Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup

Chapter 25. Two Strikes and You Are Out

Bred Feld

Brad is a managing director at Foundry Group and one of the co-founders of TechStars.

Ilive my life by a simple rule that I call the "Screw Me Once" rule. I permit everyone I work with to screw me over once. When this happens, I confront them, forgive them, and move on. However, if they screw me over a second time, then I'm done with them forever.

While the definition of screw me is vague, I put it in the category of deceitful or immoral behavior. The phrase "screw me" is deliberately aggressive and hostile in this context; behavior that qualifies is also deliberately aggressive and hostile.

I don't consider someone letting me down, not following through on a commitment, or failing at something to fall into this category. Failure is a fundamental part of entrepreneurship and I embrace it as part of the process. I fail often and I expect people whom I work with to fail also—either dramatically, or in lesser ways such as not following through on commitments.

Systemic behavior that doesn't correct, such as an inability to get closure on things, or a regular mismatch between the expectations that one sets and what one delivers, becomes a problem, but is not in the Screw Me category. Instead, this will decrease my desire to work with the person, lower my expectations about what will be accomplished, and make me cautious about my own engagement ...