1. Compete With Your Successor
I often think about what my replacement will do after I’m fired. She won’t have emotional commitments to decisions that I already regret.
2. Act Like an Owner
- “I can’t blame anyone else if this sucker goes down.”
- “If it were all my money, I’d invest it in Redfin today — but there’d be some big changes around here.”
- “If we had to get our wallet out every week for that expense, would we?”
3. Get a Board You Connect With (Not Just One With Connections)
4. Run Weekly Revenue Meetings
5. Automate Bad News
6. (Just Ask to) Meet Your Peers
7. Create Simplicity
When Obama first heard the proposed slogan “yes we can,” his reaction was: “too simple.” But a leader’s job is to create simplicity.
8. Go on the Attack
Your competitors are hurting too. Be the aggressor, not the victim.
9. Be a Roman
What disgusted the ancient Romans about barbarians was their lack of discipline. Oxford Professor Peter Heather writes, “As far as a Roman was concerned, you could easily tell a barbarian by how he reacted to fortune. Give him one little stroke of luck, and he would think he had conquered the world. But, equally, the slightest setback would find him in deepest despair…” This is why, 2,000 miles from home, several hundred Romans could slaughter several thousand barbarians.
Startups are founded by barbarians. But to survive the ups and downs, you have to make yourself into a Roman.
10. The Journey is the Destination
Startups alternate between nostalgia for the garage and millennial longing for a lucrative exit... If you’re still playing, you can still win. And playing’s the thing. Enjoy it.
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