BaykaPPF shift for Startups
There is this concept of production possibility frontier (PPF) in Economics. It is often visualized as a curve that represents the optimal allocation of resources between producing two different products - see PPF1 curve on the diagram above. Point A is one such possible optimal allocation achieved by, say, Company A. However, you will realize that this curve is not always a perfect representation of reality. In fact, most companies do not operate on the optimal curve (point B), and there are...
Bayka"You're either crazy, or you know what you're doing"
14 years ago I left one of the leading software outsourcing companies & amazing career to start my own company - Empatika. I doubt you know the name of the company, but probably (at least 7m users worldwide) you do know App in the Air, which I have co-founded with my colleagues from Empatika. I have recently left App in the Air after almost 12 years of building & growing the company from scratch. This was amazing and unforgettable experience & I think now is the right time to reflect on it. I...
BaykaBig thinking & hackathons
One of the traits of large companies is "big thinking". By this, I mean they plan on a grand scale, measuring their progress in months, quarters, and years. This can be a dangerous habit for a startup founder, since they should be thinking and acting on a daily, weekly basis. So how can one learn to unlearn this? Hackathons have been a great help to me. First we attended external ones, but eventually we started organizing internal ones. A hackathon is a 24-hour marathon of programming aimed a...
Product guy and systems thinker. Founder & exCEO of @appintheair
BaykaPPF shift for Startups
There is this concept of production possibility frontier (PPF) in Economics. It is often visualized as a curve that represents the optimal allocation of resources between producing two different products - see PPF1 curve on the diagram above. Point A is one such possible optimal allocation achieved by, say, Company A. However, you will realize that this curve is not always a perfect representation of reality. In fact, most companies do not operate on the optimal curve (point B), and there are...
Bayka"You're either crazy, or you know what you're doing"
14 years ago I left one of the leading software outsourcing companies & amazing career to start my own company - Empatika. I doubt you know the name of the company, but probably (at least 7m users worldwide) you do know App in the Air, which I have co-founded with my colleagues from Empatika. I have recently left App in the Air after almost 12 years of building & growing the company from scratch. This was amazing and unforgettable experience & I think now is the right time to reflect on it. I...
BaykaBig thinking & hackathons
One of the traits of large companies is "big thinking". By this, I mean they plan on a grand scale, measuring their progress in months, quarters, and years. This can be a dangerous habit for a startup founder, since they should be thinking and acting on a daily, weekly basis. So how can one learn to unlearn this? Hackathons have been a great help to me. First we attended external ones, but eventually we started organizing internal ones. A hackathon is a 24-hour marathon of programming aimed a...
Product guy and systems thinker. Founder & exCEO of @appintheair
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There are a lot of myths & unmet expectations when building a startup, as well as the real things that matter, so I’d like to share some of them.
“I am CEO, Bitch” - this was Mark’s business card according to the “Social Network” movie. Yeah, you will be the CEO and, sure, you can print something similar. But is it really worth to leave a big company for this? You can start a small business in parallel and have any card you want :)
“I will have lots of money & success” - probably. But not right away. As I am planning my next venture, I realize that I am making decision about the business I’m going to be completely occupied with for the next 7-10 years to become proud of it. For App in the Air, the liquidity event happened only 7 years after we started, I a sure it is more or less the same for other startups, discounting for some outliers, of course.
“I will have lots of free time” - you are not getting this one, I promise :) I remember, when I was just promoted to a Lead Developer role at EPAM Systems, big software outsourcing company I worked for before leaving to start my own business, how I was leaving the office late at night and met one the senior project managers. He immediately realized whats going on and told me: “Hey, I had the same thought I am gonna leave office early when I am promoted”. In startup, you dont have a set boundaries of work & life balance, you just always work, like a robot. I fully realized this only now, after 2 months of doing nothing, how interesting your night dreams can be :)
These are, in my opinion, the most popular myths. But what about reality?
So, what you will really get are:
Growth, growth, growth - you are permanently growing over yourself: every month you have new skills to learn, new things to try, new challenges to overcome. Even if this entails wearing panda costume and hugging visitors at TechCrunch conference (yep, thats me in panda costume on the cover image to this post). This is one of the best things I like about the startup: growth rates are incomparable to what you get in the corporate setting, so you are always learning.
Network - your social network grows exponentially with new employees, users and partners. It is so exciting to realize that, when you travel to Hong Kong, for example, you can meet your users in person, learn about their product experience & things product fails at, as well as some local recommendation on the best food spots ;-) If you like People, if you like diverse “energy exchange” - global startup is the right thing to do!
Freedom - a freedom to build your own culture, to work with the people you want, to feel agency for the future you are building with the team - this is priceless! This is why I no longer imagine myself in “for hire employment”. This is, for me, the most important emotion about the startup!
Do not try to combine employment & startup: you will most probably fail at both.
Be open to the support & help your family & friend are offering to you, but be firm in explaining them the decision to build something of your own, so they worry less. Out of love to you, they will try to convince to you go back or to combine - this wont work, will even make things worse because of the personal conflict you’ll experience trying to do this.
“When you lose your money, you lose nothing.
When you lose your health, you lose something.
When you lose your character, you lose everything!”
“Lansky” movie
There are a lot of myths & unmet expectations when building a startup, as well as the real things that matter, so I’d like to share some of them.
“I am CEO, Bitch” - this was Mark’s business card according to the “Social Network” movie. Yeah, you will be the CEO and, sure, you can print something similar. But is it really worth to leave a big company for this? You can start a small business in parallel and have any card you want :)
“I will have lots of money & success” - probably. But not right away. As I am planning my next venture, I realize that I am making decision about the business I’m going to be completely occupied with for the next 7-10 years to become proud of it. For App in the Air, the liquidity event happened only 7 years after we started, I a sure it is more or less the same for other startups, discounting for some outliers, of course.
“I will have lots of free time” - you are not getting this one, I promise :) I remember, when I was just promoted to a Lead Developer role at EPAM Systems, big software outsourcing company I worked for before leaving to start my own business, how I was leaving the office late at night and met one the senior project managers. He immediately realized whats going on and told me: “Hey, I had the same thought I am gonna leave office early when I am promoted”. In startup, you dont have a set boundaries of work & life balance, you just always work, like a robot. I fully realized this only now, after 2 months of doing nothing, how interesting your night dreams can be :)
These are, in my opinion, the most popular myths. But what about reality?
So, what you will really get are:
Growth, growth, growth - you are permanently growing over yourself: every month you have new skills to learn, new things to try, new challenges to overcome. Even if this entails wearing panda costume and hugging visitors at TechCrunch conference (yep, thats me in panda costume on the cover image to this post). This is one of the best things I like about the startup: growth rates are incomparable to what you get in the corporate setting, so you are always learning.
Network - your social network grows exponentially with new employees, users and partners. It is so exciting to realize that, when you travel to Hong Kong, for example, you can meet your users in person, learn about their product experience & things product fails at, as well as some local recommendation on the best food spots ;-) If you like People, if you like diverse “energy exchange” - global startup is the right thing to do!
Freedom - a freedom to build your own culture, to work with the people you want, to feel agency for the future you are building with the team - this is priceless! This is why I no longer imagine myself in “for hire employment”. This is, for me, the most important emotion about the startup!
Do not try to combine employment & startup: you will most probably fail at both.
Be open to the support & help your family & friend are offering to you, but be firm in explaining them the decision to build something of your own, so they worry less. Out of love to you, they will try to convince to you go back or to combine - this wont work, will even make things worse because of the personal conflict you’ll experience trying to do this.
“When you lose your money, you lose nothing.
When you lose your health, you lose something.
When you lose your character, you lose everything!”
“Lansky” movie
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