Quite enjoyable. Maye Musk writes about her life in a very candid way. It also struck me how challenging it can be to date if you are an attractive anQuite enjoyable. Maye Musk writes about her life in a very candid way. It also struck me how challenging it can be to date if you are an attractive and intelligent woman. I really like her entrepreneurial spirit and her adventurous early life with her dad (who died in a plane crash). ...more
Hire the best, let them do their jobs and great work ensues. If you try to micromanage then employees won't feel as motivated as they don't feel they Hire the best, let them do their jobs and great work ensues. If you try to micromanage then employees won't feel as motivated as they don't feel they own the process (according to Reed). I like the book although I am not sure if this formula can be generalized for every business. Elon Musk seems to run a business the opposite way and yet he is very successful. ...more
How do you motivate people? What is the best way to discover new technologies or rather: how do you find the founders of tomorrows companies? This booHow do you motivate people? What is the best way to discover new technologies or rather: how do you find the founders of tomorrows companies? This book is about culture and how a culture of intrepid entrepeneurship was created. There are many lessons to be learned in this book as it provides a history of venture capital which is in essence the history of sillicon valley. Why the Valley? What made that part of the US unique? Was it the hippie culture as is so often purported? Not really according to Mallaby. Venture capital exists somewhere between a company and an entrepreneur; it has the advantages of both but is more flexible and works much more like a network which provides can provide stability to unexperienced founders. This is the real reason why Sillicon valley has succeeded in producing the biggest tech companies in the world.
"The special virtue of the valle's small companies, Saxanian argues, was that boundaries between them were porous, The founder of a disk-drive company would be talking to PC makers, looking for ways to slot his device into their production chains: information on technical standards and design was constantly traded." I kept thinking of Ancient Greece when reading about how this tech cluster worked as Ancient Greece too was a giant cluster of small city-states (roughly 1100) who alternated between competition and cooperation (or to use the language of today: coopetition) In the tech cluster VCs would provice advice and guide the founders into a more stable and profitable business. A VC would have maybe 10 companies in their portfolio but only expect 1 or 2 to be profitable, but those companies would be EXTREMELY profitable. As the years evolved the business also changed and different schools were established. There were planners and improvisers; the results would dictate whose model would be most successful.
Peter Thiel (et al) focused on providing founders with as much freedom as possible. If a technology was truly revolutionary, then how could leaders of today understand it? A founder would need to be a true visionary, capable of going against all norms to create the world tomorrow. This model was built on radical decentralization where the founder is given as much incentive as possible. On the opposite side were companies like Sequoia sought to provide more hands on guidance. I found it very enjoyable to read about the nitty-gritty of business deals and how much creativity is really involved.
Only downside to this book was its length. Mallaby could've cut it down a bit as the biography of every VC just wasn't as interesting as how VC works in practice....more
Could be my favorite autobiography by an entpreneur/inventor. There are so many insights into as to how to best create a thriving longterm business, hCould be my favorite autobiography by an entpreneur/inventor. There are so many insights into as to how to best create a thriving longterm business, how to live a creative life and how to go against the grain. James Dyson invented the cyclonic vacuum cleaner and went onto create a company worth 6.5 billion pounds (in 2022).
I couldn't help but think of how closely Dyson aligns in the key personality traits needed for a entrepreneur: high in openness, high in conscientiousness, low in neuroticicsm, high in extroversion and disagreeable. I can't imagine starting a business in the middle of a recession but Dyson did it. Dyson perpetually values people who are willing to test new ideas over experienced careerists, going against the grain and long-term thinking which is made possible by owning your company. I just love his perspective and wish I could be able to live like that as well. Dyson also believes that if you build a product than is better than your competitors, the consumer will notice it. He doesn't believe in focus groups: he believes in testing your ideas directly on the market.
The book is also a portrait of the period in which he lived which is interesting. Growing up after the second world war without a father, you had to be able to care of yourself and not rely on other people. His mother, it would seem, was relentlessly resourceful. She managed to raise three kids and eventually get a diploma from Oxford. I suppose the book espouses traditional middle class values (i.e. those found in Benjamin Franklings autobiography).
The only downside was perhaps all the information on all his inventions. That did not really interest me (as I am not an engineer, quite the opposite!), being instead more interested in business, creativity and how to live your values....more
Good place for inspiration for those who are looking to start their own small-scale business. The only drawbacks was that mr. Lavingia only focused moGood place for inspiration for those who are looking to start their own small-scale business. The only drawbacks was that mr. Lavingia only focused mostly on SAAS-businesses whereas I'm looking for start a different kind of business. ...more
There is so much useful information in this book I wish I had it when I was first starting out in business. Ben Horowitz is a former CEO and founder wThere is so much useful information in this book I wish I had it when I was first starting out in business. Ben Horowitz is a former CEO and founder who created a software company which was eventually bought by Hewlett Packard. He now runs a venture capitalist firm. When he isn't busy doing that, he writes books on management to share what he has learned through the years.
Key takeaways:
- When recruiting value strength rather than lack of weakness. This is not all that obvious seeing as how it is a much more risky decision to make but all the more rewarding. This leads to the second point: - Don't hire for a generic position - Colin Powell: "Leadership is the ability to get someone to follow you even if only out of curiosity (one of my favorites) - There are no silver bullets. Only lead bullets. Meaning there is no one solution which will solve every problem, you really have to dig in and do your best to solve the small problems which will eventually lead you where you want to go. - It's easy to get hung up on mistakes and think that everyone is noting how bad you are at what you do. In those typs of situations its important to note what the owner of a football team told his head coach: "Nobody cares. Just coach your team". - The most difficult CEO skill is handling your own psychology which leads to the last point and perhaps this confirms what I've always been convinced of:
"Over the years, I've spoked to hundreds of CEO's, all with the same experience. It's like the fight club of management. The first problem is that everybody learns to be a CEO by being a CEO. No training as a manager, general manager, or in any other job actually prepares you to run a company"...more
Loading...
