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High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People
Well-known technology executive and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high growth tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Instacart, Coinbase, Stripe, and Square as they've grown from small companies into global brands. Across all of these break-out companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has codified in High Growth Handbook.
Covering key topics including the role of the CEO, managing your board, recruiting and managing an executive team, M&A, IPOs and late stage funding rounds, and interspersed with over a dozen interviews with some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley including Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz), and Aaron Levie (Box), High Growth Handbook presents crystal clear guidance for navigating the most complex challenges that confront leaders and operators in high-growth startups.
In what Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn and co-author of the #1 NYT bestsellers The Alliance and The Startup of You calls "a trenchant guide," High Growth Handbook is the playbook for turning a startup into a unicorn.
"Elad Gil is one of Silicon Valley's seriously knowledgeable and battle-tested players. If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies."
- Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, co-author of the #1 NYT bestsellers "The Alliance" and "The Startup of You," and host of the podcast Masters of Scale
"Elad eschews trite management aphorisms in favor of pragmatic and straight-shooting insights on complex topics like managing a board of directors, executing functional re-organizations with as little trauma as possible, and everything in-between."
- Dick Costolo, former CEO of Twitter and serial entrepreneur
"Elad first invested in Airbnb when we were less than 10 people and provided early advice on scaling the company. This book shares these learnings for the next generation of entrepreneurs."
- Nathan Blecharczyk, cofounder of Airbnb, Chief Strategy Officer, and Chairman of Airbnb China
"Elad jam-packs every useful lesson about building and scaling companies into a single, digestible book. My only gripe is that he didn't write this when we were in the early days of Box as it would have saved my ass countless times."
-Aaron Levie, cofounder and CEO of Box
"Armed with observations gathered scaling some of the most successful and important companies of Silicon Valley, Elad has no-nonsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond."
- Max Levchin, cofounder and CEO of Affirm, cofounder and CTO of PayPal
"Elad is one of the most experienced operators in Silicon Valley having seen numerous companies hit their inflection point. His advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A."
- Brian Armstrong, cofounder and CEO of Coinbase
"Elad is one of the best connected and respected early stage investors in the Valley - he invested in Minted when we had fewer than 50 employees and his advice was critical to us in growing our business to where we are now, in the low hundreds of millions in sales. In his book, he crystallizes all of these learnings for the next generation of companies."
-Mariam Naficy, cofounder and CEO of Minted
Covering key topics including the role of the CEO, managing your board, recruiting and managing an executive team, M&A, IPOs and late stage funding rounds, and interspersed with over a dozen interviews with some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley including Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz), and Aaron Levie (Box), High Growth Handbook presents crystal clear guidance for navigating the most complex challenges that confront leaders and operators in high-growth startups.
In what Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn and co-author of the #1 NYT bestsellers The Alliance and The Startup of You calls "a trenchant guide," High Growth Handbook is the playbook for turning a startup into a unicorn.
"Elad Gil is one of Silicon Valley's seriously knowledgeable and battle-tested players. If you want the chance to turn your startup into the next Google or Twitter, then read this trenchant guide from someone who played key roles in the growth of these companies."
- Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, co-author of the #1 NYT bestsellers "The Alliance" and "The Startup of You," and host of the podcast Masters of Scale
"Elad eschews trite management aphorisms in favor of pragmatic and straight-shooting insights on complex topics like managing a board of directors, executing functional re-organizations with as little trauma as possible, and everything in-between."
- Dick Costolo, former CEO of Twitter and serial entrepreneur
"Elad first invested in Airbnb when we were less than 10 people and provided early advice on scaling the company. This book shares these learnings for the next generation of entrepreneurs."
- Nathan Blecharczyk, cofounder of Airbnb, Chief Strategy Officer, and Chairman of Airbnb China
"Elad jam-packs every useful lesson about building and scaling companies into a single, digestible book. My only gripe is that he didn't write this when we were in the early days of Box as it would have saved my ass countless times."
-Aaron Levie, cofounder and CEO of Box
"Armed with observations gathered scaling some of the most successful and important companies of Silicon Valley, Elad has no-nonsense, highly applicable advice to any operator transitioning a company from the proverbial garage to the next stage and beyond."
- Max Levchin, cofounder and CEO of Affirm, cofounder and CTO of PayPal
"Elad is one of the most experienced operators in Silicon Valley having seen numerous companies hit their inflection point. His advice has been key for Coinbase as we go through hypergrowth, from hiring executives to improving M&A."
- Brian Armstrong, cofounder and CEO of Coinbase
"Elad is one of the best connected and respected early stage investors in the Valley - he invested in Minted when we had fewer than 50 employees and his advice was critical to us in growing our business to where we are now, in the low hundreds of millions in sales. In his book, he crystallizes all of these learnings for the next generation of companies."
-Mariam Naficy, cofounder and CEO of Minted
344 pages, Hardcover
First published July 17, 2018
1554 people are currently reading
10230 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
July 8, 2021
Definitely not for everyone, but if you're in the target audience, there's no chance you'll be disappointed.
HGH is not about building a product. Or scaling an engineering organization. Optimizing the delivery pipeline to minimize the lead cycle. Nothing of that sort. It's a book about building a start-up organization. Written by a seasoned practitioner for people who are about to start their first business.
HGH doesn't introduce catchy conceptual models or frameworks. It's very straightforward and comprehensible. Some of the advice is very 'technical' (deeply 'in the trenches' instead of drafting the principles that should lead you to making correct decisions), but I didn't mind. I like the fact that the book is peppered with interesting interviews (with figures like Naval Ravikant or Aaron Levie) - otherwise it may have been to 'monotonous' (keeping in mind that it's not very short).
It's definitely in my Top 5 books on building startups, together with "The Hard Things ..." and "Blitzscaling". Recommended.
HGH is not about building a product. Or scaling an engineering organization. Optimizing the delivery pipeline to minimize the lead cycle. Nothing of that sort. It's a book about building a start-up organization. Written by a seasoned practitioner for people who are about to start their first business.
HGH doesn't introduce catchy conceptual models or frameworks. It's very straightforward and comprehensible. Some of the advice is very 'technical' (deeply 'in the trenches' instead of drafting the principles that should lead you to making correct decisions), but I didn't mind. I like the fact that the book is peppered with interesting interviews (with figures like Naval Ravikant or Aaron Levie) - otherwise it may have been to 'monotonous' (keeping in mind that it's not very short).
It's definitely in my Top 5 books on building startups, together with "The Hard Things ..." and "Blitzscaling". Recommended.
May 28, 2023
О чем книга в целом. Элад Гил один из самых известных предпринимателей и инвесторов в Долине. Нам повезло, что он решил издать книгу, где открыто рассказывает, что делать на всех этапах создания и роста бизнеса(подбор СЕО, маркетинг, продукт, отношения с инвесторами, финансы и тд).
За основу Гил взял посты своего личного блога за последние 8 лет и интервью с ведущими фигурами бизнеса в Долине. Это вдвойне ценно, так как эти люди редко выступают и дают интервью, да и журналисты не умеют задавать качественные вопросы. А здесь Эладу Гилу удалось раскрыть в интервью сложные темы. Плотность полезного материала зашкаливает.
Книгу можно использовать, как учебник, обращаясь к определенному разделу, когда у вас что то "болит" в определенной сфере работы компании. Уверен, что буду возвращаться к работе Гила еще много раз. Для меня это пока лучшая бизнес-книга 2018.
Главные выводы из книги.
- При быстром росте вы имеете каждые 6-12 месяцев совершенно разную компанию. Поэтому хороший подход для быстрорастущей компании - это нанимать руководителя на 12-18 месяцев для исполнения задач на этот период. Дальше этого периода смотреть бессмысленно. И надо приготовиться менять до 30% сотрудников при переходе на новый этап. У меня так и было во "Флористе", например.
- Человек, которого я беру на руководящую работу должен быть магнитом для других сотрудников класса А, чтобы они хотели с ним работать. Это один из критериев приема на работу топа.
- Три крутейших вопроса для интервью:
What would you want from me as your manager?
What kind of interactions do you want?
What do you want from your peers?
- В интервью Гилу основатели компаний часто говорят совершенно разные вещи на тему успеха своих компаний. Это еще раз доказывает, что каждая компания успешна по своему, как говорил нам Питер Тиль)
- Про то, кто такой директор по маркетингу в современном бизнесе. Он все таки больше лидер, чем специалист, так как необходимо разбираться в большом количестве вещей, а это просто невозможно.
За основу Гил взял посты своего личного блога за последние 8 лет и интервью с ведущими фигурами бизнеса в Долине. Это вдвойне ценно, так как эти люди редко выступают и дают интервью, да и журналисты не умеют задавать качественные вопросы. А здесь Эладу Гилу удалось раскрыть в интервью сложные темы. Плотность полезного материала зашкаливает.
Книгу можно использовать, как учебник, обращаясь к определенному разделу, когда у вас что то "болит" в определенной сфере работы компании. Уверен, что буду возвращаться к работе Гила еще много раз. Для меня это пока лучшая бизнес-книга 2018.
Главные выводы из книги.
- При быстром росте вы имеете каждые 6-12 месяцев совершенно разную компанию. Поэтому хороший подход для быстрорастущей компании - это нанимать руководителя на 12-18 месяцев для исполнения задач на этот период. Дальше этого периода смотреть бессмысленно. И надо приготовиться менять до 30% сотрудников при переходе на новый этап. У меня так и было во "Флористе", например.
- Человек, которого я беру на руководящую работу должен быть магнитом для других сотрудников класса А, чтобы они хотели с ним работать. Это один из критериев приема на работу топа.
- Три крутейших вопроса для интервью:
What would you want from me as your manager?
What kind of interactions do you want?
What do you want from your peers?
- В интервью Гилу основатели компаний часто говорят совершенно разные вещи на тему успеха своих компаний. Это еще раз доказывает, что каждая компания успешна по своему, как говорил нам Питер Тиль)
- Про то, кто такой директор по маркетингу в современном бизнесе. Он все таки больше лидер, чем специалист, так как необходимо разбираться в большом количестве вещей, а это просто невозможно.
October 6, 2018
Not at all scientific. Has a bunch of interviews with big name people, who share some anecdotes. Sometimes gives some decent advice, but mostly just fluff as one would expect from a typical business book. Could have easily been half the length without losing much content. Uses a lot of abbreviations that were never defined, making for annoying reading experience if one is without internet for looking up things.
August 28, 2018
Spot on book about the things you’ll encounter once your startup starts growing exponentially. I kept nodding my head, as someone who has seen Uber go from 1,500 to 15,000 employees.
In true Silicon Valley style, the book is a little rough: Some of the interviews contain more information than the chapters, it should go deeper on trade offs between organizational structures, and lacks an in-depth look at international expansion. So that leaves room for improvement — a 2.0 version, if you will.
Still 5 stars, because this is the best (only?) book in its genre and I’ll hand it to every founder and employee who is on the hyper-growth rollercoaster.
In true Silicon Valley style, the book is a little rough: Some of the interviews contain more information than the chapters, it should go deeper on trade offs between organizational structures, and lacks an in-depth look at international expansion. So that leaves room for improvement — a 2.0 version, if you will.
Still 5 stars, because this is the best (only?) book in its genre and I’ll hand it to every founder and employee who is on the hyper-growth rollercoaster.
July 31, 2018
Дельная книга про масштабирование стартапов. Раздел про менеджмент для меня особенно полезным оказался.
November 11, 2020
Highly tactical, full of nonobvious example. Much recommended if you work in high growth environments. Some parts are very SV. Some universal.
September 21, 2018
Big fan of Elad Gil and have consumed all his blogposts too. This book gives a structure to his thoughts on all topics under the sun related to startups.
October 23, 2020
Elad delivers on the promise of unpacking fundamental factors for enabling company growth. Earns the rare right to be a desk-side handbook for ongoing reference.
Read
November 20, 2021This is more a book for companies that have raised a seed round or Series A round. Since I haven’t done that yet, I don’t know how much of it is actually useful vs just sounds useful. But definitely helped me think deeper about fundraising and org building
Key takeaways:
- at the seed stage, you’re focused on finding product-market fit with early adopters. But they make up just 5% of the market. You have to think beyond product and figure out how to take the market when you have initial PMF
- defensibility comes from a mixture of product innovation and distribution building. Purely product led defensibility is rare
- people emphasise network effects and data effects way too much. Very rare to see actual data moats, and network effects are a double edged sword. They unwind just as fast
- being able to raise prices and not lose customers means that you actually have a moat, and can start do focus on funding more distribution and R&D
- the role of the CEO is to decide what the company should do, and make sure it does that. CEO has to relentlessly say, “this is what we’re doing, this is why, and this is how we will do it”
- since the product causes initial success, founders of breakout companies think product development is their primary competency and asset. But in reality, the distribution channel and customer base derived from the first product is the biggest “go-forward” advantage and differentiator
- build a product so good that customers will use it over an incumbent => build a large user base on the back of this first product => grow relentlessly => build new products and monetise them with your product costing customer base and sales channels
Key takeaways:
- at the seed stage, you’re focused on finding product-market fit with early adopters. But they make up just 5% of the market. You have to think beyond product and figure out how to take the market when you have initial PMF
- defensibility comes from a mixture of product innovation and distribution building. Purely product led defensibility is rare
- people emphasise network effects and data effects way too much. Very rare to see actual data moats, and network effects are a double edged sword. They unwind just as fast
- being able to raise prices and not lose customers means that you actually have a moat, and can start do focus on funding more distribution and R&D
- the role of the CEO is to decide what the company should do, and make sure it does that. CEO has to relentlessly say, “this is what we’re doing, this is why, and this is how we will do it”
- since the product causes initial success, founders of breakout companies think product development is their primary competency and asset. But in reality, the distribution channel and customer base derived from the first product is the biggest “go-forward” advantage and differentiator
- build a product so good that customers will use it over an incumbent => build a large user base on the back of this first product => grow relentlessly => build new products and monetise them with your product costing customer base and sales channels
December 29, 2019
A great book for startups!
Scaling and growth is an important and exiting step at lifecycle of a startup. But for founders, there are a lot of challenges at this stage. How to organize employees? How to hire new employees? How to manage the board? How to do marketing?
This book is packed with key frameworks for building and scaling your company. Author packs every useful lesson about building and scaling companies in a single, digestible book. Book includes many interviews from entrepreneurs with proven track records.
Book could be useful for founders, CEO, and employees who are facing hypergrowth and scaling for the first time.
Scaling and growth is an important and exiting step at lifecycle of a startup. But for founders, there are a lot of challenges at this stage. How to organize employees? How to hire new employees? How to manage the board? How to do marketing?
This book is packed with key frameworks for building and scaling your company. Author packs every useful lesson about building and scaling companies in a single, digestible book. Book includes many interviews from entrepreneurs with proven track records.
Book could be useful for founders, CEO, and employees who are facing hypergrowth and scaling for the first time.
February 12, 2019
A collection of interviews with people who started, invested in, and scaled up companies. The interviews are organized into sections so you can jump directly to the interviews with the topics you want to focus on.
I would have found this book very useful during my first try to start a company. Back then I had to collect these insights and advice from different sources spread all over the internet.
So basically, the book delivers on its promise that it is a handbook for people starting or scaling up companies.
I would have found this book very useful during my first try to start a company. Back then I had to collect these insights and advice from different sources spread all over the internet.
So basically, the book delivers on its promise that it is a handbook for people starting or scaling up companies.
January 30, 2021
This is definitely one to read with a notebook on your side. Lots of learnings in here (even if you are not into “high growth”) which are helpful for any founder or Operations person at a growing organisation. Beyond the interviews, the tips and exaples were extremely useful in helping rethink how to organise my day-to-day operations of my own business.
May 28, 2019
Some of the content is useful, but the format of featuring mostly interviews is inefficient (for my taste). As an audiobook listener I ended up feeling that although I got a couple of good ideas, the amount of hours spent wasn't worth it.
August 27, 2018
Really good managment book. Would put this book on the same level as management classics like 'High Output Management' (Andy Grove) and 'The effective executive' (Peter Drucker)
January 8, 2022
I read a First Round Review post about spotting nonobvious markers that featured Elad Gil, and it was both insightful and tactical, so I checked out this book, and it did not disappoint.
The book focuses on later stage startup growth (what do you do after product market fit and are trying to scale), which is interesting in and of itself since most entrepreneurship books focus on starting out, early stage stuff.
The interviews are really good, and I skimmed the rest of the handbook and found it concise, actionable, and credible. So all-in-all, a useful book if you are trying to figure out, e.g., how to build out a marketing function, or what does a COO do. It’s geared toward CEOs and cofounders but you’ll probably find parts of it helpful or at least interesting if you’re working in a growth stage startup and want to understand more of what’s going on.
The book focuses on later stage startup growth (what do you do after product market fit and are trying to scale), which is interesting in and of itself since most entrepreneurship books focus on starting out, early stage stuff.
The interviews are really good, and I skimmed the rest of the handbook and found it concise, actionable, and credible. So all-in-all, a useful book if you are trying to figure out, e.g., how to build out a marketing function, or what does a COO do. It’s geared toward CEOs and cofounders but you’ll probably find parts of it helpful or at least interesting if you’re working in a growth stage startup and want to understand more of what’s going on.
July 14, 2021
Excellent guide to running a high-growth start-up that focuses a lot on operational strategy, funding and that aspect of a business rather than, say, growth hacking. Not going to lie though, I'm so used to reading fiction for leisure that it took me a long time to get through this, and parts of it were a little boring, but it was nevertheless pretty insightful. While I mostly enjoyed this book, it also made me realize that I don't have any ambitions to start a high-growth business on my own any time soon.
January 29, 2019
This book covers a wide range of interesting topics regarding companies, not necessarily their growth, but their overall management and development. It's good for adding 'common-sense fillers' if you already know a bit about startups. You should like this even more than 'Hard Things About Hard Things' book, due to the more expansive scope.
October 5, 2024
A book for practitioners. I first tried reading this book in 2020 when we just started Edia, and I learned almost nothing from it. In 2024, it’s been a lot more helpful for me. Many of the lessons stand the test of time.
Separately - I believe this book may one day be viewed as the modern / founder’s version of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” for its insights on board dynamics and working with VCs.
Separately - I believe this book may one day be viewed as the modern / founder’s version of Machiavelli’s “The Prince” for its insights on board dynamics and working with VCs.
January 17, 2025
A clear and practical guide for scaling startups, covering topics like leadership, hiring, product management, fundraising and m&as. The advice is well-organized and complemented by engaging interviews with industry leaders, making it both useful and enjoyable to read.
October 27, 2018
Good advice for me and my company.
February 10, 2019
Very practical.
January 22, 2020
Very useful information
May 17, 2021
Some decent takeaways. Largely skimmable. Well-organized so you can easily find & reference the sections that are most relevant to you.
July 25, 2018
Inconsistent. Nothing spectacularly insightful. Mostly solid and worth reading for an understanding of what going from 10 - 10'000 employees really means and an insight into the capital structures underlying some of the largest firms in the world.
December 25, 2018
Super dry read but I found it to be incredibly informative!
August 30, 2025
The Dunbar number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of stable social relationships that humans can maintain, generally thought to be around 150
Better distribution channel > better product
You want as much defense for your product but you also want to go far ahead as you can. Product defensibility is difficult. Others will spend less time figuring it out. They will look at your product and just reiterate from there.
Charge more. It shows that you have a moat. People have to pay for it. Higher prices = faster growth.
Seeing a relationship between price and value is one dimensional.
Data effect - the more data it collects, the faster and smarter it gets
Network effect - the more people use it, the more valuable it is
“tactical brass tacks,” mean:
“Let’s get down to the immediate, actionable steps — the real nuts-and-bolts of execution. No fluff.”
Data and Network effects combined - super-moat (self reinforcing dominance)
Network effect is overrated. It gains fast and also unravels fast.
Carving a % of investment in R&D is what big, stupid companies do. It's not about how much money you allocate to it. It's about who is actually doing it.
You need a flat, small innovation team. 5-7 people. No more can be fed by two pizzas. - Jeff Bezzos
Hierarchy, kills innovation.
As a ceo, hold skip-level meetings with working level. Managers filter things sometimes.
'A guide to Charissa' document on how to work with me. What do I want to be involved in? What do I want to hear from you? What makes me impatient? Don't surprise me with X.
Set the premise of the meeting.
'I want all of your opinions but I will be the decision maker in the end.'
'I don't know if I'm the right decision maker but I need your help. I will let you know how we can make the decision after we discuss about it.'
Ceos usually make the decision to stop, retrench, or rebuild as the org is always geared to make things work.
Orgs need constraints and objectives to optimise against so that people can independently make decisions.
Get a fellow respected entrepreneur as an independent board member. Having all vcs on the board is a bad idea, they're less empathetic. This person keeps the Vcs honest and reminds them to think about situations that benefit the company not their self interests.
Watch out for these people while picking a board member:
1. Micromanagers
2. More interested in financial gain than building your business
3. Just wants to 'join a board' for linkedin optics
4. So they can network
5. VC Crony (nepo)
A board member may eventually lose their usefulness as the company scales. Replace them if you can.
Startups > default mortality (death is certain, you're plummeting off a cliff and building a plane on the way down)
Founders mindset (vision) vs Asset Manager (maintenance)
It's not about changing out the bad board member, it's about the team dynamics sometimes. Get someone else more successful and the other members cave.
Board meeting agenda
1. Board business
2. Big picture summary
3. Quick review and key metrics
4. Follow up items from last meeting
5. 2-3 key strategic topics
Boards are group think and committee think. They don't build great things but they're good sounding boards. They shouldn't be running the company. They're busy being on 10 other boards looking to go into 10 more.
5-6 members are favorable.
Don't give out permanent board seats.
Black box abstraction = treating a system as something you interact with through inputs and outputs, without needing to know its inner details.
Are you able to engage with 'BBA' so that your ceo can still give you valuable feedback and help you move without knowing your day to day?
First principles thinkers reset to the foundations, then build up their own reasoning to create new, often unconventional solutions.
Are you able to see past current negative stigma and assumptions about a problem and solve the problem in a better way?
Meeting agenda 3 Ps - Planning, Progress, Problem
False positive - hiring someone wrong
False negative - rejecting someone good
Founders quit due to burnout, or not being passionate about the space anymore. Shouldn't confuse it with 'doing the things you just don't like in the company'. That is solvable.
Repeatable and non-repeatable scaling.
RS: Can employees get better doing the same service everyday, optimize the process and scale from there?
NRS: How can we start something new? Do I have the right people, skill sets and innovation structure?
GM Org (one-reporting line, only 1 mini ceo)
Matrix Org (dual-reporting line, functional & project lead)
Naficy framework: for things likes sales and design it's easier for Ceos to hire cause it's plain as day if the work is good or bad. Tech however, needs an expert to hire
Hire for the next 12-18 months, not in 10 yrs. Your company is changing so fast your needs will be so different in 10 years.
If you want to reorg, do it swift. No pre-amp to reduce gossiping and taking sides.
Gap-fillers contribute to the company and are very impactful but it's not sustainable. They would need to hire experts eventually. Max 1.5 years for a gap-filler. Leadership might think everything is fine because the gap-filler is doing everything, but it's not fine.
There will be change, and there will be churn. It's because the team is growing fast.
The biggest levers for shaping culture have to do with who you hire, the behaviours you emphasise and reward, and the people you let go.
Cultures evolve. And the are revisavle. And it's ok to change for the better. Don't fight to preserve a culture. Aim to evolve it. Ypuuy
Nt
Get rid of people who are a bad culture fit quicker
Outhan low performing people.
You should have Dei in backgrounds and gender but your values should be homogeneous.
Do you want to build a wall or a cathedral? Is it a job or a calling?
When things are going bad, you can fire bad customers/markets too
Growth marketing = all quantitative areas of marketing, emails, online ads, seo marketing, Demand generation and lead generation using data, extends beyond purchase flow, iterative
Product marketing/marketing = customer testimonials, campaigns, linear (awareness > interest > purchase) stops at point of sale
Brand marketing = brand awareness and perception, logo, slogan
PR and comms = companys narrative development, press, events
Have an area where you really consider yourself and expert and then focus on learning other areas.
"Off the record" = journalist can't quote you
"On the record" = journalist can quote you
"On background" = journalist can refer to other sources on a statement you said but not quote you
Request for Proposal - asking agencies to propose solutions
Product managers don't just manage schedules, they're the smart buffer between all parties.
4 types of Product managers:
- Business PM
- Technical PM
- Design PM
- Growth PM
Hire a PM that has:
1. Product taste and customer intuituon
2. Ability to prioritise
3. Ability to execute
4. Strategic sensibilities
5. Top 10% comms
6. Metrics & Data-driven approach
APM program. Rotational Product Managers for juniors to learn.
Types of late-stage investors:
Traditional VC, Growth/Mezzanine fund, Hedge fund, Private equity fund, family office, Angel SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle), Public market investor, Strategic investors, Large Foreign Internet company, Sovereign Wealth Fund
Raising money is psychological. Investors think like a herd.
Equity round: company sells shares to investors
Debt round: the company borrows money instead of selling shares
Down round: the price per share is lower than the previous round
How VCs protect themselves: Ratchet or Weighted Average Ratchet
2x Preference : investors get 2x back when there's an IPO or merger before anyone gets paid
Common stock : founders and employees
Preferred stock: VC, get paid first, anti-dilution protection from ratchets
Generation of 'carry' is investors profiting from mergers and IPOS
Lockup: legal term for founders to not sell their shares
Secondary stock : shares sold by shareholders
ROFR - Right of First Refusal (gives investors dibs on shares before selling it to external party)
Prefered buyer - investors that can be the first in buying shares before others especially during a liquidity event
Liquidation Preference is to protect distribution.
Tender offer program - third party to buy back shares from employees
LOI - Letter of intent, draft contract before spending on legal
3 ways employees can sell their stock. Percentage, Dollar limit or Hybrid of both.
If employee don't hit their Vesting Cliff, they don't own the stock.
Cap table - sheets of who owns what in the company
RSUS - Restricted Stock Units
RSUs = simpler, no purchase needed, guaranteed if you stay.
Stock Options = big upside, but you must pay strike price.
PSUs = like RSUs, but tied to performance metrics (e.g., revenue, EBITDA).
Strike/exercise price - stock that you buy and sell at a fixed price
While vesting after a period for Rsus, you still need to pay tax like it's income. Some people who can sell their secondary stock do so before a tax hike comes.
After IPO, buying and selling shares are locked for 6 months. So liquify your assets or hope that it goes higher after 6 months. Up to u.
You need SPA (Stock purchase agreement) for legitimacy and protection so the seller can't back out last min or buyer late to pay.
IRR (Internal Rate of Return) - to get ROI back from how much you invested in the first place. If IRR is higher than cost of capital it's good.
DRI = PIC
Valuation is temporary, control is forever. Never give up control. Your valuation is determined by those who have control.
Common Examples of Protective Provisions (investor consent)
- Issuing new shares (especially preferred stock with equal or higher seniority)
- Amending the company’s charter or bylaws
- Selling or liquidating the company
- Merging or consolidating with another company
- Changing the rights of preferred shares
- Increasing the number of board seats
- Incurring significant debt
But if bona fide or arm's length stuff for yourself, no need approval. Not when it's for your brother or something.
Hire only if there's a burning need for that person. You also have to be ruthless about firing because there's always waste.
Permanent issuance of value does not need to be repaid like debt. You own it.
Typs of acquisitions
1. Team buy (acqui-hire)
2. Product buy
3. Strategic buy
Better distribution channel > better product
You want as much defense for your product but you also want to go far ahead as you can. Product defensibility is difficult. Others will spend less time figuring it out. They will look at your product and just reiterate from there.
Charge more. It shows that you have a moat. People have to pay for it. Higher prices = faster growth.
Seeing a relationship between price and value is one dimensional.
Data effect - the more data it collects, the faster and smarter it gets
Network effect - the more people use it, the more valuable it is
“tactical brass tacks,” mean:
“Let’s get down to the immediate, actionable steps — the real nuts-and-bolts of execution. No fluff.”
Data and Network effects combined - super-moat (self reinforcing dominance)
Network effect is overrated. It gains fast and also unravels fast.
Carving a % of investment in R&D is what big, stupid companies do. It's not about how much money you allocate to it. It's about who is actually doing it.
You need a flat, small innovation team. 5-7 people. No more can be fed by two pizzas. - Jeff Bezzos
Hierarchy, kills innovation.
As a ceo, hold skip-level meetings with working level. Managers filter things sometimes.
'A guide to Charissa' document on how to work with me. What do I want to be involved in? What do I want to hear from you? What makes me impatient? Don't surprise me with X.
Set the premise of the meeting.
'I want all of your opinions but I will be the decision maker in the end.'
'I don't know if I'm the right decision maker but I need your help. I will let you know how we can make the decision after we discuss about it.'
Ceos usually make the decision to stop, retrench, or rebuild as the org is always geared to make things work.
Orgs need constraints and objectives to optimise against so that people can independently make decisions.
Get a fellow respected entrepreneur as an independent board member. Having all vcs on the board is a bad idea, they're less empathetic. This person keeps the Vcs honest and reminds them to think about situations that benefit the company not their self interests.
Watch out for these people while picking a board member:
1. Micromanagers
2. More interested in financial gain than building your business
3. Just wants to 'join a board' for linkedin optics
4. So they can network
5. VC Crony (nepo)
A board member may eventually lose their usefulness as the company scales. Replace them if you can.
Startups > default mortality (death is certain, you're plummeting off a cliff and building a plane on the way down)
Founders mindset (vision) vs Asset Manager (maintenance)
It's not about changing out the bad board member, it's about the team dynamics sometimes. Get someone else more successful and the other members cave.
Board meeting agenda
1. Board business
2. Big picture summary
3. Quick review and key metrics
4. Follow up items from last meeting
5. 2-3 key strategic topics
Boards are group think and committee think. They don't build great things but they're good sounding boards. They shouldn't be running the company. They're busy being on 10 other boards looking to go into 10 more.
5-6 members are favorable.
Don't give out permanent board seats.
Black box abstraction = treating a system as something you interact with through inputs and outputs, without needing to know its inner details.
Are you able to engage with 'BBA' so that your ceo can still give you valuable feedback and help you move without knowing your day to day?
First principles thinkers reset to the foundations, then build up their own reasoning to create new, often unconventional solutions.
Are you able to see past current negative stigma and assumptions about a problem and solve the problem in a better way?
Meeting agenda 3 Ps - Planning, Progress, Problem
False positive - hiring someone wrong
False negative - rejecting someone good
Founders quit due to burnout, or not being passionate about the space anymore. Shouldn't confuse it with 'doing the things you just don't like in the company'. That is solvable.
Repeatable and non-repeatable scaling.
RS: Can employees get better doing the same service everyday, optimize the process and scale from there?
NRS: How can we start something new? Do I have the right people, skill sets and innovation structure?
GM Org (one-reporting line, only 1 mini ceo)
Matrix Org (dual-reporting line, functional & project lead)
Naficy framework: for things likes sales and design it's easier for Ceos to hire cause it's plain as day if the work is good or bad. Tech however, needs an expert to hire
Hire for the next 12-18 months, not in 10 yrs. Your company is changing so fast your needs will be so different in 10 years.
If you want to reorg, do it swift. No pre-amp to reduce gossiping and taking sides.
Gap-fillers contribute to the company and are very impactful but it's not sustainable. They would need to hire experts eventually. Max 1.5 years for a gap-filler. Leadership might think everything is fine because the gap-filler is doing everything, but it's not fine.
There will be change, and there will be churn. It's because the team is growing fast.
The biggest levers for shaping culture have to do with who you hire, the behaviours you emphasise and reward, and the people you let go.
Cultures evolve. And the are revisavle. And it's ok to change for the better. Don't fight to preserve a culture. Aim to evolve it. Ypuuy
Nt
Get rid of people who are a bad culture fit quicker
Outhan low performing people.
You should have Dei in backgrounds and gender but your values should be homogeneous.
Do you want to build a wall or a cathedral? Is it a job or a calling?
When things are going bad, you can fire bad customers/markets too
Growth marketing = all quantitative areas of marketing, emails, online ads, seo marketing, Demand generation and lead generation using data, extends beyond purchase flow, iterative
Product marketing/marketing = customer testimonials, campaigns, linear (awareness > interest > purchase) stops at point of sale
Brand marketing = brand awareness and perception, logo, slogan
PR and comms = companys narrative development, press, events
Have an area where you really consider yourself and expert and then focus on learning other areas.
"Off the record" = journalist can't quote you
"On the record" = journalist can quote you
"On background" = journalist can refer to other sources on a statement you said but not quote you
Request for Proposal - asking agencies to propose solutions
Product managers don't just manage schedules, they're the smart buffer between all parties.
4 types of Product managers:
- Business PM
- Technical PM
- Design PM
- Growth PM
Hire a PM that has:
1. Product taste and customer intuituon
2. Ability to prioritise
3. Ability to execute
4. Strategic sensibilities
5. Top 10% comms
6. Metrics & Data-driven approach
APM program. Rotational Product Managers for juniors to learn.
Types of late-stage investors:
Traditional VC, Growth/Mezzanine fund, Hedge fund, Private equity fund, family office, Angel SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle), Public market investor, Strategic investors, Large Foreign Internet company, Sovereign Wealth Fund
Raising money is psychological. Investors think like a herd.
Equity round: company sells shares to investors
Debt round: the company borrows money instead of selling shares
Down round: the price per share is lower than the previous round
How VCs protect themselves: Ratchet or Weighted Average Ratchet
2x Preference : investors get 2x back when there's an IPO or merger before anyone gets paid
Common stock : founders and employees
Preferred stock: VC, get paid first, anti-dilution protection from ratchets
Generation of 'carry' is investors profiting from mergers and IPOS
Lockup: legal term for founders to not sell their shares
Secondary stock : shares sold by shareholders
ROFR - Right of First Refusal (gives investors dibs on shares before selling it to external party)
Prefered buyer - investors that can be the first in buying shares before others especially during a liquidity event
Liquidation Preference is to protect distribution.
Tender offer program - third party to buy back shares from employees
LOI - Letter of intent, draft contract before spending on legal
3 ways employees can sell their stock. Percentage, Dollar limit or Hybrid of both.
If employee don't hit their Vesting Cliff, they don't own the stock.
Cap table - sheets of who owns what in the company
RSUS - Restricted Stock Units
RSUs = simpler, no purchase needed, guaranteed if you stay.
Stock Options = big upside, but you must pay strike price.
PSUs = like RSUs, but tied to performance metrics (e.g., revenue, EBITDA).
Strike/exercise price - stock that you buy and sell at a fixed price
While vesting after a period for Rsus, you still need to pay tax like it's income. Some people who can sell their secondary stock do so before a tax hike comes.
After IPO, buying and selling shares are locked for 6 months. So liquify your assets or hope that it goes higher after 6 months. Up to u.
You need SPA (Stock purchase agreement) for legitimacy and protection so the seller can't back out last min or buyer late to pay.
IRR (Internal Rate of Return) - to get ROI back from how much you invested in the first place. If IRR is higher than cost of capital it's good.
DRI = PIC
Valuation is temporary, control is forever. Never give up control. Your valuation is determined by those who have control.
Common Examples of Protective Provisions (investor consent)
- Issuing new shares (especially preferred stock with equal or higher seniority)
- Amending the company’s charter or bylaws
- Selling or liquidating the company
- Merging or consolidating with another company
- Changing the rights of preferred shares
- Increasing the number of board seats
- Incurring significant debt
But if bona fide or arm's length stuff for yourself, no need approval. Not when it's for your brother or something.
Hire only if there's a burning need for that person. You also have to be ruthless about firing because there's always waste.
Permanent issuance of value does not need to be repaid like debt. You own it.
Typs of acquisitions
1. Team buy (acqui-hire)
2. Product buy
3. Strategic buy
April 21, 2022
Essential reference book for building a fast growing startup, but also useful tidbits for building a small business
April 28, 2024
I saw Elad Gil on EO, and got curious about this book. Turns out the book is basically EO. A lot of value in the many interviews with really knowledgable people. I think the book could have been condensed more though.
November 7, 2024
Elad Gil delivers a very straightforward and clear set of lessons for founders from 0 to 1 and 1 to liquidity event. The lessons draw upon his direct experience and those of the interviewees who span founders, operators and investors. While most won’t be relevant at every stage, it can be used as a reference for when you need the lessons - flipping through the pages as needed. I read it on kindle but probably a better book for the bookshelf
April 3, 2021
Elad Gil has a good collection of writing on his blog of various facets of a high growth company. He also interviews some interesting people. Handy compilation of it all in one place
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