Lesson 1: Be a Kook

DI-WHY NOT

Day 1 - 145 is always the most exciting time. Couches, benches, and lawn chairs – all work as an office chairs at the start. Starbucks, sandwich shops, and park tables – all work as meeting spaces. When you start you and the people you attract could care less of these “office luxuries” the modern workforce has grown so accustom to. Starting a business is dirty. There is a lot of late nights, fast food, caffeine for sure. But, there’s also lots of stuff that’s going to push you and your network to the limits i.e. pulling favors, cutting corners, pretending, begging, borrowing, dealing, desperately begging, and stuff like taking out the trash and cleaning the toilets. Yes, don’t forget those stellar duties. Bathroom duty is actually the common denominator at a startup – at the start c-level people take out the trash too. Also, be prepared to not be impressed with stuff like work culture, work amenities, and cool work perks non-existent. Why is that you ask? Because you’re in charge of building it! You’re one of the first, so besides your multiply responsibilities assigned to your job, at a startup be prepared to take on some of this “other” stuff too (or at least don’t have any expectations otherwise.) Remember, Google, Facebook, and every other company with a cool culture and headquarters didn’t have that the first 5 years.