because nobody else is doing it currently. It has to be something that nobody other than you can do, especially once you’re up to scale. Show Up and Don’t Quit Some entrepreneurs say they’re successful because they’re so smart and have this strategic advantage; that’s bull. The ones who say, “You know what? I didn’t quit,” there’s really deep wisdom in that. Showing up and not quitting is a remarkably important part of life. It’s not enough to start something. You have to push through the early challenges, and you can’t let the early successes make you complacent. MARC’S BEST ADVICE
COMPETITION Build a Multiyear Barrier to Entry Every business will have a lot of competition in the early days, so it’s important to select a marketplace where you can differentiate yourself significantly. When you reach a certain scale, competitors can copy your offer, but they can’t do it as well as you. You want to find a business where the initial barrier to entry prevents competition for a few years. That allows you to build a position that’s very defensible. Ultimately, there are no real barriers to entry expressed in terms of decades; they are expressed in terms of years.
CULTURE Overcommunicate in a Crisis People can never feel good about a negative experience like layoffs, but they can be comforted. That’s why it’s important to overcommunicate, particularly in a crisis. If people aren’t on the verge of saying, “Please stop. It’s a little much,” then you’re not communicating enough. Keep going until people cry uncle.
FIRING Cut Twice as Deep as You Want To When you have to make cuts, go twice as deep as you want to. Some people try to cut “just the right amount,” but you never know that amount for sure. (Invariably, it’s higher than you think.) If you make the very hard-nosed decision to cut twice as deep once, you won’t have to go through the trauma of a second round.
FOCUSING TIME & ENERGY Allocate Time to Milestones Hundreds of factors go into making a startup successful. Should you spend an hour coding, an hour talking to sources of capital, an hour marketing, or an hour convincing an NYU freshman to be an unpaid intern? There’s no spreadsheet you can run that against; it’s all relying on intuition. To decide, you need to be clear about the critical path you’re taking to your next milestone and which steps you need to take to get you there.
HIRING Trust Instinct over Credentials Never hire someone if you have a twinkling in your gut telling you it’s the wrong decision. Something in their background or résumé suggests that they’re “The Right Guy,” but you have a feeling that they’re wrong. Go with your gut.
LEADERSHIP Don’t Execute Specific Tasks One of the frustrations of being a CEO is that it’s impossible to get things done when you grow and there are more people involved. You have to realize, “Well, we’re much more powerful now, so when we swing, we have to swing together to make that same wallop.” The important point you should realize is that you shouldn’t be trying to get anything specific done. By “specific” I mean accidental to the nature of the business: “I want the homepage to look this way.” When you have fifty to sixty hands working on your business, you need to step back from tactical issues and focus on strategic life-or-death decisions.
MARKETING Paint Word Pictures