Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World

by Rand Fishkin

Raising prices for your product every year or two and grandfathering in existing customers is a great way to increase loyalty and grow your profit margins. (We did this several times over the next few years; it worked like a charm.)

She outlines one of the most important things to remember when it comes to transparency: you need to balance it with empathy. If I tell you I hate your haircut, I’m being transparent. I’m also being an asshole.

As CEO, I’d often tell my executives and board that every email should be written and every conversation conducted as though it will one day be leaked.

kind I could afford: family. My grandfather Seymour and I spent days poring over patent applications by Google and Yahoo!.

There are two traits fundamental to an effective product-focused business. The first is reach (i.e., the ability to influence a large audience). The second is scalability (i.e., an aptitude for growing revenue far more quickly than costs).

“What good development practices did your last company have that you don’t see in play here?” surfaces best practices.

Recruit technical leadership with a teaching orientation. The best way to ensure that your CTO is going to make you a better CEO is to hire a CTO who likes to teach. Make it clear that you’re looking for someone to drive change and educate you and the team. Beware CTOs who try to “shield” you from the details. Being able to explain complex things simply is a job requirement.

Pro Tip: If you have any type of subscription or recurring revenue, make sure you measure LTV (Lifetime Value—the total revenue customers spend during their relationship with your firm) by referral source(s) and by the number of visits prior to conversion.

What might be surprising, though, is what Google found to be the eight behaviors consistent across strong people managers. Here they are, in order: Is a good coach Empowers team and does not micromanage Expresses interest/concern for team members’ success and well-being Is productive and results oriented Is a good communicator Helps with career development Has a clear vision/strategy for the team Has important technical skills that help him/her advise the team