I recently read a great article by Steven Blank, who is a down to earth and experienced entrepreneur I greatly admire. While the case he describes is a bit dramatic and partly stems from deeper issues, many of his points were definitely something I have seen. The one sentence summary of his article: brand new offices disrupted SuperMac’s culture, detracted from growing the company, caused excess politics, and gave competitors lead time. I will not discuss the benefits or detractions new offices create. At one time or another we will all need to move our companies. Instead, I wanted to share what I have learned from my experiences.
Category Archives: Startups
Lessons learned from moving startups to new offices
5 ways to build diversity into teams
I’ve had the pleasure of working for companies “as diverse as the United Nations” during my career. These organizations have greatly benefited from having very diverse teams and are doing well even in this horrid downturn. Why is diversity important?
- Customers are diverse, so varied teams are much more likely to understand what your customers really want.
- Teams with a diverse demographic makeup will have different ideas, broader viewpoints, and a more diverse experience base – this is a sure formula for better decisions.
So, it is no surprise that I get the following question from time to time: how do you build a diverse team?
Delegate work, not responsibility
I am a firm believer that delegation is key to building a business. We can bring in all the technology in the world, but if we can’t delegate properly, our companies have no chance of scaling well. Without delegating well, you are bound to flat-line or even drive your company into decline. So here are the rules of delegation I like to use…
Is the startup world a refuge from age discrimination?
As I network heavily, a common topic of conversation that comes up is how “older” workers feel that they are being discriminated against in this market due to their age. I will not argue this point, but there are three points I would like to bring light to:
- It is not your age that turns off companies – it is the staleness of your skills.
- Startups LOVE experienced people.
- Entitlement days are over, stop talking about the past.
About THE FOUNDER
Apolinaras is a business operations leader with 12-year track record of helping companies manage growth, build diverse teams, harness technology, and get a lot more profitable.Read More About Us »
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