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Before joining a startup, read this book and be warnedhttps://www.businessinsider.in/before-joining-a-startup-read-this-book-and-be-warned/this-book-is-a-bit-like-reading-dan-lyons-therapy-session-in-which-he-heals-himself-of-an-emotionally-scarring-experience-/slidelist/51735982.cms2017-08-19T04:12:00+05:30

Before joining a startup, read this book and be warned

Aug 19, 2017, 04:12 IST

This book is a bit like reading Dan Lyons therapy session in which he heals himself of an emotionally scarring experience.

HubSpot is a hot Boston company that makes marketing automation software. It allows small businesses to automate emails to their customers, write blog posts, and so on.

Lyons says the co-founders CEO Brian Halligan and CTO Dharmesh Shah came up with a "creation myth" that they had a vision for "transforming marketing." All startups talk about their own creation myths in the same way: transforming something.

The creation myth is the first part of an indoctrination. Next, Lyons went to training sessions where new HubSpot employees were told how their company is "leading a revolution. A movement. Changing the world." All startups believe that their work is "changing the world."

Employees at this company are overwhelmingly young, eager, and white, Lyons notices. They are told that its harder to get a job at HubSpot than to get into Harvard. They say only the "HubSpotty" people will survive, people that "bleed orange," the color of the logo. In the startup world, this is called "drinking the Kool-aid" where employees are expected to not just know the company's hype, but fully believe it.

Employees at this company are overwhelmingly young, eager, and white, Lyons notices. They are told that its harder to get a job at HubSpot than to get into Harvard. They say only the "HubSpotty" people will survive, people that "bleed orange," the color of the logo. In the startup world, this is called "drinking the Kool-aid" where employees are expected to not just know the company's hype, but fully believe it.

Like any cult, a startup includes its own language. At HubSpot this includes made up words like "delightion" meaning "delighting our customers."

It also includes somewhat nonsensical slogans. For instance, HubSpot wants employees to come up with ideas that "crush it." Such ideas are considered "1+1= 3" which employees use like this, "I like that idea but I'm not sure its 1+1=3 enough," Lyons writes.

When an employee quits or is fired, which happened frequently during Lyons' year at HubSpot mind, the person is said to have "graduated."

The startup world operates to its own beat. For instance, one day, the whole company is told it must stop working and engage in something called "Fearless Friday" breaking into teams and doing something "fearless." Some employees spend the day painting cardboard posters of the HubSpot logo. Others write thank you notes to customers.

The startup world operates to its own beat. For instance, one day, the whole company is told it must stop working and engage in something called "Fearless Friday" breaking into teams and doing something "fearless." Some employees spend the day painting cardboard posters of the HubSpot logo. Others write thank you notes to customers.

Lyons, in his early 50's, is twice the age of nearly all of his coworkers, including the managers. He's subject to a lot of age-related jokes, called grandpa and such. Many have never worked anywhere else. They tell themselves they are the best teams in tech. They have a wall of candy (a point of pride) and dress up for Halloween, and young "bro" salespeople drink beer at their desks. The environment feels like a "frat house," Lyons says.

In a room called "The Boiler Room" shoulder-to-shoulder college grads (mostly white "bros") do endless telemarketing selling the product to small businesses, with outrageous monthly quotas. Rising sales is the only metric that counts. Not profits. Not cash flow. Their stock options vest over four years. Most of them won't last that long. Halligan's pep speech tells them employees should work hard "so he can have more money than his friends," Lyons writes.

Dharmesh Shah writes a post on LinkedIn about "Molly" the teddy bear. He's been bringing the bear to meetings, putting it in a chair, where employees can pretend it's a customer. Lyons can't stand it "Here are grown men and women ...talking to a teddy bear." Lyons points out that other companies create customer advisory boards with actual customers.

Lyons is unsure who is running the company. He pitches a project to the founders and they tell him they love it, but it mysteriously gets canceled. "Who's in charge? Nobody. Everybody," he writes. Decisions get made and changed. A friend explains that with startups, "when it comes to management, it's amateur hour."

In any case, HubSpot has raised over $100 million, has burned through cash is borrowing money. It schedules and IPO and the stock does well. The co-founders are worth millions. Lyons is shocked that on IPO day, the main message he hears Shah tell employees is: "Get back to work."

The take-away: "Disrupted" is a satirical look at what goes inside companies when the focus is revenue growth, not profits, where the deck is stacked to make the founders rich and the investors richer. The young employees work hard and party hard.

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