

Creating a web startup functionality in a department in a big corporation? - vlad

If somebody who manages a small group of developers who support web-based infrastructure at one of the biggest non-software companies asked you how you would create a web startup environment/mentality in a reorganization, what would you tell them?  The two primary functions would be support and also additions to established portals.  This person has been on teams (as manager) of the public, internal, and now the customer-facing site.  I'm thinking that with established "products", and people who have worked in a big company for many years, a department can't really function like a startup, or shouldn't.  What do you think?
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LostInTheWoods
I would tell them good luck, but its not going to happen. Trying to create a
startup mentality within a corporation is like trying to create a festive mood
at a wake. It comes down to motivations. Early stage startup founders are
motivated because the rewards for being successful are potentially high, and
the cost of failure is at worst some ego and time wasted.

Some corporations try to instill a startup mentality in their employees by
letting them propose product ideas and by doing some of the implementation on
company time. I'm not sure how they reward these employees, and I'm not sure
how motivated these employees would remain if they come up with a million
dollar idea, but only get a $50 gift card for their troubles.

In the end there is no substitute for a real startup.

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dmoney
I haven't been a part of a startup, but I'm at a company that's been
reorganizing around an agile methodology, paying some lip service to "self-
organizing teams." I think one of the problems with doing this is that if this
methodology is imposed from the top down, you get the sense that this is "just
a bunch of crap that management is making us do". So I think a good idea would
be to have the team figure out how they want to do this reorganization
(possibly suggesting the kind of atmosphere you're going for). That way they
will have some stake in making this work, because it was partially their idea.

Secondly, in a startup, in an early stage, it's a couple guys in a garage, and
there is no management. That means if it's like a startup, it's a problem to
try and factor you as a manager into the equation. So you should make a deal
up front what kind of management you will do. Just keeping upper management
off their backs? Or will you be on the team yourself in some capacity?

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vlad
On a different note: PG, here's a bug I found.

The text under the submission form says:

"Leave url blank to submit a question for discussion. If there is no url, the
text _(if any)_ will appear at the top of the comments page. If there is a
url, the text will be ignored."

It seems the text is no longer optional when url is left blank. Therefore,
this should be reworded to something like:

"If you submit a url, the text will be ignored. If you leave url blank to
submit a question for discussion, the text will appear at the top of the
comments page."

(I know you can come up with better re-wording but I'm curious to compare.)

