Here are the 101s published to date:
- Being CEO (46 links, 3 new ones)
- Hiring (40 links, 7 new ones)
- Mistakes and Failures (31 links, 5 new ones)
- Seed Fundraising (97 links, 3 new ones)
- Starting a Startup (29 links)
Here were my favorite new links for each 101:
Being a CEO: Reid Hoffman’s If, Why, and How Founders Should Hire a “Professional” CEO
To be a successful growth-stage CEO, you need to be ready to manage a 1,000 person organization and devote substantial time to time consuming things like running meetings and other business process. You can’t just do the exciting stuff like making the final call on product and speaking at conferences, while shuffling off everything else to the mythical COO who loves doing all the dirty work and doesn’t want any of the credit.
Hiring: Marc Andreessen’s How to hire the best people you’ve ever worked with
Ethics are hard to test for. But watch for any whiff of less than stellar ethics in any candidate’s background or references. And avoid, avoid, avoid.
Mistakes and Failures: Rand Fishkin’s 7 Unlikely Recommendations for Startups & Entrepreneurs
There’s nothing wrong with finding a great technical co-founder, but there’s a lot wrong with finding a mediocre one, or one who doesn’t work out long-term and creates a messy situation for the fledgling business. One bit of advice that everyone gives that I agree with is that choosing a co-founder must be like choosing a marriage partner – and its breakdown can often spell the end of the company.
Seed Fundraising: Fabrice Grinda’s A SuperAngel’s Investment Guide
An email update or a 5-10 minute phone call once in a while is more than enough to get a sense of how the business is doing. Moreover, rather than having structured times to talk, it’s much better to be available punctually whenever the entrepreneur needs help. This works better for me given it takes less absolute time and is better for the entrepreneur because they get the help they need when they need it. I sometimes don’t talk to an entrepreneur for 6 months or more, but then end up spending a lot of time with them discussing a term sheet they might have received if they are fund raising, etc.
We’re almost to 70 lessons for the 1-Read-A-Day newsletter. Once I reach 100, my next goal is to publish the first edition of the Startup Textbook – based 100% on curated content that I summarize and organize.