Instigator Blog

We all know that hiring top talent for startups is hard. In a recent post I weighed in on the debate about whether or not startups should hire workaholics. Within the comments on that post, Jeff Nolan said something very interesting (which may appear a bit out of context, but that’s OK):

…the best employees are motivated by a combination of working on something intellectually stimulating, working with smart people, and making money… in that order, based on my experience.

The rewards angle is interesting to consider, but I believe that the best employee satisfaction strategy is to constantly remove barriers that get in people’s way. Google is really good about this with their engineers, they create an environment that is as friction free as possible for people to exercise their creativity, while at the same time working in concert to execute on Google’s mission.

I definitely agree with the first point. And if you don’t offer employees something intellectually stimulating and smart people to work with, I’m not sure it matters how much you pay them … the best people won’t be motivated.

And for the most part what this really means is that it’s very difficult to motivate people.

It’s very hard to truly motivate employees. Yes, working at startups can be hugely rewarding. But ultimately, most of the motivation has to come from within.

So what about all the perks and rewards that companies offer? What’s the point?

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One of entrepreneurs’ favorite pastimes is complaining about venture capitalists (VCs). (Incidentally, I’m fairly sure the reverse holds true for VCs, but I won’t put words in their mouths.) Although some of this is understandable (raising money is extremely hard and can be a frustrating process), I’ve often thought it’s in bad taste and just plain stupid.

I agree with Jeff Bussbang — too many entrepreneurs play the VC blame game. This is when an entrepreneur complains about a VC’s incompetence, because they didn’t agree to fund the entrepreneur’s startup. I understand the frustration, and you can be sure all VCs aren’t created equal, but the more you play the blame game, and openly complain about VCs while still trying to raise money from them the harder you’ll find it.

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The hubbub over Jason Calacanis’ post How to save money running a startup is completely absurd. Congratulations to Jason for causing a colossal sh*t storm where none should have existed.

He provides some great suggestions for things you can save money on. I’ve made plenty of suggestions on stuff you shouldn’t spend money on when starting a business but he’s got a few tips I hadn’t thought of.

What people seem to have reacted so negatively to was Jason’s point about hiring workaholics. He had so much negative feedback, he actually changed the item in his list:

Fire people who are not workaholics. don’t love their work… come on folks, this is startup life, it’s not a game. don’t work at a startup if you’re not into it–go work at the post office or starbucks if you’re not into it you want balance in your life. For realz.

And what exactly is the problem with that statement? Nothing. You should hire workaholics. They should also love their work and be passionate about what they’re doing. Workaholics alone are useless, because if they don’t love what they’re doing, their work will suck. All they’ll be doing is producing more of it…

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I was very glad to see that someone recorded the recent Blitzweekend presentations. Stephane Daury did a great job recording everything, and I’ve enjoyed watching the presentations I didn’t see.

I gave a presentation at Blitzweekend about starting a company. It was a mixture of a few things including:

• how Standout Jobs started from within the Montreal tech community
• my personal history, and use of blogging & social media to build a reputation locally and beyond
• raising capital - the difficulties, tips, etc.
• my current struggles with balancing the 20,000 foot strategic view and day-to-day issues

The presentation is a bit longer than I intended it to be, but I’m pleased with the results. A bit more practice would have helped, and more point form notes instead of what I had written up to use. But I hope people enjoyed the presentation and got something out of it. Anyone?

Anyway, if you’re interested in learning more about Standout Jobs, where it came from and some of the lessons learned so far (and you want to see me “in action” - after all, who wouldn’t?!?!) please check out the presentation and let me know what you think.

How do you maintain a 20,000 foot strategic view of your startup and business, while frantically managing the day-to-day efforts?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, because it’s something I’m dealing with now. Immediately after launching Standout Jobs, things accelerated incredibly. And that should be the goal of every startup. Prior to launching you’re focused primarily on product development, but after launch there are a million other issues to deal with. Acceleration is good. It’s certainly better than the alternative! But how do you manage that - most of which involves day-to-day issues (like acquiring customers, customer support, managing the team, handling bugs, etc.) - while still keeping an overall eye on your strategic vision and goal?

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