If you were the CEO of a company, what would be your number one priority?

Hi All, what can help me join an early stage startup and grow up to the top close to the founders within a year? I want to be in the middle of the action Has anyone here done it before?

Was reading the Steve Jobs book recently and realized he probably wasn't the easiest to work with / definitely did not create a great culture around him, especially in the early Apple years. Remembered the movie on blackberry that I saw couple weeks ago and how it was this crazy, hard-ass ceo took charge and actually turned the company around, otherwise Blackberry would be nowhere in our memories today. Do you think this is what is actually needed to build successful companies early on - and employee wellbeing and culture are things to be solved for later in the journey of a company?

Having recently been laid off, these last 2 months was a life changing experience and it taught me a lot of things than any degree or organisation ever did. Some pointers: 1. The people who make the decisions never get punished or are held responsible, its the folks like us who are the first to be pushed out of the door. 2. Its shocking to see the layoffs like firesale, affecting almost each and every company in the IT sector. But it makes you think, did some companies really need to layoff people or did they just do it to inflate their share price and Mcap. The upper management and LT are paid in crores to make the decisions and how could they unanimously fail in such a critical part of business planning. 3. Its all about profits. There's no humanity in any of these companies or rather the folks making the decisions and it doesn't matter if you have been with them for 2 years or 20. If I was responsible for 100 people under me and some of them lost jobs because of the decision I made, I would have stepped down myself and wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing I uprooted the dreams and hopes of not just employees but their families as well, many of whom are sole bread earners of the family. 4. Treat your employer just as you would treat any brand outside when you go out to shop - treat it like a transaction and nothing else. This layoff also taught me to never compromise about your career and position within an organisation. If the organisation can layoff so many people without a second thought, there's nothing holding you back from joining the next organisation who is offering a better role/compensation. 5. Be a risk taker. Thankfully I have always been this and this helped me rise quickly in my 6 year career but it's my suggestion to everyone and not just folks affected by layoffs - Never get comfortable in any organisation or any role. Would love to hear what others think or went through during this difficult period.

What do these people really value as benefits? It can range from anything such as discounts on Uber to a free IPL Cricket match. What are some things that would make them go "Bro I want this" or make them "tweet" or talk about it to their friends/ work colleagues?

IIT grad here building a venture backed startup. I think 99% of folks here believe that venture backed founders are super entitled and in a much "cosier" position than employees Just sharing a few facts about our journey so far if it helps anyone improve their perspectives- 1) Paying ourselves 33% of our campus salary & 60% of what we are paying to our employees (Talking about Pure Base Salary here, not including ESOPs) 2) Insane stress - You basically have to raise money to build (esp if its deeptech because of the high fixed costs) and there are predefined metrics you have to always chase, sometimes just beyond yourselves. Your product will be copied if it's good because well, they always have more money than you. You work 7 days a week for insane hours, chasing metrics required to be "afloat" 3) 99% of venture backed startups result in 0 liquidity gain for founders. So basically in all likeliness, everything is for a net negative return compared to if we took the campus job So, when you wholeheartedly bash founders as if they are sitting On a goldmine while you are toiling for THEIR gold Treasure, just understand that more likely than not, there is not really any gold but rather an irrational hope they are clinging to Also, Yes-we pay above market to our employees (100% hike for the last one) but the truth is some startups just Can't afford it. And ironically, there is a much higher looking down on these startups with meagurely paid founders rather than giants like Tech Mahindra paying peanuts to their employees while having a 1000% salary hike for the executives. Yeah, most startups need to do better but please appreciate if someone is atleast trying to do better because trust me, it's INSANELY HARD.. The number of posts I see about Flipkart making hundreds millionaires is way too less than the ones I see about pinpointing at every single mistake early stage startups do & I just wanted to express my opinion on it Peace!

I am in a peculiar situation and feel that I have lost all the trust my immediate leader had on me. bi weekly 1x1s - usually hell of a 30 mins, cross questions, interogation based on what my manager hears about me from my peers, validating my inner strengths, etc. one conversation in a month involves some casual talk consecutive 1x1 will be hellish and it is happening in cycles for a few months My business acummen - for whatever reason my leader does not care about my business results or the way how I am leading an engineering team. Instead he focuses on petty people dynamics and is pushing me to fix people issues which cannot be fixed Loosing motivation - I don’t fancy anymore to pursue awesome ideas and business related improvements as my leader is too demotivating Comfor level - Managers in big tech companies just want the name to appear Who cares for customers - No one. Employee survey on leadership and company - My leadership team in Bangalore and onshore senior leadership is only driven by the fact that we do everything so that yearly employee feedback survey shows our department positively and is never ready to take any risks or bold decisions for the rightful growth of busines. Weird growth expectations - Everyone in my department thinks they deserve to get promotion and opportunities once they reach a certain years of experience. No one cares about performance. Leadership encourages this. Competition - There is no such thing for us, as my leader is mainly focused on drawing the monthly pay check and do all king of unwanted projects and lose sight on project/opportunities that provides actual career growth for my direct reports. Our skills are being outdated and it is becoming very hard to find a job based on our work profile. And so many more .. will make a new post.

Hey Viners, would like to know your prespective on the situation that if you face a bunch of incompetent colleagues who dont take their work seriously and the manager constantly asks you to maintain quality because of your seniority and you end up cleaning their work, how do you handle it ?

Hi Folks, Want to understand what makes you stay at a startup vs shop around in other companies or leave after 6months- an year? Please tell things other than initial compensation because you can always find someone paying more. Assume a market standard here.