Corporate Strategist

Software Developer

Product Manager

Program Manager

Manager Mode ❌ Founder Mode ❌ Investor Mode ✅

Investor

Manager Mode ❌ Founder Mode ❌ Investor Mode ✅- Grapevine

Founder mode.

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Manager Mode >>> Founder Mode

Software Engineer

I've moved on from 'Founder Mode' -> 'Fu*k it Mode'

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Founder mode is crap

Product Marketing Manager

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

read here: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html
TLDR: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/founder-mode-by-paul-graham-tl-yfFETjNIQFep_ANjG2082Q

Thoughts on "Founder Mode" by Paul Graham?

I have been talking to a few companies, across different size bands.
Only Indian startups seem to obsessed with full week WFO/Micromanagement.

A few years back, startups were known for being more flexible, now it just seems to be the reverse.

Why are Indian startups so obsessed with Micromanagement? i.e. WFO

I know a lot of folks will not agree, but when it comes to accountability (+ some integrity), the vast majority are really really behind. Those who show some are stomped up on as well.  
  
 The only way to get over this might be to micromanage. I'm not in support of it, but I myself have been seeing a change around me because of some people, a few others will also have to suffer from micro-management. Yes, it's not easy on me/my mind, but the work is moving a bit more.  
  
 I've seen this at a lot of places. I usually trust others with things, but the results have more often disappointed me. Now, I just delegate only of it's really required.

Founder

Paul Graham - Founder Mode: Summary

Copy pasting his post:
Angel investing in startups will make you feel cooler, but eventually poorer Investing in a future $1Bn unicorn at a $5M valuation is unreally good. A greater than 100x return in 5-6 years is a godly 115% rate of return. 5 lakhs can become 5 Cr. It seems worth the risk But 53% of companies of Indian angel companies die without ever raising, and 98% don’t become unicorns All kinds of angel investing success stories circulate. Uber, AirBnB, Flipkart, have made angels multi-millionaires. Being the first investor in iconic companies is a badge of honour In reality, it is harder to make money to beat a 5% fixed deposit Unlike public markets where you can invest in any stock you want, you cannot invest in every startup you want. Access to startups is a competitive advantage in itself. As a new angel investor without connections in the ecosystem, if you’re getting to invest, the company has likely been passed by everyone. Fundraising is done in a priority order. The best angels will get access to the best deals Even if you’re someone with access to deals, you need to have money. Barring a few founders or investors, few have the ability to invest in 20+ companies. For you to even have a shot at a unicorn, you need to invest in at least 20+ companies. I ran 500 simulations on a portfolio of 1Cr investing in 20 companies, based on real, cold, Indian startup data. 78% of the simulations lost money. Imagine what happens if you invest in 5. There’s a reason why VCs usually have portfolios larger than 50. VCs tend to do better because it is their job to pick companies. Evaluating founders, markets and models all day makes you better than average. Just like leaving public markets to professionals, this too is a full time job. If you have access, ability to deploy capital in 20+ companies, and picking skill you could eventually make money. A rare group have all three. Beyond that, it is at best support for your founder friends, and at worst an expensive hobby

"it is harder to make money in angel investing in startups to beat a 5% fixed deposit"- says VC Aviral Bhatnagar

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

What is the ballpark compensation range for the role of the founder's/ceo's office in seed and series afunded startup?

Founders office role compensation

I have 2 offers
One as APM at series B startup and other one in Founder's Office at  series A startup, what should be a right choice.

How both the career paths will diverge ?
Ideally I want to go for foreign MBA after 3 years, have 2 years of work ex.

Founder's Office VS APM role

Absolutely sad to see the state of the startups, most of them.
I am a founder myself, and this is a post with equal disappointment with myself as much as it is for anyone else who relates.
Look at all these companies that have raised shit tons of capital, and now make a fraction of money that has been invested in them.
The raised money is spent on outsized, non business sense making acquisition costs, only to keep repeating it till the tap runs dry.
Then when all stakeholders get bored, the service quality plummets, the employees are fired and whole sectors are admonished as being bad.

But, my question is, which sector where large sums of money was invested in early days have come out with flying colours. Fucking nothing !
Edtech, proptech, agritech, ecommerce etc. etc. etc. kuch bhi nahi. 

Is there any sector where a startup which has raised in the 100s of millions in the first 5 years have actually built a sustainable business at any scale ?
Then scaling down, isse acha, scale slowly.
The worst part of this whole drama, is pushing the innovation wheel backward and destroying customer sentiment.

Isse acha, raise less money inititally, build slowly, and only scale when the market is ready. Artifical growth makes no sense, unless you have a treasure chest that shall never run out.
Even in that case, spend the money on assets and not on random acquisition costs, direct or indirect.

As founders, let's do better, nahi ?

Rant or is it ?

To all people who have switched from conventional corporate careers like consulting, banking etc. to a founder's office role

How has your experience been?
What worked/ didn't work?
What do you think is a long term play here?
What should one consider before switching?

Do mention the stage and industry. TIA!

Your founder's office role experience

Business Analyst

I'm looking to angel invest in a startup who is building slack AI agents.

The agent should continuosly listen to the chats and keep building intelligency along with crawling the links shared through the chats. 

The agent should participate in threads and reply whenever it senses something it knows from before or can infer and deduce from previous and current knowledge. 

If you are building something like this, share me a link where I can test drive something no matter how buggy it might be - scroll@proton.me

Don't send me deck or any pitching material.

I want to invest: AI slack agent

willl try my best to be honest, ask me anything

AMA - I work at a VC fund

Analyst

Are the Lead - Founder's Office/Chief of Strategy roles worth it for someone with 9y experience in Business Operations? What can be suitable exit options here?

Founder's Office - Worth it for Experienced folks?

Sales Leader

Welcome to Ask Grapeviners's Private Community

What is stopping you from starting up your own company?

Consultant

Something I've found very frustrating while pitching to investors, platforms and funds is that so many of them actually just bait and switch.

They pose like gyani people earnestly looking for investments or helping entrepreneurs, but when you speak to them they start selling you their services.

Fundraise is apparently just a step away, need to signup here first, or create xyz report first, or do outreach to xyz number of people, or do market research and fresh pitch deck creation, or hire xyz consultant/agency to get to the "next level" - basically a bunch of barriers you need to pay to clear despite having a profitable business with paying customers. 

Fact of the matter is there are plenty of people raising money based off of pitch decks with no MVP , or even just the right conversations with the right people. But they are rare and hard to find organically. Requires lots of networking and connecting dots over months and years.

The point is, this selling in the guise of securing investment is tiresome and a waste of time for most entrepreneurs. They probably do get a few suckers occasionally which helps them stay afloat I guess.

Some of them might even take your ideas and start building something of their own or back someone to build it under them. Once you start pitching, the deck starts floating around in VC groups and networks mostly beyond the reach of the average entrepreneur.

Considering all this, just keeping one's head down and bootstrapping forever in peace seems like a better approach.

Disingenuous behaviour in startup ecosystem

Product Owner

Cannot stop it with the Founder Mode memes 😂

Growth Manager

If you are opening another mom n pop store, you are CEO of the company 

Founders are one whose product is a new addition to the market, they FOUND something NEW

Every other person, registering a company calls themselves a Founder. Bro you run Google ads, there are lakhs who do the same.

Founder vs CEO

I used to work at a product-based company, joined as a fresher worked for 2 years, it was a perfect job, in the sense that there was little to no work related stress, decent pay, and all the perks you get at a typical big product company as an SDE.

I decided to move out of my comfort zone and joined a bootstrapped startup. It sounded stupid when I left but I just wanted to experiment with working in a high-paced environment.

3 months in and I am very frustrated there is no sense of urgency even in a highly competitive space, all 3 co-founders are busy fundraising and rarely talk to us except for standups(which are also skipped regularly) most other team members(a total of 11) work like govt employees, no hunger, passion or curiosity. 

I joined because I love the problem they are solving and I am genuinely passionate about the industry and problem space but I don't even see 10% of the same passion in any of my other teammates they come in at 10 and leave by 4.

Sorry for the long rant but need genuine advice, will things change after the fundraise and as an employee how do I raise my issues with company culture with co-founders without sounding too bossy and pissing off my other teammates.

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