Tag: the art of war

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On Scale – Lessons on Culture, Hiring, Operating, and Growth

flower, scale

One of my favorite thought exercises to do when I meet with founders who have reached the A- and B-stages (or beyond) is:

“What will his/her company look like if he/she is no longer there?”

The Preface

While the question looks like one that’s designed to replace the founder(s), my intention is everything but that. Rather, I ask myself that because I want to put perspective as to how the founder(s) have empowered their team to do more than they could independently. Where the collective whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Have the founders built something that is greater than themselves? And is each team member self-motivated to pursue the mission and vision?

It reminds me of the story of a NASA janitor’s reply when President Kennedy asked: “Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?”

“Well, Mr. President,” the janitor responded, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.”

From the astronaut who was to go into space to the janitor cleaning the halls of NASAs space center, each and every one had the same fulfilling purpose that they were doing something greater than themselves.

And if the CEO is able to do that, their potential to inspire even more and build a greater company is in sight. Can he/she scale him/herself? And in doing so, scale the company past product-market fit (PMF)?

For the purpose of this post, I’ll take scale from a culture, hiring, operating, and product perspective, though there are much more than just the above when it comes to scale. Answering the questions, as a founder:

  • How do you expand your audience?
  • How do you build a team to do so?
  • And, how do you scale yourself?

And to do so, I’ll borrow the insights of 10 people who have more miles on their odometer than I do.

While many of these lessons are applicable even in the later stages of growth, I want to preface that these insights are largely for founders just starting to scale. When you’ve just gone from zero to one, and are now beginning to look towards infinity.

The TL;DR

  1. Build a (controversial) shocking culture.
  2. Hire intentionally.
  3. Retaining talent requires trust.
  4. Build and follow an operating philosophy.
    • Create, hold, and share excitement.
    • Align calendars.
  5. Upgrade adjacent users as your next beachhead.
  6. Capture adoption by changing only 1 variable per user segment.
Continue reading “On Scale – Lessons on Culture, Hiring, Operating, and Growth”
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#unfiltered #8 The Oasis – Fiction, Books I’ve Recommended/Gifted the Most, How I’ve Kept Myself Busy Outside of Work

book, fiction, reading

Lately, I’ve picked up a few fiction books – 2, to be specific – The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin and Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, by recommendation of a friend and founder, respectively. And damn, they’ve rekindled my love for worldly escapes. Prior to high school, I used to be the biggest fanatic of fiction books. Although proportionally smaller, my fictional “library” at home still includes:

  • every single book in the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
  • the entire Redwall series by Brian Jacques,
  • every single one in the LEGO Bionicle series,
  • the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz,
  • Dune by Frank Herbert,
  • The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara,
  • and much more.

And to further how much I nerded out over fiction, I knew our local librarians by their first name and memorized by library card number by heart (to this day) – all for the sake of fiction. But as I grew older and entered my teens, I was told that I should have outgrown fiction. That it should stay as a remnant – a fond memory – of my “youth”. So, I slowly acquired the taste for non-fiction, biographies/autobiographies, business books and documentaries.

Yet, in some ways, in this serendipitous situation, when now I have more free time, and by fervent inspiration from the two aforementioned angels, I found sanctuary in other worlds. I saw with my imagination and heard with my eyes. For lack of better words, it was magical.

From non-fiction, I’ve been able to walk alongside the greats who have once or now inhabit the reality on this small blue pearl amidst a sea of unknown. From fiction, I’ve been able to walk alongside the greats who have never lived in this reality, maybe never will, but somewhere out there, they hold the keys to our dreams. Each hold a proud seat in my heart, but the latter has been dormant for over a decade.

Books I’ve Recommended/Gifted the Most

I should preface that I’m not the most voracious reader out there – although that’s been changing over the past 4-5 weeks. But here are my favorites which I’ve recommended/gifted the most:

  • 2018 fav – The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky
    • Short (1-3 pages, on average), but incredibly insightful chapters of product/design/leadership lessons from a founder/investor/product leader, especially during messy times post-honeymoon stage of being an entrepreneur. My favorite pages… 232-234. A set of three questions to create a lovable product.
  • 2019 fav – The Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle
    • A dedication to the most well-known least famous person in Silicon Valley. From the book title, you might be able to guess what he did – all of which he took zero compensation for. Having been suggested and subsequently read too many leadership books earlier in my career, when I first suggested this one, I was quite skeptical. I thought it was just another one of those, until I heard the name, Bill Campbell. A name which I’ve heard more than once from various people who attributed their success to him, since 2016. And I’m so glad I didn’t dismiss this one. I only wish I could have gotten to know the amazing person this book is dedicated to.
  • Startup fav – The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
    • A book that doesn’t sugarcoat the tough decisions in building a company – a set of decisions illustrating on how he dealt with situations when things just wasn’t going his way. Rather than being prescriptive, it gave me a framework for understanding the various struggles a founder will encounter – most of which I had yet to see when I was recommended to read this book. Quite pertinent in today’s landscape, ironically.
  • Most nostalgic/impactful on personal growth – The Art of War by Sun Tzu
    • I was first given this book when I graduated from elementary school, as the problem child, though not in the traditional sense. I had a knack for blaming others when problems arose, but this book helped me understand people better and where people were coming from. In all honesty, I don’t know why it clicked when I was only 10, but it did. Apart from my childhood bias, though specific to leadership in a military regime, you can draw several parallels between the art of war and business and life.
  • Fiction fav – Salamandastron by Brian Jacques
    • Brian Jacques throughout the entire Redwall series just has such a way to weave suspense and an emotional attachment to the various characters. Admittedly, it was the first fictional book I cried to while reading, so it holds a special place in my heart.

For the sake of not overwhelming you with too much, I’ve only included the ones I’ve statistically recommended/given the most, as well as gotten the most positive reactions from folks I’ve offered these to. If you’re interested in a more exhaustive list, feel free to DM me – either through this blog or social media.

Keeping Body and Mind Busy

For many of my other friends and colleagues, they have found similar solace in books. Many in the kitchen. Some with instruments and a camera. A handful with a mic and Twitch or Anchor.

Because I have saved 2-3 hours of travel time every day now, I’ve been:

  • Doodling at least thrice a week in my Leuchtturm notebook, specifically their medium sketchbook (180g/sqm, so on the thicker end of pages);
  • Jumping on game sessions with friends over the weekends, like on Skribbl.io or recently, Songversations (Discord is definitely my favorite medium of social interaction, especially with all the bots they have. My favorite of which is the Groovy music bot where I can tune into music alongside my friends);
  • Reaching out to 1 new person I’m insanely curious about every week;
  • Idea-journaling every day;
  • Trying new recipes and methods in the kitchen;
  • Trying new home workout routines;
  • Reading fiction and non-fiction;
  • Writing for this blog 😀 ;
  • And, a new social experiment between friends, family, and colleagues, in hopes of making this world feel a little smaller, just a little closer, and a whole lot more interesting.

So, if you have the time and privilege to, explore new/’new’ genres and mediums of storytelling, creativity, and activity. Some may very well surprise you!

Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash

#unfiltered is a series where I share my raw thoughts and unfiltered commentary about anything and everything. It’s not designed to go down smoothly like the best cup of cappuccino you’ve ever had (although here‘s where I found mine), more like the lonely coffee bean still struggling to find its identity (which also may one day find its way into a more thesis-driven blogpost). Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

Stay up to date with the weekly cup of cognitive adventures inside venture capital and startups!

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Setting Culture

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

I just started my second read of Ben Horowitz‘s new book, What You Do is Who You Are: How to Create your Business Culture. It’s a brilliant deep dive on what culture and virtues mean for a growing company or team. From the most successful slave revolution in history to prison culture to the samurai bushido, Ben draws parallels between those and startup culture, where you can get a snapshot here.

On page 31, Ben wrote “Create Shocking Rules.” Why “shocking”? So people will ask why. So people will pause, think, and remember them. What is “shocking”? In a time when raping and pillaging was the norm, Toussaint Louverture, the man who led the Haitian Revolution, forbade officers from having concubines. And he kept to that promise. When “shocking” isn’t the only game changer, you need uncompromising commitment to those rules. Weak follow-through is another fallacy in creating the culture you want. What you let slide will define the new culture, with or without your approval.

Sun Tzu and the Concubines

Rereading about Toussaint Louverture reminded me of a story my dad used to tell me by my bedside. About another brilliant general, who lived 2000 years prior to Toussaint during the Spring and Autumn Period, and best known for authoring The Art of War, Sun Tzu.

Through his thirteen chapters, dubbed The Art of War, he eventually earned an audience with the king of the State of Wu. Hoping to test Sun Tzu’s strategies to its extremes, possibly expecting to see Sun fail, the king asked Sun to test it on his harem of concubines.

After accepting the task at hand and separating the concubines into two companies, Sun had them all take a spear in hand and said, “I presume you know the difference between front and back, right hand and left hand?”

The women answered, “Yes.”

After explicitly explaining what “Eyes front”, “Left turn”, “Right turn”, and “About turn” meant, he issued his first order at the sound of the drums, “Right turn.” But, the concubines responded with fits of laughter. Sun Tzu proclaimed, “If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame.”

In another attempt, he called out, “Left turn.” His words met the same fate as the ones he uttered just prior – with laughter. This time, he said, “If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers still disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.”

Subsequently, he ordered the heads of the two companies beheaded, whom happened to be king’s favorite two concubines. Seeing what had unfolded from his pavilion, the king sent a messenger to plead with Sun to keep his two favorite alive. But Sun did not relent.

After their execution, he immediately installed two new officers, and from then on, the concubines followed every order that Sun issued to the T.

Using the principles he shared and taught in The Art of War, Sun Tzu won many battles for the State of Wu, most notably, when Sun Tzu led an army of 30,000 to defeat an enemy numbering ten times more than the troops from Wu. As Jon Stewart, former The Daily Show host, once said:

“If you don’t stick to your values when they’re being tested, they’re not values: they’re hobbies.”

In Closing

In his book, Ben shares quite a bit how some of the best leaders in the world shaped their organizational culture. It wasn’t from catered lunches or having dogs in the office every Friday. Culture comes down to setting “shocking” rules, paired with a set of priorities, and more importantly, keeping them. Culture is what your team members remember about your organization and how it made and makes them feel 20 years down the road.

Though not perfect, my former swim coach instilled the same virtues in us. He was never a fan of tardiness. To him, it demonstrated a lack of character and commitment. And to enforce that, if we were late, by even a minute, to get into the water (not arrive at the pool), the offenders had to swim the entire warm-up in butterfly – the whole 2000 yards. And not one person escaped that law, not even him – not that I ever saw him late.

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