Deprogramming corporatism

Key ideas

Tan argues big-company habits of looking busy, avoiding blame and following buzzwords fail in startups, and founders must unlearn them by focusing on results and changing their surroundings.

1. 1

   Effort without results does not transfer

   Tan writes that large companies have brand, sales forces and protected revenue that can hide failure, so employees get used to doing things and seeing something happen. He says founders from that background are not stupid, just surprised when hard work brings no result. He adds that many experienced directors and managers hired from such companies fail quickly at startups, to everyone's surprise.

2. 2

   Watch for cover-your-ass culture

   Tan argues that big organizations punish making your boss look bad more than they punish ineffective work, and that taking others' credit seems to correlate with climbing high. He says a startup's small size blunts this, though it can still develop. He gives founders and CEOs the job of keeping people on what actually matters.

3. 3

   Buzzwords protect employees, not startups

   Tan says following the trend is safe in a corporation because nobody gets fired for what everyone else was doing, whereas a startup must actually be right about the future. He does not claim everything with a buzzword label fails, only that it must make life better for specific customers who will pay. His own example is turning down Palantir at 23 because the mainstream press and tech blogs were not talking about it.

4. 4

   Reduce the job to action and numbers

   Tan says the recurring theme among founders who get past this is results. He says YC pushes founders toward building product and talking to customers, and toward thinking in concrete numbers such as user growth, customer savings or revenue.

5. 5

   Change your surroundings to change habits

   Tan holds that founder culture is learned just as corporate culture is, and that it takes being around people who believe the same thing and practice it daily. He thinks this is one reason YC works for founders. He also advises avoiding the coworking space in favor of your own.

In Garry’s words

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