I finished reading Founders at Work. Very interesting. If you have built a startup (me), plan to (me again, in the future) or even if you are employed by one (me right now), you can relate.
Someone told me in reaction to Paul Graham’s Why to Not Not Start a Startup that one requirement missing was “passion close to absolute obsession.” Graham does have a chapter in Founders at Work. The other featured entrepreneurs have that passion, of course.
What can employees learn? The obvious thing is: work better and earn more, so you could go start up! Think how you can plan for your startup years in advance. What if you don’t want to? Then, how to get the startup attitude and apply it to your job. What if your job conspires against you to do that? Then perhaps the startup attitude is something you can apply to something else in your life.
What can managers learn? How to encourage their team to work like a startup. Of course, they can’t offer as much reward, and don’t put as much at risk. But even without the financial risks and rewards, startup thinking can lead to better performance. The challenge to the manager, management and the stakeholders is how to cultivate the environment that will drive that level of performance.
May 4, 2007 at 6:05 am
passion close to absolute obsession = OT
hehehe
May 4, 2007 at 6:30 am
Yeah, working long hours. But it’s not overtime if you’re the founder/owner!
May 5, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Dude,
I’m an American in Germany. I work for General Dynamics right now. My wife is Philippina, from Camiguin Province. Her Island is in desperate need of a good ISP/VOIP provider. I think there is money to be made there. I am interested is starting up something.
Send me an e-mail……
May 7, 2007 at 3:41 am
Hey migs, you’re really reading startup business stuff eh?
May 8, 2007 at 9:14 am
You know, since people keep on misspelling Filipino, I feel like creating a startup dedicated to teaching the correct form of the word.
May 11, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Dave,
Sorry I have retired from the ISP business. But I hope one of the readers here gets in touch with you. I’ll forward them your email address.
Jozzua,
Yeah I got interested in the idea again. But no, not going into it yet - like you!
Rico,
Yeah do that. You’ll make a lot!
May 22, 2007 at 12:00 am
[...] guilty. Instead of Filipino they type in Philipino or some equally wrong variant. Such as Dave, who claims to have a “Philippina” wife (I imagine no self-respecting wife would let her husband remain ignorant of how to spell her [...]
May 24, 2007 at 4:12 am
Migs,
Been waiting for that book for a while. Where did you buy it?
May 25, 2007 at 9:04 pm
[...] 2.0 startups” and related things? Because they are realistic and can be done in spare time, like the stories in Founders at Work. The telecom/Internet stuff are really expensive thus it’s just a dream for [...]
June 1, 2007 at 8:35 pm
[...] are many other theories. Migs even blogged about starting up. I feel that this “lack of access to capital” is still the biggest stumbling [...]