100+n lessons learned growing a top European?startup

TL:DR — I decided to start an experiment: I am writing everything I learn (and learned throughout the last 4 years) helping grow Uniplaces from a tiny company to a 140-people, $30-million VC-backed, multi-million revenue business. When I say experiment, I mean this will not be static: I will be adding content and republishing this same post, hence the 100+n. If you want to know why, check “Why this matters”, or scroll down to “How this works” for navigation tips and “Learnings” for the juice.

Why this matters (at least to me)

One of the greatest assets you can take from a startup is wisdom. Wisdom is different from skill. Skill is expertise around a topic- you can learn it, study it and apply it when surrounded or asked. Wisdom is absorbed knowledge, carved lessons, moments you’ve been through that teach you how to be better the next time. The real reason “skill vs wisdom” matters is because skill increases the probability of success, while wisdom reduces the likelihood of failure. This seems redundant, but considering a startup faces more often failure-likely situations than success-likely moments, you really want to optimise at handling the former.

How this works

I know medium wasn’t built for this, but this is a job I need to get done and I am hiring medium for it. It’s going to be updated often so here’s what matters:

Random: There is no particular order to what I write. I add them as I go, or as they come. This is why I recommend navigating through #topics.

#topics: As medium isn’t the best tool for this, and I write in a random fashion, a good way to find preferred categories is ctrl-f and search a topic. You can find stuff around #product, #engineering, #recruiting, #leadership, #marketplaces, #management, #trust, #productivity, #strategy and more.

Learnings

1. Happiness is only the absence of information

#Knowledge

2. Never say “it just takes 5 minutes” to anyone, especially to engineers

Maybe the single most impactful learning in all of this post. #Engineering

3. If that new C-level doesn’t start adding value from day 1, that is a massive red flag

Read Ben Horowitz’s “Hard thing about hard things” at least ten times. #Recruiting #Leadership

4. Every meeting must finish with action points

Refuse to finish a meeting with a tap in the back. Everyone needs to be accountable for doing something. If someone (or everyone) just “listened” either question the need of the meeting or the people in the room. #Productivity #Meetings

5. Product managers’ most important skill is a fast application of common sense

#Product

6. Apply the “hamburger feedback” method

“You’re great…” (bread=positive) “…but I was expecting differently and we need to work more on this…” (meat = needs improvements) “…But good effort.” (bread — positive). #Feedback

7. Building product is more about what you won’t build than what you will build

#Product

8. Look at yourself as a startup: are you growing as fast as your company?

Personal growth, career and skill-wise, is as important as growing your startup. In the end of the day, it’s not salary or stamp, it’s how best equipped you become to deal with the future. #PersonalGrowth

9. Agree on the problem before agreeing on the solution

Since we learned this approach from Dropbox our brainstorming meetings have never been the same again. Align everyone that the problem exists (and what actually is) and only after jump into solutions. #Strategy

10. You have one mouth and two ears: use them proportionally.

#Management #Communication

11. Culture starts from the top

This includes your CEO, your managers, your team leaders, and even that mouthy intern. Culture in a startup is either a bacteria or an antibiotic, and it will spread: deal with it every opportunity you get, with everyone. #Culture

12. There are no excuses

You need to get it done. There is no “under staffed”, no “under resourced”, no “there’s no time”. If you don’t do it, your competitors will. And they will win. #Hustle

13. There is always another way

Stop over complicating and over engineering: there is ALWAYS another way. Don’t reinvent the wheel when you don’t have to. #Product

14. Rockstars look like sponges

Absorbing learning at an amazing pace is a key indicator of really good people. Care for them as, not only they contribute more, but also stay longer. #KeepingPeople #Rockstars

15. What you can’t measure, you can’t improve

#Data

16. Making wrong calls are not mistakes. Mistakes are repeating wrong decisions and expecting different results

#Strategy

17. Deconstruct every problem in it’s variables and solve one variable at a time

The closer you are to overall strategy the more important is to slice an elephant in smaller pieces and eat one at a time. #Productivity

18. Holistic strategies don’t build user stories

Newsflash: you need clear, concise, “set-in-stone” stuff to build a user story. Period. Visions and missions are pretty and all, but when you need to ship, PM’s need to know what to do now, not in the future. #Product

19. Lack of focus is the biggest inefficiency creator of all time

And one of the greatest lessons you can offer to young people when they join a startup. #TimeManagement #Focus

20. When incompetence hits look for internal bleedings not open wounds

It’s quite easy for a startup to mis-hire. Either people were young and inexperienced, maybe someone suddenly took too much responsibility or you actually did a bad hire, when some level of incompetence hits don’t focus so much on the loud complainers (open wounds), these are treated with stitches and band-aids. Look for the head’s down that seem off, demotivated, losing energy. These are internal bleedings and they will drop you even before you saw it coming. #Management

Check 100+ more here...

If you want to see 100 plus other learnings like this, check the original post in 100+n lessons learned growing a top European startup. You can also read some of the other posts I wrote in albuquerque.io.

If you relate to some of these learnings you can highlight them on medium or leave a comment. If you have your own learnings, add them as responses or in the comments below.