Best-Selling Author | Speaker | Coach | CTO
Dragons, definitely.
They’re powered by a magic that keeps them from burning alive from the fire within, and allows them to fly even though they are terribly non-aerodynamic.
Unicorns are powerful – but it isn’t magic, just energy they’re tapping into and focusing with their horns.
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Which-are-more-magical-Unicorns-or-Dragons
Originally Posted On: 2016-04-25
I helped to grow Evernote from my Sailboat[1]
Back in 2000, I’d made a choice to move from Florida to Boston. My future husband was a bit struck by this, as he was:
Nonetheless, I moved, he followed, and we were married.
A short time later I hooked up with a young entrepreneur, Phil Libin in his second company, CoreStreet. (I was actually terrible at my job there for a bit, but Phil was probably the best boss I could have ever had, mentoring me to become better.)
I eventually left to do some other things but was thrown a roadblock when my (now) husband said:
“I’m leaving and I’m never coming back.”
Wait, what?!
7 years in Boston was too much for him, it seemed.
He got in a flight the next morning to California, bought a boat, and it was up to me to follow or not.
Spoiler alert: I did.
I had been sailing a few times before, but not anything more than a few hours at a time. Suddenly, I was living on one.
We decided, ok, we are living on a sailboat, so why not just go sail around a bit?
So we went down to Mexico.
Around this time, Phil was starting up Evernote. He asked if I’d join, and I eventually said yes – with the caveat that I could be wherever I wanted to be.
(He has a quirky sense of humor, and this opportunity afforded tons of “offshore support” puns[2] .)
He agreed to my terms, and so I spent the next three years working from my sailboat off the Pacific coast of Mexico, and then the following few years from my RV as I traveled around on land (interspersed with some time in hotels and office visits, of course.)
We started out with around 5000 customers, and I left on the day we hit 100M. I’d say it’s partly due to the fact that I was happily supporting them along the way.
I had such an amazing time doing it I’ve written a book about it! (Which when I have a few minutes, I’ll finish editing and get released… ;))
Footnotes
[2] The Most Premium Edition – Evernote Blog
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-true-personal-story-that-people-have-a-hard-time-believing
Originally Posted On: 2016-01-19
Honestly, if you had a team of 10 developers, that would be a nightmare. Who would decide what to develop? When they stop to talk to each other? And who would clean up after them? 😉
At minimum, to have a chance of being successful, you need three key personalities:
The Coach
The Geek
The Artist
A Coach is someone who will inspire people – be it the team to get things done, investors to give you money, or customers to buy your product. Coaches can be CEOs, Marketing people, Product Managers, etc, but you need that personality type for your company to work.
A Geek is someone who builds stuff. Whatever your company makes, you need someone who can actually make it. If you are a restaurant, you need chefs. If you are a software company, you need developers. If you are a construction company, you need builders. Everyone needs writers. These are the people who get their hands dirty and do the work.
An Artist is someone who makes things beautiful. Again, no matter what type of company you have, you need to have someone to take the stuff that you’ve “made” and pretty it up – in a restaurant, the food needs to be plated. In a software company, you need proper UI design. Construction companies need architects. Writers need editors.
Figure out what your company goal is, then what responsibilities you need to fill, and find the correct personalities for those roles.
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/What-essential-roles-should-the-first-ten-employees-of-a-tech-company-be
Originally Posted On: 2015-12-17
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