10 suggestions from @elonmusk about how to build a great company:
1/ Focus on the product vs. metrics
"If you're entering anything where there's an existing marketplace, against large, entrenched competitors, then your product or service needs to be much better than theirs...
"If you're entering anything where there's an existing marketplace, against large, entrenched competitors, then your product or service needs to be much better than theirs...
...It can't be a little bit better, because then you put yourself in the shoes of the consumer...you're always going to buy the trusted brand unless there's a big difference."
2/ Constantly seek criticism
“A well-thought-out critique of whatever you are doing is as valuable as gold. You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can.
Seek negative feedback, particularly from friends...
“A well-thought-out critique of whatever you are doing is as valuable as gold. You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can.
Seek negative feedback, particularly from friends...
...It doesn’t mean your friends will be right, but very often they are right.
As the entrepreneur, you should take the approach that you are wrong. Your goal is to be less wrong.”
As the entrepreneur, you should take the approach that you are wrong. Your goal is to be less wrong.”
3/ Have a high pain threshold
"There’s a friend of mine who has a saying that, 'starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss.'
At the beginning of building the business, happiness and optimism are high...
"There’s a friend of mine who has a saying that, 'starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss.'
At the beginning of building the business, happiness and optimism are high...
...Then you encounter all sorts of issues, and happiness will steadily decline.
If you succeed, and most people don’t succeed...you will eventually get back to happiness"
If you succeed, and most people don’t succeed...you will eventually get back to happiness"
4/ Embrace failure, as failure is necessary and inevitable.
"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
5/ Work harder than everyone else
"Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. This improves the odds of success...
"Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. This improves the odds of success...
...If other people are putting in 40-hour workweeks and you're putting in 100-hour workweeks, then even if you're doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve."
6/ When hiring, focus on quality > quantity
"I think it is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done...
"I think it is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done...
...Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer, will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive.”
7/ Do all of the tasks required, not just the ones you want to work on.
"If you're co-founder or CEO, you have to do all kinds of tasks you might not want to do... If you don't do your chores, the company won't succeed.
No task is too menial."
"If you're co-founder or CEO, you have to do all kinds of tasks you might not want to do... If you don't do your chores, the company won't succeed.
No task is too menial."
8/ Stop holding large meetings
"Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time.
Please get out of all large meetings, unless you're certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short."
"Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time.
Please get out of all large meetings, unless you're certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short."
9/ Optimism breeds success
"If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day.
Otherwise, it's not."
"If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day.
Otherwise, it's not."
10/ Accumulating talent is an advantage
"Talent is extremely important. It's like a sports team, the team that has the best individual player will often win, but then there's a multiplier from how those players work together and the strategy they employ."
"Talent is extremely important. It's like a sports team, the team that has the best individual player will often win, but then there's a multiplier from how those players work together and the strategy they employ."
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