[Repost] Essential Traits for Surviving a Startup

Note: Reposted from https://klinger.io/post/654608607896272896/joining-hypergrowth-startups. I strongly agree with much of this article and have experienced firsthand how these traits affect individuals, teams, and even entire companies. Thanks to the author for organizing them systematically. I have translated the core ideas here in the hope that readers find them useful.

Mindset

• Do what you say
  • Everyone depends on your work; do not abandon it halfway or go back on your word
  • Think through how to deliver before making a commitment
  • Raise difficulties promptly while executing
• Everyone will hold transitional roles
  • Early employees may change roles more than ten times in two years
    • Do not get attached to job titles
    • Find people better than you; discover what you are truly good at

Solving Problems

• You are here to solve problems, not merely point them out
  • Most startup problems are not especially hard; there are simply many of them
  • You are here to solve problems, not point them out
• A problem that is not fully resolved is not solved
  • Completing the first 20 percent of a solution is usually easy
    • Do not leave solutions unfinished
  • Ensure the work is completed and that completing it actually solves the problem
• Bring solutions
  • Think of solutions to the problems you raise; do not just throw them at others

Stress and Chaos

• Work is stressful
  • Stress comes from lack of control, not merely working hard
  • Exhausting yourself accomplishes nothing
  • Allow brief, controlled emotional release
• Build systems
  • Early-stage companies may be chaotic
    • Establish systems without obsessing over them; improve them when necessary
• Work may be urgent, important, critical, or highly visible
  • Understand the differences and the strategies each requires
• Failure is inevitable
  • Risk management matters
    • Prepare recovery plans
    • When failure occurs, face the challenge rather than becoming trapped in the past
  • Consider opportunity cost
    • Balance temporary fixes against long-term solutions
• Work quickly and effectively instead of relying on overtime
  • Thinking about how to multiply your capabilities matters much more than working extra hours alone
• Find things outside work that restore your energy
  • Family, exercise, hobbies, passions
  • Prefer spending time on
    • Permanently resolving tasks that consume large amounts of fragmented time
    • Expanding your capabilities

Broadening Your Capacity

• Never remain stuck on one task
  • If stuck, switch quickly to something else
  • Do not let it block progress elsewhere
• Do not wait excessively
  • Trust yourself to make a good-enough decision
  • Consider which factors matter most
• Earn autonomy through transparency
  • Keep documents and tasks transparent
  • Encourage ownership and build trust
• Keep learning
  • Learn continuously from problems, as quickly as possible
• Multiply your capabilities
  • Automate
  • Hire
  • Delegate

Teams

• If you lead a team
  • Pass problems down and share decision-making authority
    • But remain accountable
  • Every success belongs to every team member
    • Every failure is yours
  • Treat everyone on the team as an adult
    • Share information
    • Trust their decisions
    • Even when you think they are wrong, trust them
  • Ensure everyone is treated fairly
    • You may value people differently, but do not tell anyone
• Fast-growing teams must be able to clean up messes
  • Users should not have to feel the project’s problems
  • Make an extra effort when possible
  • Early overtime may be unavoidable
    • Later, establish processes, systems, and systematic solutions to prevent it
• Being disappointed in people versus in situations
  • Understand the difference
  • By default, be disappointed in the situation even when it looks otherwise, unless it keeps recurring
• Colleagues are not your therapists
  • Never transfer your stress to subordinates
  • Avoid transferring it to peers and managers
  • Venting and sharing are fine
    • Dumping the problem on others is not helpful
      • They have neither the time nor the ability
      • Usually they will end up under the same stress
      • Usually it is their first encounter with the situation too
    • Ideally, have a fallback plan before venting
  • Seek advice from more capable people

Career

• Career planning
  • You will not stay at this company forever
    • People who thrive early may not thrive later
    • Most founders start companies because they do not want to work for large ones, then build large companies themselves. Their absolute authority may keep them there for a long time; others may not stay
  • Plan a learning period of 1–3 years
• Ask for more options
  • Options may be worth more in the future
  • Salary increases are easier to obtain later
  • Increasing option value is as hard as increasing the company’s valuation
  • This applies only to early-stage startups
• Enjoy it all
  • Do not take yourself or everything else too seriously
  • Do not sacrifice your health
  • Do not sacrifice your family; that cannot be recovered either