1. Iteration velocity matters more than anything. You will mess up when moving fast, but the damage of moving too slow is far greater. cc
@rauchgwho I’ve stolen this truism from ❤️
2. As a leader, your most important job is to be a coach, not to be the best at coding, selling, writing, etc. You have to transition fast. Too many executives spend time trying to do their team's work. cc
@jaredpalmerwho transitioned overnight from acquired solo-founder to VP
3. Always be learning who you can trust to act independently. Enable them. Your business will be too complex to keep everything in your head. Your primary output should be frameworks. cc
@cramforcewho distilled our business into a few core principles
4. Embrace talking about pay and promotions. Make sure your team is comfortable discussing compensation and career. The most damaging thing your company can experience is losing your best people over a few dollars.
5. Own the outcomes. Don't blame others when things go sideways. Solving hard problems require big swings. Your team will strike out a lot, and that’s okay. Let them know they need to keep swinging and you’ve got their back.
6. Finish the swing. Hold your team accountable for iterating not just shipping v1. Getting something out the door is fun, but it’s critical to measure how well that thing did. cc
@leeerobwho is always willing without ego to cut bad investments or triple down on great ones
7. Don't accept chronic behavior issues. It’s easy to let small things go. Debug bad behaviors: find the cause and fix it. Your culture is informed by these norms and when you’re hyperscaling issues can replicate very quickly. cc:
@okbelwho delivers world-class feedback
8. Continue to hold the standards high for who you hire and what you ship. Don’t believe your own hype. Treat every single ship as precious. Cc:
@evilrabbit_and
@skllcrnwho are never satisfied. They push for better every day
9. Build deep trust with your leadership team and over-communicate. People have a lot going on, so remind them you're in their corner frequently. Silence is often assumed to be a negative. cc
@tomocchinowho’s one of the best communicators I’ve ever worked with
10. Express gratitude. Make sure they know you see the work they’re doing to build a company with you. Special thanks to the Vercel OGs. It's been an incredible ride.
So, where am I going? I'm staying on as an advisor to Vercel, but my full-time gig will be the CEO of a series-A company. I'll share more soon, but for now I can say we’re hiring aggressively for design, frontend, and infra (DMs open).