team 101: how to build the a team for your startup
TRANSCRIPT
CHOOSING CO-FOUNDER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION IN YOU YOU MAKE IN THE LIFE OF YOUR STARTUP
Sam Altman
TEXT
President of YCombinator
DO AND DON’T
HOW TO CHOOSE CO-FOUNDER(S)
▸ Don’t choose randomly
▸ Choose someone that you’re friend with
▸ Pick no more than 3
▸ 2-3 is perfect
▸ 5 is disaster
▸ #1 reason why startup failed
BETTER…
FIND CO-FOUNDER IS SUPER HARD
▸ Better to have no co-founder than have a bad one
▸ If you’re not tech guy/gal, find technical co-founder is a must!
WHY? YOU ASK?
START SMALL, STAY SMALL
▸ Hire one bad person in early startup is massive blowout
▸ Can kill your startup right away!
THE A TEAM
SOME RULES ON HIRING
▸ Hire someone that better yourself
▸ Early employees defines your startup
▸ If you really can’t find one, train them to be better than you
“THE A PLAYER HIRE A PLAYERS; B PLAYERS HIRE C PLAYERS”
Guy Kawasaki, Investor, Ex-Apple
BOZO EXPLOSION
SOME HIRING EXAMPLE
HIRING A’LA MARK ZUCKERBERG
1. Comfortable hanging with, socially
2. Comfortable reporting if the role were reversed
3. Enjoy working with them
SOME HIRING EXAMPLE
HIRING A’LA PHIL LIBIN
1. Ask your friend for recommendation, or just hiring close friend
2. But make sure you have courage to fire them
3. Hire people smarter than you