Archives for 2017-02-14

Culture has a lot to do with attitude, and how things are expressed.

If you think that expressing your “culture” is having “beer friday” and “wall climbs” and “all night hackfests”, you’re going to find that you’re excluding some of the older employees simply by default.

The culture should be one where quality of work is valued. Where who hangs out at what bar doesn’t determine who gets promoted or hired (although, too frequently that’s the case.)

Older employees often have families, and will tirn in their work to go home to be with them – not spend time after work doing more work to “bond.”

So, to make your culture more older-employee friendly, create plenty of experiences and time within the normal work hours for this bonding to happen.

Have conversation areas.

Create a nice lunch room, with communal tables.

Instead of beer-o-clock do an afternoon tea, or morning coffee.

Do brown bag sessions where employees can share expertise and mingle.

Little things like that can make it a more open environment and much more welcoming to people who would otherwise feel left out from “after school activities.”

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/How-should-startups-make-sure-their-workplace-culture-is-friendly-to-older-employees

Originally Posted On: 2016-06-11

As Terrance Yang Mentioned, advertising for a cofounder doesn’t add much credibility to one’s endeavor in the eyes of an investor.

I have unfortunately been known to break into a tirade on people advertising anywhere and everywhere they are “looking for a cofounder” (sorry about anyone in earshot of me when that happens, I’m just really passionate about what I do) as it is generally a black flag (or at least a caution flag) on a project.

It’s understandable that you will need help to get a project going. It’s even expected. However, the way you find people to join your team is by being so passionate about it, anywhere and everywhere you go, in everything you do and say, that people can’t help to but want to be part of it.

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You need to have the attitude that your project is the only project that matters in the entire world and you are the only person that can get it done.

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If you hold that perspective every minute of every day, people will be asking you to be on your team. You won’t need to look for a cofounder, you’ll have to choose one.

This is the main difference between the attitudes of successful teams and everyone else. (Holding that perspective is also hard, which is why successful CEOs hire coaches like myself to help them stay in it.)

If you need to hire someone, then advertise for a specific role that needs to be filled, with commensurate equity.

Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Should-I-write-on-AngelList-that-Im-looking-for-a-co-founder-even-if-my-startup-has-already-launched

Originally Posted On: 2016-01-20