“Building a company is basically taking all the irrational people you know... Putting them in one building and then living with them 12 hrs a day at least.” PeopleKnowsCompanyBuildingIrrational Author:Keith Rabois
“So that's your job too, to clarify and simplify for everybody on your team. The more you simplify the better people will perform.” PeopleJobsTeamSimplify Author:Keith Rabois
“The people that work with you should generally come up with their own initiatives.” PeopleShouldCome UpInitiative Author:Keith Rabois
“Delegate completely. Let people make mistakes and learn.” PeopleMistakeMaking MistakesDelegatesPeople Make Mistakes Author:Keith Rabois
“Most people, most great people even are ammunition. But what you need in your company are barrels. You can only shoot through the number of unique barrels you have, so that's how the velocity of your company improves... is by adding barrels, and then you stock them with ammunition and then you can do a lot.” PeopleNeedsCan DoNumbersCompanyUniqueGreat PeopleBarrelsVelocityAmmunition Author:Keith Rabois
“Barrels are very difficult to find. But when you have them, give them lots of equity. Promote them, take them to dinner every week, because they are virtually irreplaceable because they are also very culturally specific. So a barrel at one company may not be a barrel at another company. One of the ways, the definition of a barrel is, they can take an idea from conception and take it all the way to shipping and bring people with them.” PeopleWayGivingMayIdeasDifficultCompanyWeekDefinitionsDinnerConceptionEquityBarrelsCuzIrreplaceableShipping Author:Keith Rabois
“If people start going to a desk, some one individual employees desk and they don't report to them... it's a sign that they believe that person can help them. So if you see that consistently, those are your barrels. Just promote them, give them more opportunity as fast as you can.” PeopleIfsGivingBelievePersonsHelpingOpportunityIndividualReportsEmployeeConsistentlyDesksBarrels Author:Keith Rabois
“Most people will solve the problems they know how to solve. Roughly speaking they will solve B+ problems instead of A+ problems. A+ problems are high impact problems for your company but they're difficult problems.” PeopleKnowsProblemDifficultCompanyKnow HowImpactSolveDifficult Problems Author:Keith Rabois
“Create tools that enable people to make decisions at the same level, ideally, of fidelity that that you would make them yourself.” PeopleDecisionLevelsToolsFidelity Author:Keith Rabois
“Most people would agree that the details matter when it faces the user. But where the real debate is on things that don't face the user.” PeopleRealMatterFacesAgreeDetailsDebateUsers Author:Keith Rabois
“The office environment that people live in and work in, dictates your culture and how people make decisions.” PeopleCultureDecisionEnvironmentOffice Author:Keith Rabois
“I don't believe ever in shared office spaces. Peter talks a little bit about this, every good startup is a cult. It's very hard to create a cult if you're sharing space with people.” PeopleIfsBelieveLittlesHardBitsSpaceOfficeLittle BitDon't BelieveVery GoodPeterCultOffice Space Author:Keith Rabois
“The more you simplify, the better people will perform. People can not understand and keep track of a long complicated set of initiatives. So you have to distill it down to one, two, or three things and use a framework they can repeat, they can repeat without thinking about, they can repeat to their friends, they can repeat at night.” PeopleThinkingLongTwoUseNightThreeTrackComplicatedRepeatsInitiativeCan NotFrameworkThree ThingsSimplify Author:Keith Rabois
“Don't accept the excuse of complexity. A lot of people will tell you, this is too challenging, this is too complicated, yeah well I know other people simplify but that's not for me, this is a complicated business. They're wrong. You can change the world in 140 characters.” PeopleKnowsWorldWellsCharacterChallengesAcceptingYeahExcuseComplicatedComplexityChanging The WorldSimplify140 Character Author:Keith Rabois
“It's actually a good thing if you do reference checks on somebody and half the people you call say they are a micromanager and the other half say they actually give me a lot of responsibility. That's a feature not a bug.” PeopleIfsGivingHalfResponsibilityGive MeGood ThingsChecksFeaturesBugsOther Half Author:Keith Rabois
“Transparency people talk a lot about, it's a goal everybody ascribes to but when push comes to shove, very few people actually adhere to it.” PeopleGoalTransparency Author:Keith Rabois
“The office environment that people work in everyday dictates the culture that you are going to be in.” PeopleCultureEnvironmentOfficeEveryday Author:Keith Rabois
“Every good startup is a cult. And it's really hard to create a cult if you are sharing space with people. Because a cult means you think you are better than every other startup, you have a special way of doing things that's better than anyone else in the world.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldWayMeanHardSpaceSpecialVery GoodCult Author:Keith Rabois
“Some people can't learn to play the guitar by reading a book. You have to actually try to manage a bit and you won't do well at first.” PeopleTryingFirstsWellsBookPlayReadingBitsGuitarManage Author:Keith Rabois
“The key to culture is it's a framework for making decisions. And if it's baked into your culture, people learn how to make decisions across that culture without you ever saying anything. You never have to really do anything except watch and promote and move people around.” PeopleIfsMovingCultureDecisionWatchesKeysFrameworkWithout YouMaking Decisions Author:Keith Rabois
“There are three things you need to do as a CEO-founder. Think strategically, drive design, and drive technology. Some people who are really good at one can build a pretty foundational company. Most people who are very successful are good at two. But Jack is the only person in the Valley I've met who's all three. He's a first-rate strategist, a first-rate designer, and a first-rate technologist.” PeopleThinkingNeedsFirstsPersonsTwoThreeCompanyTechnologySuccessfulDesignMetsRateDesignerValleysFoundersCeoThree ThingsStrategist Author:Keith Rabois
