[Jean Hsu and Jen Dennard]

This is a good inaugural post from two people who really have lived the startup operations life many times over:

"We think of the operations part of a startup like getting dinner on the table. Sure, some days, you might try a new and involved recipe, but most days, you just need to get something good enough on the table FAST, so that you can devote more time to other family and life priorities.

This is where the concept of minimum viable operations comes in. It’s about finding the right balance: creating systems and practices that are just enough to support the team."

I've seen both the "minimum, but not viable" and "overdoing it" versions of this. Stuff like creating a whole new leveling system for a five person team, or spending months getting to the perfect OKRs, are easy traps for people who don't know the pitfalls to fall into.

And at the same time, winging it with no process and no goals is unbelievably common too. Every startup needs to consider process / people / ops - and most of all, culture - if it wants to succees. These things aren't optional.

I'm excited for future posts.

#Startups

[Link]