“Thiel’s Law”: A Startup messed up at its foundation cannot be fixed.
Beginnings are special, they are qualitatively different from all that comes afterward. This was true 13.8 billion years ago, at the founding of our cosmos: something very special happened and universe began to expand and went on to expand by the factor of 10^30 – a million trillion trillion.
Once a country is formed its hard to change constitution, united states since its freedom, after 1791 change it has amended the constitution only 17 times.
Companies are like countries in this way. Bad decisions made early on – if you choose the wrong partners or hire the wrong people, for example – are very hard to correct after they are made. It may take a crisis on the order of bankruptcy before anybody will even try to correct them.
You can not build a great company on a flawed foundation
Founding Matrimony – A Startup starting with – A Team
When you start something the first and most crucial decision you make is whom to start it with. Choosing a co-founder is like getting married and founder conflict is just as ugly as divorce. A wise investor will always first study the team, either the investor or a founder what matters most is the team to begin with.
Its not just a founder who need to get along. Everyone in your company needs to work well together. Its very hard to go from 0 to 1 without a team.
Team Culture for a Successful Startup
What would the ideal company culture look like? Employees should love their work. They should enjoy going to the office so much that formal business hours become obsolete and nobody watches the clock, workers should feel at home.
Recruiting is a core competency for any company. It should never be outsourced. You need people who are not just skilled on paper but who will work together cohesively after they are hired. The first four or five might be attracted by large equity stakes or high profile responsibility. More important than those obvious offerings is your answer to this question: Why should the 20th employee join your company?
Talented people no need to work for you, they have better options out with better offerings, hence as a founder we have to ask ourselves why some one should join my company? some of the bad answers are “Your stock options are better than others”, “You will get to work with smartest people in the world”, “You can help solve the world’s most challenging problems”. The only good answer is specific to your company. The good answers are about your mission and about your team.
Reference: Book Zero To One By Peter Thiel