Thread by @speirin

I was never a fan of the pampered mentality that came into startups.

I cringed as I saw money be wasted on totally unnecessary shit like expensive offices, kitted out with artificial grass and ping pong tables.

Hiring people with sexy logos on their CV, but were often useless.

It's such a misconception that pampering people makes them work harder, or perform better.

I spent a year of my career based at one of the worlds top PE companies @ their prestigious Mayfair office.

They had it all, like literally every creature comfort you could ever think of.

PE has a dumb culture where people need to do facetime and be in the office more than they're at home, most MD's / VP's practically live at the office, with clothes there and everything.

Thing is, I saw firsthand a lot of their facetime hours are spent on Internet shopping / FB.

I was the first in each morning, last out of the office in the early hours at night.

They were shocked by how hard I worked as I was "only" working for one of their portfolio companies and my work ethic stood out.

That work ethic wasn't shaped by the office luxury. It's my DNA.

I would work my ass off regardless of pampered surroundings or not, because I was laser focussed on building a business.

I urge founders to really be economical and have humility in this cycle.

Be fair, have empathy.... but also lean and fucking mean.

Don't waste money on BS.

Make sure every single person you have on board is rowing and adding value, including you.

That isn't purely measurement, that's also thorough onboarding, ongoing support, seamless internal comms and no sacred cows culture, it's about survival, progress, and teamwork is the key.

Don't let go of solid performers, because you think ex FAANG (or whoever) is going to come in and do a better job, often they do not.

Keep a mix between grey hairs, youth, energy and proven experience, but keep everybody humble and working together.

Don't allow them/us culture.

It's counterintuitive, but you never stop needing entrepreneurs, for sure, many wont be able to grow with a hyper growth company, but often that's only because of poor legacy decisions e.g having people in job titles they haven't earned or aren't capable of.

Always think ahead.

The culture should be honest, you shouldn't need to fire people, each individual (including you) should know when they've taken the company as far as they can + when it's time to past the baton on to the next generation.

Having to force those decisions is a culture failure imo.

So....

- Don't pamper, empower.
- Don't blame, support.
- Don't set people up for failure.
- Don't overlook, be meticulous.
- Don't expect, without example.
- Don't react, prevent.
- Work with, not against.
- Don't neglect, introspect.

Humility >>>

Ps - please get rid of the fucking ping pong tables, that's three desks you could squeeze in. 😅

Your people shouldn't have time for games at work anyway...

Give them as much balance as possible, so they can recharge, unwind and play ping pong in their own time. 💜 #Onwards