The Soul of Startups

Closing Reflections

While I have focused most of the book thus far on examples of what has and hasn't worked, there is one important takeaway that still needs to be emphasized. There is not a right or wrong answer here. There is no one way to be a successful Founder/CEO. The only “wrong” is failing to do the right thing by your people.

Founders and CEOs are human. They are not infallible, and they need as much support as any other employee, but perhaps just in a different form. There is a learning curve to starting your own company, and what works for one company or one Founder may not be the right fit for another. That's okay. More than anything, I want this book to be the inspiration to ask the right questions—for Founders and CEOs, as well as for employees—that will help them clarify the direction in which they'd like to go. Whatever role you're in, you won't always get it right on the first try. But in failure, you can also find great success.

There seems to be a terrible misconception that Founders and CEOs just instinctively should know how to build the right type of company culture and that they will make no mistakes. That is just not true, and it's a bit unfair of employees to expect it. Working for a startup means that employees are as much a part of the culture as the Founder/CEO—and in a way that is likely very difficult or almost impossible in larger, more established companies. As an employee, or as an HR professional, you have the power to influence and direct ...