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Humans Hate Being Spun: How to Practice Radical Honesty — from the Woman Who Defined Netflix’s Culture
Management

Humans Hate Being Spun: How to Practice Radical Honesty — from the Woman Who Defined Netflix’s Culture

Patty McCord created the famed 'Culture Doc' that became Netflix's foundation. Here, she talks about how to make honesty everyone's default.
This Brand Strategy Can Make Your Startup Look Bigger Than It Is
PR & Marketing

This Brand Strategy Can Make Your Startup Look Bigger Than It Is

As a founding partner of Rock Health and seasoned consultant, Leslie Ziegler has helped brand dozens of startups. Here's what the success stories had in common.
The Four Cringe-Worthy Mistakes Too Many Startups Make with Data
Product

The Four Cringe-Worthy Mistakes Too Many Startups Make with Data

HotelTonight's Chief Data and Strategy Officer talks about how startups should set up and mine their data to drive insights that actually make a difference.
First Round Review's 6 Must Reads to Run Fast, Efficient Meetings
Management

First Round Review's 6 Must Reads to Run Fast, Efficient Meetings

We've featured advice from some pretty smart, successful people about how to run better meetings that don't sap energy or waste time. Here's everything they've shared.
These 13 Exercises Will Prepare You for Work's Toughest Situations
Management

These 13 Exercises Will Prepare You for Work's Toughest Situations

Maggie Leung, VP of Content at Nerdwallet, has encountered every management challenge. Here, she shares the one practice that helps her thrive through difficult decisions and conversations.
The Best Interview Questions We've Ever Published
People & Culture

The Best Interview Questions We've Ever Published

Over the years, we've published interview questions recommended by leaders across every field. Here are the very best for hiring excellent performers every time.
Make Product Decisions Without Doubt — My Lessons from Twitter and Slack
Product

Make Product Decisions Without Doubt — My Lessons from Twitter and Slack

At Twitter and Slack, Tess Rosania built interfaces that millions use each day. Here, she dissects how she eliminated doubt from four high-stakes product decisions.
How Fidji Simo Finds Focus and Creates Conditions for Intentional Work
Management

How Fidji Simo Finds Focus and Creates Conditions for Intentional Work

Instacart CEO and former Facebook VP of Product Fidji Simo shares tactics to master focus in a world where possibilities are endless and the stakes are high.
Our 6 Must Reads for Building and Leading a Product Design Team
Design

Our 6 Must Reads for Building and Leading a Product Design Team

A well-thought-out design team often accompanies enduring product design. Here are six pieces of advice to help you build and lead a design team from the sole designer to a larger design organization.
How Instagram Co-founder Mike Krieger Took Its Engineering Org from 0 to 300 People
Engineering

How Instagram Co-founder Mike Krieger Took Its Engineering Org from 0 to 300 People

Instagram Co-founder and CTO Mike Krieger built one of the industry's leading technical teams from scratch. Here's how he navigated rapid scale.
The Habit Behind This Founder’s Fast Financings, Product Development and Book Deal
Product

The Habit Behind This Founder’s Fast Financings, Product Development and Book Deal

MissionU CEO Adam Braun has a habit that's helped him get term sheets in weeks, launch products and pen a bestseller. Here's an inside look at the practice that guides him.
Here's Why Zola Cherishes its NPS Detractors as Much as its Promoters
Product

Here's Why Zola Cherishes its NPS Detractors as Much as its Promoters

Zola CEO and co-founder Shan-Lyn Ma's commitment to customer satisfaction goes back beyond her time at Gilt and Chloe + Isabel. But at Zola, her team and she have really zeroed in on NPS detractors — and discovered how much they can drive growth. Here's how.
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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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