Startup CEO, 2nd Edition

Chapter 7Bringing the Story to Life

Every parent who reads to his or her children has heard the question: “Did it really happen?” More often than not – and whether or not we let our kids in on the secret – the answer is “no.” In the realm of make believe, we wouldn't have it any other way. (Where would we be without hobbits and Hogwarts?) But in the world of startups, our goal is to make all our stories come true.

The “Lean Canvas” slide is meant to state your hypotheses for internal consumption and get your entire team aligned around the goal of testing them. Your investor deck should secure the required funding. Your mission, vision, and values declare what you will do – and what you won't do – to achieve your goal. The intermediate step between those statements and the nitty‐gritty details of team building and execution is the process of building your organization. It's much less well defined than the process for building a good business strategy or doing customer development work to find product‐market fit. But that doesn't mean it's any less important.

It's what turns your idea into a company.

Building Your Company Purposefully

One of the most important keys to building a company is to be intentional about everything. Things will happen around you that are always harder to change after the fact than to steer up front. Do you come off as a micromanager or, worse, a Monday‐morning quarterback? Or do you let things go that you feel aren't right for the direction of your ...