book

The Soul of Startups

by Sophie Theen

August 2022

Beginner

240 pages

5h 5m

English

Wiley

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A BIT ABOUT MEMY JOURNEYFINALLY GETTING STARTED
THE FOUNDER CULTURETHE GEN Z PARADIGMTHE AFTERMATHCOLLATERAL DAMAGEWHAT WAS NEXT?NOTE
IT BEGINSMONTH 2—THE PRINCIPLES BECAME DEMANDS, A MEASURE OF YOUR PERFORMANCEMONTHS WENT BYGOODBYESTHE AFTERMATHPRESENTNOTE
WHAT IS PERFECT?RISE, COMPANY ONECRITEO, COMPANY TWOFIN, COMPANY THREENOTES

THE NEWSPROVING THE SUSPICIONPEOPLE LEAVE COMPANIES, TOO, NOT JUST MANAGERSSOME, BUT NOT ALL, WOULD HAVE LEFTSTAY ALERT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATENOTE
COMPANY ACOMPANY BCOMPANY CCOMPANY D,E,F… (OR MAYBE MORE)THE WILLINGNESS TO LEARN FROM EXPERIENCEPAYDOCK (FinTech)WHAT IF EXPERIENCED FOUNDERS FORGOT THEY ARE ALSO ON A LEARNING JOURNEY?
THE SHINY SIDE OF THE COINTHE OTHER SIDE OF THE COINLACK OF SAFETY TO FAILLACK OF CO‐CREATION OF STRATEGIESPEOPLE ARE CONSTANTLY TOLD WHAT AND HOW TO DO THEIR JOBSTHERE WAS NO PURPOSE EXCEPT TO “GET IT DONE”VERY LITTLE APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY WHEN SOMETHING IS NOT DONE OR FAILSTHE CONSTANT CHANGE OF DIRECTIONS CREATED CONFUSION, EVEN FOR THE BEST OF USNOTES
A RELATIONSHIP‐LIKE CULTURETHEN SOCIETY ARGUES THAT THE OPPOSITE OF COLLECTIVISM IS INDIVIDUALISMTHE MISPERCEPTION OF INDIVIDUALISM IS USUALLY A BAD INGREDIENT FOR STARTUPSDE‐IDEALIZING COLLECTIVISMNOTES
WHAT IS COMMUNITY?THE ANATOMY OF A COMMUNITYONE—A COMMUNITY WITH A MISSIONTWO—A WHOLE COMMUNITY AROUND THE FOUNDER/STHREE—A TRAGICALLY MISALIGNED COMMUNITYHOLD ON, WHAT IF THERE WAS A FOUNDER WHO DIDN'T DO WHAT HE PREACHED?FOUR—A COMMUNITY THAT EXTENDS A CONVERSATIONSTARTUPS RELY ON THEIR COMMUNITIES FOR SUCCESSNOTES
WHO IS A KEEN LEARNER?WILLINGNESS TO LEARNWILLINGNESS TO TAKE FEEDBACK AND SUPPORT IN RETURNWILLINGNESS TO BE VULNERABLE TO FORGE TRUSTSTHE WILLINGNESS TO LEARN FROM OTHERSTHE UNWILLINGNESS BECAUSE OF EGOSO KEEN LEARNERS, ARE THEY FOUNDERS, OR ARE THEY LEADERS?NOTE
CULTURE NEEDS TO START FROM THE BEGINNINGBUILDING COMPLEMENTARY TEAMS ALL THROUGH THIS JOURNEYTHE ROLE OF THE PEOPLE LEADERSETTING THE RIGHT TONE FROM THE STARTSO, CAN CULTURE BE A CULT?DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE NEEDED AT DIFFERENT PHASES OF GROWTHWILLINGNESS TO BE ONE TRUE SELFTHE ABILITY TO SEEK OUT HELP IN STAYING MENTALLY HEALTHY
SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIREFINAL NOTE:

Content preview from The Soul of Startups

CHAPTER 3The Talent Acquirer

Every time I read the startup news, I find a unicorn popping up or another startup that has outgrown itself in the shortest period. We all become so excited about these new businesses when we read titles like,

N26 reaches 1000 employees in 6 months.

Elemy reaches unicorn status, at 1000 people in 17 months.

New unicorn startup Hopin triples its employees in mere 8 months!

What does this tell you? It tells me that these companies have gone through tremendous growth and are labeled as massive successes to their investors and the public. There is a constant stream of demand for their products. And their capital is secured by growing the teams building these solutions.

There is absolutely no shame in this. However, I find these articles to be incredibly misleading. What we fail to notice is that these companies get a head start with this good publicity. They talk about how much they've grown. Then, we see headlines like “Uber's culture takes a hit as we witness mass exodus this summer.”

Every time I read a piece of news like this; it makes me cringe a little. My skin crawls because I have lived through it. I've experienced this from the inside many times. It feels like this type of evolution is doomed to repeat itself again and again. My usual reflex is to do a little bit more digging. I do this by asking the following questions.