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Building a great company

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9 min read
startupteamsstrategy

Building a great company is like building a great team. You need three things: a clear plan, good people who can work on their own, and a way to keep everything running smoothly. This guide shows you how to do that, using ideas from successful companies like Google and Basecamp.

Table of Contents

  1. Foundation: What “great” actually means
  2. Strategy: Decide, focus, and say no
  3. Teams: Structure for ownership and speed
  4. Operating cadence: Run the machine
  5. Hiring and onboarding: Raise the bar
  6. Culture: Defaults that scale
  7. Execution: From ideas to outcomes
  8. Customer obsession: Continuous discovery
  9. Decision-making: Write, debate, commit
  10. Metrics: Instruments, not decorations
  11. Common pitfalls and anti-patterns
  12. Appendix: Templates you can copy

Foundation: What "great" actually means

A great company does three things well:

  1. Makes things people want
  2. Keeps good people happy
  3. Gets better over time

The boss (CEO) has only three jobs:

  • Find and keep good people
  • Make a plan for the future
  • Make sure there's enough money

When you do these three things right, everything else works smoothly. This idea comes from Fred Wilson's "Team and Strategy" link.

Google found that great companies focus on:

  • Good managers who help people
  • Teams that work well together
  • Making decisions in a smart way
  • Using data to improve

You can learn more at Google's re:Work link.

Strategy: Decide, focus, and say no

Strategy means choosing what you will be really good at and what you will NOT do. It's like picking your favorite game and getting really good at it instead of trying to play every game.

Here's how to make a strategy:

  1. Pick one problem to solve really well
  2. Choose who you will help (your customers)
  3. Write it down on one page
  4. Make a plan for the next 6-12 months
  5. Say "no" to everything else

Many companies start with one good product but then try to do too many things. It's better to be great at one thing first. This idea comes from Fred Wilson's "Team and Strategy" link.

Teams: Structure for ownership and speed

Good teams work like a sports team. Everyone knows their job and they work together to win.

Google found that great teams have five things:

  1. Safety: People feel safe to share ideas and make mistakes
  2. Dependability: Everyone does what they promise
  3. Clear roles: Everyone knows what they're supposed to do
  4. Meaning: People care about their work
  5. Impact: People can see that their work matters

How to build good teams:

  • Keep teams small (3-7 people)
  • Give each team one clear goal
  • Let teams make their own plans
  • Don't give teams too many things to do at once

Atlassian has a great guide for team activities like starting projects and checking how things are going. See Atlassian Team Playbook link.

Operating cadence: Run the machine

Running a company is like running a clock. You need a regular schedule to keep everything working.

Here's a simple schedule:

  • Every year: Write down your big goals and how you'll measure success
  • Every 3 months: Check your progress and set new goals
  • Every week: Each team writes down what they did and what they'll do next
  • Every day: People do their work, managers help when needed

The key is to write everything down. This way everyone knows what's happening and what they need to do.

GitLab shows how to do this really well. They write down everything and share it with everyone. See GitLab Handbook link.

Hiring and onboarding: Raise the bar

Hiring the right people is the most important thing you can do. It's like picking teammates for your sports team.

How to hire well:

  1. Write down what you need: What should this person be able to do?
  2. Ask the same questions: Use the same questions for everyone so you can compare
  3. Get help: Have someone else check your decision to make sure it's fair
  4. Help new people start: Give them everything they need in their first week

Google has great guides on how to hire people. See re:Work Hiring guides link.

Culture: Defaults that scale

Culture is how your company works when no one is watching. It's like the rules of your house.

Good companies have simple rules:

  • Write things down: Don't just talk about it, write it down
  • Work reasonable hours: Work hard but don't burn out
  • Be honest and kind: Tell people the truth, but be nice about it
  • Make decisions: Don't just talk forever, decide and move on

Basecamp is a great example. They write everything down and work in 6-week cycles. See Basecamp Handbook link.

Netflix is famous for hiring really good people and being honest with them. See Netflix Culture Slides link.

You can learn more about how Basecamp works at The Focus Course link.

Execution: From ideas to outcomes

Getting things done is like cooking. You need a recipe and you need to follow it step by step.

How to execute well:

  • Turn big ideas into small steps: Break big projects into small pieces
  • Set deadlines: Give yourself a time limit and stick to it
  • Keep it simple: Don't make things more complicated than they need to be
  • Check your work: Make sure you're doing what you said you would do

Customer obsession: Continuous discovery

The best companies listen to their customers all the time. It's like being a good friend who always asks how you're doing.

How to listen to customers:

  • Talk to customers every week: Ask them what they need and what's hard
  • Watch what they do: See how people actually use your product
  • Fix real problems: Don't just add features, solve actual problems
  • Make it easy to buy: Help people find and use your product

Marc Andreessen has great advice about building products people want. See PM Archive link.

Decision-making: Write, debate, commit

Making decisions is like choosing what to eat for dinner. You need to decide and then do it.

How to make good decisions:

  • Write it down first: Explain what you're deciding and why
  • Talk about it: Let people share their ideas
  • Pick someone to decide: One person makes the final choice
  • Set a deadline: Don't talk forever, decide by a certain date

Metrics: Instruments, not decorations

Metrics are like a scoreboard. They tell you if you're winning or losing.

Keep it simple:

  • One main goal: Pick the most important thing to measure
  • A few key numbers: Don't measure everything, just what matters
  • Check regularly: Look at your numbers every week
  • Use them to improve: If numbers are bad, figure out how to make them better

Common pitfalls and anti-patterns

Here are mistakes to avoid:

  • Too many cooks: Don't let everyone decide everything
  • Too many goals: Pick a few important things, not everything
  • Too many meetings: Talk less, do more
  • Hiring too fast: Take time to find the right people
  • Forgetting customers: Make sure people can actually buy your product

Appendix: Templates you can copy

One-page strategy

Write this on one page:

  1. What problem are you solving?
  2. Who are you helping?
  3. What makes you special?
  4. How will people find you?
  5. What will you do in the next year?
  6. What will you NOT do?

Weekly team update

Each team writes this every week:

  • What did we finish this week?
  • What are we working on next week?
  • What problems do we need help with?
  • What are our top 3 goals?

Job description template

When hiring someone, write:

  • What will this person do?
  • What should they be good at?
  • How will we know if they're doing well?
  • What questions will we ask in the interview?

Sources and further reading:

  • Google re:Work — proven practices on teams, managers, hiring, and goals: https://rework.withgoogle.com/intl/en/
  • Fred Wilson, Team and Strategy: https://avc.com/2016/09/team-and-strategy/
  • Keith Rabois, How to Operate: https://genius.com/Keith-rabois-lecture-14-how-to-operate-annotated
  • Atlassian Team Playbook: https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook
  • GitLab Handbook (all-remote, transparency, operating system): https://handbook.gitlab.com/
  • Basecamp Handbook: https://github.com/basecamp/handbook
  • Basecamp way to work retrospective: https://thefocuscourse.com/the-basecamp-way-to-work-workshop-retrospective/
  • Netflix Culture Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/culture-1798664/1798664
  • Jason Fried (BoS) on customer-driven product teams: https://businessofsoftware.org/2017/08/build-customer-driven-product-team-jason-fried-basecamp-bos-usa-2016/
  • Marc Andreessen’s PM Archive: https://pmarchive.com/