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Transform Employee Equity Compensation in Two Steps — Here’s How
Management

Transform Employee Equity Compensation in Two Steps — Here’s How

Three years ago, Amplitude Co-founder and CEO Spenser Skates rewired equity compensation at his mobile analytics startup. Here's why and how he did it.

The Magical Benefits of the 'Quitter's Mindset'
People & Culture

The Magical Benefits of the 'Quitter's Mindset'

Ellen Chisa is a renowned product leader and blogger who quit Harvard Business School to try something new. It worked wonders. Here's what happened.

The ‘Adaptable Leader’ is the New Holy Grail — Become One, Hire One
Management

The ‘Adaptable Leader’ is the New Holy Grail — Become One, Hire One

Anne Dwane, CBO at Chegg, has had to adapt a lot in her career as she's started and sold companies. Here's what she learned.

The Tools Early-Stage Startups Actually Need to Understand Their Customers
Management

The Tools Early-Stage Startups Actually Need to Understand Their Customers

Segment Co-founder and CEO Peter Reinhardt has personally test-driven a tool a week for the last three years. Here he shares the toolkit you need to get the most out of your customer data.

This Company Retains 95% of Its Employees — Here’s Its Secret
People & Culture

This Company Retains 95% of Its Employees — Here’s Its Secret

Location Labs is known for two things — its impressively low burn rate and its uncanny ability to retain brilliant employees for years and years. Here's how it's managed to hold on to its most valuable talent.

This is How Effective Leaders Move Beyond Blame
Management

This is How Effective Leaders Move Beyond Blame

Next Big Sound's Head of Engineering Dave Zwieback cautions against the perils of blame — and shares how to circumvent them to build a more resilient company.

Starting Fires on Purpose — When and How Leaders Need to Break the Rules
Management

Starting Fires on Purpose — When and How Leaders Need to Break the Rules

Rebelmouse Founder and CEO Paul Berry on those moments when no playbook can help you and you have to go off script — how to do it right.

This Is How You Design a Lasting Brand — An Inside Look at Gusto's Reinvention
Management

This Is How You Design a Lasting Brand — An Inside Look at Gusto's Reinvention

Gusto CEO Josh Reeves reveals the months-long process the company used to change its identity for the better without losing customers or momentum.

A Primer for Startups and Job Seekers to BOTH Win the Talent War
People & Culture

A Primer for Startups and Job Seekers to BOTH Win the Talent War

Tammy Han is a secret weapon for both startups and candidates navigating the frothy tech job market. Here is her comprehensive survival guide.

OpenTable's CEO on How to Dodge Company Breakdown as You Scale
Management

OpenTable's CEO on How to Dodge Company Breakdown as You Scale

OpenTable's leader Christa Quarles explains how startups can spot and survive their breaking points.

The Only Onboarding Timeline You’ll Need: From Offer to First Friday
People & Culture

The Only Onboarding Timeline You’ll Need: From Offer to First Friday

Percolate Co-founder Noah Brier shares why your company is only as strong as its onboarding plan.

Square Defangs Difficult Decisions with this System — Here’s How
Management

Square Defangs Difficult Decisions with this System — Here’s How

Gokul Rajaram shares a framework that he's used at Square and Caviar to make the most difficult decisions, all while assigning ownership, being inclusive and coordinating execution among all stakeholders.

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For the founder's notepad:
"If you personally want to grow as fast as your company, you have to give away your job every couple months." – Molly Graham
“Asking ‘Why can't this be done sooner?’ methodically, reliably and habitually can have a profound impact on the speed of your organization.” – Dave Girouard
“End every meeting or conversation with the feeling and optimism you’d like to have at the start of your next conversation with the person.” – Chris Fralic
“Focus is doing things with a clear intention. It doesn’t mean you charge single-minded toward a goal. It means you pay rapt and incremental attention to how you need to turn the rudder on a project.” – Fidji Simo
“It’s essential to grow with the company — rather than having the company grow around you.” – Cristina Cordova 
“You have to be impatient with shipping, but patient with your career.” – James Everingham
“‘I trust you, make the call’ might be the six most powerful words you can hear from a manager.” – Sean Twersky
“Your job as a CEO is to build fire departments, not put out fires.” – Sam Corcos 
“Can you say with confidence that each report would want to be on your team again? If you aren’t sure that the answer is yes, it’s probably no — much like how if you have to ask, ‘Am I in love?’ you’re probably not.” – Julie Zhuo 
“People can get addicted to yak shaving. An effective engineering generalist knows when to move on. Pay attention to whether they used their time wisely, not just the results.” – Mike Krieger 
“It sounds so simple to say that bosses need to tell employees when they're screwing up. But it very rarely happens.” – Kim Scott
“You’ll know you understand the customer problem enough when you can predict 75% of what a customer tells you. Keep having these conversations until three-quarters of it is stuff you already know.” – Christina Cacioppo
“I have a rule: no company swag until the business has at least $250K of revenue or 250k users. Until then, you don’t get to “feel” the benefits of having started a company.” – Gagan Biyani
“The business model ends up becoming the business. It’s equally important as the market you’re going after and the product that you build.” – Jay Simons 
“If speed is the yin, the yang is prioritization. You can’t be fast if you don’t know what’s important.” – Jaleh Rezaei
“If you treat your connections as a kind of personal ATM you use for frequent withdrawals, you’ll quickly be disappointed (and overdrawn).” – Karen Wickre 
“Delighting the customer always yields better returns than countering or copying a competitor. It’s just a lot harder to do.” – Andy Rachleff 
“When you’re a founder, every moment you’re not writing code or getting users, you need to be making a conscious choice: Is whatever you’re doing worth your time?” – Alexis Ohanian
“‘Why would a customer not want this?’ is often a far more interesting question than why they would.” – Rick Song
“When you leave the planning process wondering if you put too many resources behind a single bet, that’s the bet that ends up succeeding. Bold ideas need bold resourcing.” – Lenny Rachitsky and Nels Gilbreth
“Treat customer development as a one-on-one with a direct report — you just want to ask the hard questions.” – Ryan Glasgow
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