Thread by @rkhazzam

After 5 incredible years, I've decided to move on from Uber. My journey has spanned 3 roles and countless cities in Europe and North America. It's also given me the opportunity to work with and learn from the brightest people I've ever met. Here's what I've learned (thread):

(1) Startups are HARD! You're in unchartered territory 99% of the time, obstacles are everywhere, processes don't exist, nothing is written down. Mental toughness and persistence are crucial. Every day is a rollercoaster of emotions. The only constant is feeling uncomfortable.

(2) Execution is critical. There are a million things you *need* to do in a startup - good teams hold ppl accountable to fully executing/achieving one goal every single day. On the launch team, we did team update 'standups' twice a day to create a culture of execution.

(3) Do things that don’t scale (initially). I spent hundreds of hours pitching drivers + signing up riders on the street. Then we launched basic partnerships with bars and clubs, generating <25 signups a week each. Build a small following first, paid marketing comes later.

(4) A data-driven culture + individual-KPI ownership creates hyper-accountability and an ownership mentality. Every single member of a team should have at least one KPI they are responsible for, and they should report on that KPI vs. target on regularly (weekly, if possible).

(5) Don’t confuse goals with strategy, or strategy with tactics. Goals are outcomes you're optimizing for (Rev, MAUs, cities launched, etc). Strategy refers to the value-prop you'll deliver within specific user segments, geos or use-cases. Tactics are project-level initiatives.

(6) High standards - for people and work - are *everything*. Recruit A+ players, hold them to crazy high standards, and see what happens. If your industry is crowded with lots of funding, standards may be the only thing that differentiates you. @pierre_dimitri taught me this.

(7) Hire people who love your product, can deal with ambiguity, have overcome adversity in their life/career, and are capable of learning new skills. At a startup, the only constant is change + challenges - be wary of ppl who have only excelled in very predictable environments.

(8) Recruiting is everyones responsibility. Establishing a common philosophy and processes to identify top talent and make objective, unbiased hiring decisions is absolutely critical to scaling. Lowering standards to speed up recruiting is the fastest path to mediocrity.

(8) Leadership can be hard and lonely and sometimes embarrassing. Your mistakes are on full display. The weight of your teams morale, success and failure rests heavy on you shoulders. But leadership isn't a popularity contest, get comfortable making unpopular decisions.

(9) Per @dkhos, 'management is about a contract, leadership is about the heart'. You can have all the performance mngmt tools you want, but teams need to feel emotionally connected to a bigger vision/mission to do great things. Communication matters. I've made this mistake alot.

(10) Work vs. personal life is a zero-sum game. Startups require a ton of hard work + mental energy which will impact your personal/social/fitness life one way or another. Be deliberate and self-aware about those tradeoffs, they are real, make sure you're comfortable with them.

Thanks for the love!