

Startup Advice: Lead like a Dictator  - sgrove
http://www.junloayza.com/startup-tips/startup-advice-lead-like-fidel-castro/

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sgrove
I think a lot of the points are good, but the wording is dangerously wrong on
some:

"Wrong: Find people to work for your for free and let them do as they please |
Right: Selectively recruit people to work on your team for free and tell them
exactly what they should be doing"

Yes, you have to find the right people. Even those working for free might be
too expensive if they hurt your overall progress. And their interests have to
be perfectly aligned with yours, so that even when left alone they produce
good, useful results. But this comes off a bit as permission to micromanage,
which would kill any normal hacker.

The emphasis on results is well placed though - in my experience, people
crossing over into startup life don't always realize that "hours worked"
doesn't equate to anything really useful. It all comes down to the progress
made. Big companies can afford to estimate the average production per hour for
a given employee and pay appropriately, and then take some time to see if it
works out. Startups don't financially or strategically have that kind of
leeway for key employees.

