3 Insights from My Conversation with Noam Wasserman
Distilled from the Startups for Good podcast
We recently released a Startups for Good episode with Noam Wasserman. Dr. Wasserman wrote the award-winning book The Founder’s Dilemmas drawing on a decade of research tracking ~10,000 startups.
I wanted to share insights that we discussed during the show. I wrote this piece without the guest’s input and it may not be a representation of the guest’s views.
Passion Can Be Negative and EQ Matters, Too
As a founder, passion can backfire.
Yes, passion can motivate you through tough times. But it can also blind you to practicalities.
The best founders, in his opinion, are passionate and analytical.
“Follow your heart, but check it with your head.”
Plus, the best founders have strong interpersonal skills, he continues. You will want to have high emotional intelligence to handle interpersonal issues.
“That’s the total package.”
The Rich vs. King Trade-off Really is About “Effectiveness” which Includes Mission
A key theme in his work is the Rich vs. King trade off. Founders often benefit from giving up control to bring in financing or others to help you build the company. Different skills and perspectives can create a healthy tension and a stronger team. Then founders are more likely to make money from a successful company.
He did mention something new on the podcast. On the “Rich” side of the trade-off you can consider that to be “effectiveness at reaching mission”. In other words, as a mission-driven organization, if you want to be effective, you probably want to share control, too. Accountability, skill building and different viewpoints can all contribute.
People in Startups are the Learning Edge
The three key areas in a startup are: capital, product and people.
Financing was the first area of study. Staged financing, invectives for multiple parties and ecosystem building are all examples of this area.
Second, people studied product with Lean Startup as the leading model. Agile, design thinking and Disciplined Entrepreneurship are all examples of improvements in product.
The newest area of focus in startups is people. How do you put together founding teams? How do you have the hard conversations about roles, rewards and responsibilities? While there has been progress, there is the most work to do in this area.
Noam’s work focuses on this third area.
At Purpose Built, we believe the people side of startups deserves more focus. Noam as he has been inspirational to our work. It was great to have on the podcast!
For the full interview, you can listen online or using your favorite podcast player.