James Hong from startup HOTorNot published a terrific read on his blog: “Reinventing HOTorNOT, Part I“.
James talks about mistakes they made along the way, challenges they face, recruiting and retaining talent in silicon valley, and more.
Some great insights presented – and I appreciate his transparency.
The central theme of his post, “stop clinging to the past and jump into the future”, is spot on for companies that face disruption and need to innovate.
A few of the nuggets from James’ post:
“The other thing we did is start encouraging innovation again, rather than squelch it in fear of our any changes hurting the cash cow.”
“…it is better to find people you believe in and take a chance on them than in trying to control and own them. People will work a lot harder if they are working for themselves and feel in control of their own destiny than they will for you.”
“In the future of the web, the majority of value is in innovation and the quality of execution, not in the funding resources a company can provide… giving employees a healthy share, and a majority share in the case of spinouts they are primarily responsible for is not only not a bad idea, it’s the BEST idea.”
I’m looking forward to reading Part 2.
(Photo credit: valleywagprime)
