"Beyond Entrepreneurship" is a very good book for managers of growing startups to read. amazon.com/dp/0133815269/…
It is a book written *for* entrepreneurs at the post-initial-success, pre-scale stage. Reed Hastings once said he thought every entrepreneur should memorize the book.
It is a book written *for* entrepreneurs at the post-initial-success, pre-scale stage. Reed Hastings once said he thought every entrepreneur should memorize the book.
The basic premise of the book is this: whereas entrepreneurship is about discovering a market need and servicing it with an initial product, company leadership is altogether different. What made you successful at the former will not necessarily make you succeed in the latter.
What helps you succeed "beyond" entrepreneurship is all about laying foundations for *decentralized* excellence. In other words, helping your obsession with the problem become contagious with the staff. Vision/mission has to flow to strategy/tactics. And ultimately, action.
The book makes clear that the biggest occupational hazard of an entrepreneur is not realizing their job, at pre-scale stage, is to connect the new staff to the history, vision, and culture of the company. Their job is *not* to individually contribute, except perhaps by example.
The book further makes clear that being a founder/executive is a gift to the company. Not because we're important. But because no one else has true authenticity to lead the staff. Great companies are founder-led. When founders leave, companies often devolve to mediocrity.
So, with that gift, the worst thing you can do is squander it and not spread the founder vision, strategy, and excitement around.
If you don't lay down -- and enforce -- the cultural principles that make your customers happy & competitors envious, they will simply rot with time.
If you don't lay down -- and enforce -- the cultural principles that make your customers happy & competitors envious, they will simply rot with time.
Final thought: it is hard for me to step away from individual contributions. Part of my identity is as an engineer who builds and ships things. But it is not about me anymore. It is about a staff of 70+ people, 350+ enterprise customers, and a market opportunity in the billions.
