The Hardest Thing To Get Right (GeekWire Startup Day 2015)
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Slides from my presentation at GeekWire Startup Day 2015, where I dive into the importance of company culture and values on team and business longevity. Video of presentation: http://youtu.be/3HWuasiDE7o
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The Hardest Thing To Get Right (GeekWire Startup Day 2015)
- 1. THEHARDESTTHINGTOGETRIGHT, HOWIGOTITWRONG, ANDWHATILEARNEDFROMIT. Jordan Ritter FOUNDER & CEO, IVY SOFTWORKS
- 2. MYBACKGROUND A quick semi-illustrated primer
- 3. GROWIN’ UP
- 4. HIGHLIGHTS Paid Hacker Netect Company acquired » Golden handcuffs » Boredom Founding Developer Napster Summer ’99 » Bay Area » Craziness Founder, CEO » CTO Cloudmark Anti-spam » Messaging Security CTO Columbia Music Music2 – Built a software incubator inside a big Record Label Founder, CTO CloudCrowd » Servio Modern crowdsourcing on steroids Founder, CEO Ivy Softworks A better model for building early stage startups
- 5. • Tons of open-source stuff • Nominated, Software Designer of the Year, WIRED Rave Awards • Interviewed in Playboy Magazine • Taught a class at Harvard OTHER FUN FACTS
- 6. THAT ONE TIME A brief story about (IT WAS ONLY ONCE, I SWEAR.)
- 7. • First true time off, thinking about what’s next • Random reconnect from a prior investor • Beers, crowdsourcing, and an instant vision • He’d run the business, I’d build the tech & team BACKSTORY
- 9. • Dysfunctional culture • Atmosphere of fear and mistrust • Imbalance of power at BOD • Tragic miss of a bigger opportunity BIGGEST IMPACTS
- 10. FIRST, THE LOGIC OF NOTACCEPTINGDEFEAT Why I stuck with a bad partnership OR,
- 11. Why I left THEN, THE DECISION TO ACCEPTDEFEAT OR,
- 13. • Will the tech work? • Will anyone use the product? • Will anyone pay for the product? TYPICAL PROBLEMS I’M USED TO
- 17. YOUWILL SUFFER (And boy does it suck to be alone in your suffering!)
- 18. • Raise money • Find talent • Engineer the product • Market the products and company “Ugh, if only I could find someone to…” • Run operations
- 19. But…
- 20. ITISBETTERTO
- 24. But…
- 25. WITHTHE
- 29. • Always interview for values first • Critical Thinking > Problem Solving 3 C’s: Culture, Capacity, Craft • Capacity for Mastery > Current Skills ALRIGHT THEN, HOW?
- 30. IN CONCLUSION
- 31. • Make peace with doing it all, by yourself (at least once) • Define values early & stay true to them • Master how to evaluate values in others THE HARDEST THING: PEOPLE • Suffer happily, or choose to stop suffering (IT CAN BE THAT EASY)