Archive for August 18th, 2007
Advice for someone who is either joining a Startup or starting a Startup
Targeted Audience: Entrepreneurs, Students, and Recent Graduates
Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at Microsoft shared this wonderful million dollar advice for someone who is either joining a startup or starting a startup at Founders at Work.
For someone who is joining a Startup:
Just learn about leadership from the people at the top of the company. Watch how they talk to people, and watch how they present to people. Companies take their shape based on the personality characteristics and human interaction characteristics of the founders. This is true in every company. Learn about the kind of culture that you want to create in your own company based on the positive and negative aspects that you witness in the people that are your leaders.
For someone who is starting a Startup:
Learn to respect and appreciate other people’s skill sets, because you are going to need other people if you do start a company and you are a technologist. Understand that it’s a rare, rare case when a tech entrepreneur is the right one to lead a startup for a long period of time. You have to feel comfortable in your own skin in terms of what you are good at and what other people are good at. Know when the shift to chief technologiest is the right thing for the company.
Of course, this advice from Ray Ozzie as well as this one from Mark Fletcher, might not be helpful if you want to develop a product or technology for your startup, but these philosophies will be very crucial aspects when we run a company.
