Reading about start-ups and founders is part of the cultural education of our era. Even if you are not interested in the business side of things, thesReading about start-ups and founders is part of the cultural education of our era. Even if you are not interested in the business side of things, these books are still required reading since you have to study the idols and the paragons of society to understand the aspirations and the class definitions. Jeff Bezos is right up there with the other founder-luminaries as an aspirational, charismatic goalpost to reach towards. Starting something of your own is easily the most self-fulfilling goal allowed today. Forget the find-yourself goals of a few decades back, it is the start-something goal that is the best option today... Is it a compromise? Does it make a real difference in the quality of life? No founder is ever going to burst that bubble, at least not yet. :)
Anyway, coming to the genre itself, it is part of the reading of this genre that along with the more esoteric reading of such books to understand society, culture, etc., the more relevant reading is to look for "mantras of success", for habits that will lead to success, for methods that will work, for any superstitious tic that might just bring about the next big thing.
But one common thread I have been able to tease out from readings about the colossally successful is that all of them are obsessive about at least one of the following aspects:
1. Obsessive about the Customers Such founders are on a mission to "help" customers who are currently not getting what they deserve. They truly believe that their mission is to wage war for the consumers, to make things easy for them, and make money in the process. Jeff Bezos belongs to this category.
2. Obsessive about the Employees All founders know that the top employees are important, but this category of founders obsess right down to the level of the front-line employees. It is a family mentality at work here. They believe that the best way to retain and motivate is to genuinely care about the employees. The best among these are able to make every employee feel like an owner and work like an owner.
3. Obsessive about the Product These guys are out to create the best that ever was. They need to know that at all times their product is the best out there. Nothing less will suffice.
Any founder who doesn't fall into one of these categories would tend to gravitate towards the efficiency-driven, measurement-driven, mundane process of driving the bottom-line. But without a clear understanding of the Why and the How of bottom-line pushing, this never works out in the end. Every great company needs a great focus, and only these few seem epic enough to create the colossally successful....more
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