A couple weeks ago I was watching an episode of This Week In Start-ups, a podcast hosted by Mahalo.com's CEO Jason Calacanis, and something really grabbed my attention. Jason was interviewing David Heinemeier Hansson, founder of 37signals and Ruby on Rails, who was systematically destroying Jason in a debate on the essentials of running a start-up. I've used 37signals's on-line project management tool Basecamp before and had read parts of JHH's first book Getting Real, but I never had the opportunity to hear him speak before. It's really something, have a listen (beware: some profanity): Calacanis vs. JHH.
JHH talked in great detail about the misguided intentions of many internet start-ups: get as much traffic as possible and work towards the big buy-out. Whatever happened to creating a sustainable business model? What about having pride in your company and working to grow and develop the company instead of prepping it for the pay day? Maybe it's harder and less glamorous but I believe it's more worthwhile.
I didn't agree with everything JHH said but it was enough to sell me on the book ReWork he co-wrote and was plugging. The book's flow is a bit fragmented as it jumps through small chapters that contain advice about all different aspects of working in a start-up, but the tips and stories are helpful and in more than one occasion I found myself writing down notes. If you work for a start-up or simply want to improve efficiency at your workplace, I suggest giving it a read.
Here's a quick excerpt out of the chapter called "Meetings are Toxic":
"When you think about it, the true cost of meetings is staggering. Let’s say you’re going to schedule a meeting that lasts one hour, and you invite ten people to attend. That’s actually a ten-hour meeting, not a one-hour meeting. You’re trading ten hours of productivity for
one hour of meeting time.If you decide you absolutely must get together, try to make your meeting a productive one by sticking to these simple rules:
• Set a timer. When it rings, meeting’s over. Period.
• Invite as few people as possible.
• Always have a clear agenda.
• Begin with a specific problem.
• Meet at the site of the problem instead of a conference room.
• Point to real things and suggest real changes.
• End with a solution and make someone responsible for implementing it."
