It’s exactly this month last year, I decided to go for an operations job instead of chasing a VC job as before. It can’t be a better chance to reflect on the journey.
1. Hypothesis and hypothesis!!!
Doing a startup is really about verifying hypotheses. Fast.
I knew that even when I was on the other side. But at that time, for me, a startup might have several hypotheses at one time, mainly about directions? products? acquisition channels?
But now I know that it can have hundred of hypotheses at one time. Besides the mentioned ones, the hypotheses can be as small as which title on the sales deck works better? Which email templates generate a higher conversion rate? How much revenue we should aim this quarter? Which marketing campaign would be better?…
They all have no historical record, no benchmark, no answer. But they’re vital, as vital as the big ones. Trying to have clear objectives and clear reasons why to choose this hypothesis over the others is important because it helps us choose a better one next time, next time and next time.
2. Get off the dance floor
Get off the dance floor to know what is going on in the team, in the company, in the market is just crucial. Keep working and don’t know what happens around is too dangerous, especially you’re testing hypotheses.
For me, I find working on the deck is a good chance to “get off the dance floor” because it helps me to look at what the company has done so far (from the last time) + how things have changed (thanks to what has been done)+ how competitors are doing….I just love making deck! Reporting and planning is also a good chance too.
Well, but dancing should be still our main job.
p.s “get off the dance floor” is a phrase implying that leaders should look at big pictures not just focus on the daily tasks.
3. There are always a lot of rooms for work on
So many things to do. So many things to improve. But the hard thing is they’re not always obvious (if they’re obvious, you must be working on them already.
When I first joined the company, I found it very easy to spot the un-touched areas and then worked on it or recruited team to work on. I guess because I was an outsider at the time. It’d be harder and harder to find them as an insider, I think.
I think “getting off the dance floor”, continuously observing and navigating information (below) is the key to find out which areas to work on. Also, one of the questions I frequently ask my team members is “is there any issue recently you think we should improve?”. I try to make sure that they have a mindset of looking for rooms to improve and make sure that I don’t miss them as well.
4. Navigating information fast (a lot of information!!!)
Working at a startup especially at a manager level and in the middle of their journey (not from the beginning) means I have to consume a huge amount of information FAST. Otherwise, we can’t catch up, let alone come up with new solutions.
I think it’s true for everyone joining any company (not just startup) but in a corporate, you may have a proper onboarding program with clear organization structure and rich knowledge hub to catch up faster. In a startup, you don’t have such luxury things.
Also, my company is quite unique: teams spread over different places (VN, Sing, UK, Thailand, JP, Spain) and we work across offices, not within offices. We use Slack and Zoom to communicate. These factors make the information very very scattered. It was very stressful for me to catch up in the early days. And even now, I feel like if I ignore for 1 week, it’s already difficult to navigate information. Learning to catch up key information and ignore the others is really a skill to learn.
5. Hire slow and fire fast
It took me one year to finally build a dream team. I change my team several times
- Myself + 1 assigned fulltime (ie. she is assigned to me from another team)
- Myself + 1 assigned fulltime (different from above) + 2 self-recruited interns (I recruited them)
- Myself + 1 assigned fulltime (different from above) 1 self-recruited fulltime + 2 interns (same)
- Myself + 2 self-recruited fulltime (different from above)+ 1 full time intern (converted from those 2)
- Now: myself + 3 self-recruited fulltime (same + converted intern) + 1 self-recruited freelancer
It took me so long to finally recruit the right ones. Also after 1 year, I become fast in firing the ones I know they’re not fit. Once I decided they’re not fit, I talked to them. Though I still feel bad every time I do it and I don’t think I handled firing well/fast enough, I think it’s a good sign. Firing on time is good for both sides. Employees have the time to find better jobs that fit them.
6. Be a builder
Very often you will find the startup you just join doesn’t have this or have that. No proper sales deck? No metrics? No report dashboard???? The only mindset that works is to create what you need.
If you’re a salesperson and find the company has no proper sales deck, please don’t just complain and wait for it. Roll your sleeves up and gather information or work with the one in charge to create a better one.
I’ve learned that having a builder mindset should be the best thing you need to survive and thrive in startup environment.
7. You don’t have to be an excellent builder from the beginning
A lot of times, especially when there are new people joining our company, I realized how bad the old versions (of work) I made are. And of course, I felt bad about that. The kind of feeling “how can I be so stupid back then? or I should have spent more time on this.”
But then gradually I realized that it’s not because I was bad (or I was but now I have a thick face :))) but it’s because my knowledge at that time was not accumulated enough. Even if I spent more time on that, I would have not able to make a better one.
So instead of trying to perfect something, I aim to create something workable, which can solve the problems at that time first. It’s something I try to communicate with my team too.
8. To some levels, the fastest way to learn more is to recruit new ones
Recruiting the right ones is always important to company growth. But during the last one year, I learned that adding the right people to the team is also vital to leader’s growth. The good team members really add value and teach me the things I have no (or little) ideas about. I am so thankful that I can learn a lot from the team (both local and global) I am working with now.
9. I don’t really care what job/title I hold
I realized that as long as I can work on something that allows me to spot the problems, the gaps and work on the solutions, I am happy. It’s not about the job or the title. When I worked on the investor side, I found happiness and excitement when I got to know a new angle to a problem together with startup founders.
10. Leadership & management
The job right now allows (forces!!!) me to learn about leadership and management, which I am quite new to. But it’s quite difficult to learn it properly, I think. It’s not a skill I can read and then apply right later. I still try to figure it out.
11. I became lazy in talking to people outside the companies
Sorry for anyone who waited long for my responses. I feel I should talk to my old friends more but I just become so lazy in talking to people 😦
I do wonder if there is anyone to read till here :))) But if you do, thank you! You’re amazing ❤
San 
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