   4. How to find barrels?
      1. Start with something small / small responsibilities. See how they get it done. If they succeed - give them more to do.
      2. Expand their scope of responsibility till they break. Where they break is the role they should stay in.
      3. See people who have many people at their desk - its a sign that people believe that person can help them.

10. Promoting people - if someone's growth rate is similar to company's growth rate, you can keep promoting them.

1. Getting people to focus on things is very important

   1. Peter Thiel wanted everyone at PayPal to focus on only one thing.
   2. Most people want to solve problem that they know how to solve. Which are B+ problems and not A+ problems. A+ problems are very hard, which post people procrastinate.
   3. Give everyone one thing to prioritize.

2. Metrics and transparency -

   1. Metrics - build a dashboard which everyone can use. If 100% people are using it, you are successful.

   

   b. Take your board decks - share with employees.

   c. Share meeting notes with everybody.

   d. Meeting rooms with glass walls - people don't worry as much when they know who is meeting who.

   e. Steve Jobs at Next → everyone knew each others compensation.

   f. Measure outputs not inputs. Pair metrics together instead of just a single metric.

   

   g. Take a closer look at metrics that seem strange.

3. Get the details right -

   1. If you get the smaller details right, the larger things are easier to take care.
   2. Ex: Steve Jobs wanted circuit boards inside macs be beautiful and well designed, even though no customers can ever see them.
   3. Ex: Serve good food. If you don't, they go gossip. It breeds the wrong kind of culture.
   4. Ex: Office space - avoid coworking spaces, you cant build your cult kind of environment there.

4. Takes serious effort to build a company. How do you know you are putting in the effort?