High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People

Elad has produced perhaps the most comprehensive resource for scaling an organization from one to one thousand people, sharing the experience of his own professional adventures in scaling companies, in conjunction with wisdom shared during interviews of some who have successfully scaled organizations. I bought this looking for assistance in scaling two startups working to lead the global energy industry, and as I currently live outside of Silicon Valley, there are no easily accessible relevant credible experts to consult. Elad recommends utilizing the book as a reference, and I think it would be most useful to those who read sections personally relevant to their careers, since reading this book in its entirety is a bit like reading about how to win the Super Bowl, where few have the inherent capacity to run the playbook and team to a championship ring. The following provides a brief synopsis of a portion of my notes, including at least one idea shared by each interviewee, with unattributed notes derived from Elad's insights shared during interview interludes, while trying not to provide more information than I as an author would want given away about my books: - A founder and chief executive, in order to focus on scaling the organization, rather than constantly taking on work that may be of interest and in an area of personal expertise, acts as a router and facilitator, sending items to the most appropriate individuals who are then accountable for them. - A founder, when hiring, can reduce bias and failings among interviewers, and hire top people in an unfamiliar field in conjunction with preparation assistance from someone who has a track record of success in that field, by writing components including a job specification, interview questions along with expected answers, specifications of work product to create, and an evaluation matrix, that is used with all candidates - A structured standardized onboarding process retains and maximize effectiveness of new employees. - If a founder has a board, seats are generally assigned permanently to an investment firm rather than investor, and members should meet criteria detailed in a written specification, identify how value will be consistently provided to the founder, and must be aligned with the founder on vision and goals, or it could result metaphorically in a divorce where you have to make steep payments or lose the kids and the house. - Culture, including shared and reinforced values and vision, drives cohesion, recruiting, and retention. - An experienced Chief Operating Officer hired at the appropriate time can execute the founders vision and take responsibility for areas of the business where the founder doesn't have interest or provide unique value. - Any reorganizations should be thoughtfully researched and structured, but executed swiftly, assigning functional areas to executives based on factors including bandwidth and skill. - Business development people should have a record of being personally responsible for deal results, with the ability to understand and negotiate complex and favorable deal terms. - A seasoned executive with specific functional expertise can bring in processes and structures that enhance scaling and team effectiveness, and can be identified in conjunction with existing outside top performers in that role. - Product managers grow a product by combining research of customers, competitors, and distribution channels, to develop a vision and strategy, synthesized into a product specification, which is then communicated to -- and executed upon through collaboration with -- a cross functional team. - Founder stock sales are important for investors to allow when an investor wants the focus to be a large long-term payout, while employee stock sales should be limited in total dollar value to prevent a demotivating lifestyle change. - Investors generally specialize in company stages based on the ability to meet capital requirements and offer stage appropriate expertise. - Acquisitions can be done for product, revenue, team, or synergy, where the valuation benefit to the acquirer should exceed the purchase price of the company. - Naval Ravikant explains that venture capital has traditionally been a bundle of money, control, and advice, but founders should attempt to decouple them, by obtaining money without offering control, and getting advice from the best possible people. If a founder has a board, the founder must personally manage and synchronize the board, the board must be small in number to maintain information synchronization and minimize founder time consumption, members should be individuals the founder wants to work with for the life of the company, members must be there to support not run the company, and investment terms should allow for board seats to be removed otherwise. - Marc Andreessen emphasized that scaling involves recalibrating focus from product to distribution, and hiring people suitable for the next 6-18 months, rather than executives whose recent experience doesn't match current needs. - Aaron Levie emphasized that scaling requires a CEO recognize that not every problem needs to be solved personally, just that every problem needs to be solved, and that people should be hired that allow for the founder to focus on providing his or her unique value. - Ruchi Sanghvi explained that if and when hypergrowth occurs, it's fine to temporarily patch problems, rather than making permanent corrections, in order to maintain hypergrowth, and to hire people needed to maintain that growth, rather than those might be best in the long term since requirements may change during growth. - Mariam Naficy emphasized allocating resources to product market verticals based on expected growth, while recognizing that complexity can inhibit scale. - Sam Altman stated the leading cause of scaling failure among founders is a failure to properly hire then delegate. - Claire Hughes Johnson emphasizes weekly 1 on 1 meetings with each direct report, provides a written guide to working with her, and recommends a founder prepare a guide for working with him or her specifying areas of interest that leverage the founder's time, and that for decision making to scale it should be mapped by type of decision type rather than hierarchy. - Patrick Collison emphasized that culture should be collectively steered to support company success, clearly communicated to prospective employees, current employees should embrace the culture as it changes or leave, and to maintain culture when hiring for satellite offices, the lead is as important as immediate reports, and interviewing and onboarding should include relationship building at headquarters. - Shannon Stubo Brayton emphasized the importance of managing internal and external communication consistency to maintain brand identity. - Erin Fors emphasized that public relations and communications create credibility, communicate purpose, humanize the company, improve recruiting and morale, and obtain clients when the limiting factor is brand awareness. - Joelle Emerson explained that diverse teams enhance innovation, that the limiting factor in identifying diverse candidates is hiring through employees' networks, thus requiring external outreach, and then the limiting factor in extending offers to diverse candidates is not having a consistent structured interview process to filter out subjective bias, and then the limiting factor in retaining diverse candidates is not maintaining an office environment welcoming to all. - Keith Rabois emphasized that executives should be hired who are known to attract talent, are able to retain talent by being someone talent can learn from, develop and execute a hiring plan that minimizes operational ramp up bottlenecks, have a number of direct reports that allows weekly one on one meetings with each, and facilitate collaborative weekly team meetings, and separately explains that preparing a company to go public creates discipline around operations and finances, and a company can go public when achieving predictable quarterly results. - Hemant Taneja explained that because important services in society have been scaled to the breaking point, including healthcare, education, and financial institutions, it has created the opportunity to build new socially beneficial technologies that scale while maintaining quality by being built to support individual users with individual success metrics.

I appreciate Stripe as a company with quality product(s) and have enjoyed the Collison brothers' perspective on various topics from technology, finance, to philosophy and beyond. I decided to look into Stripe Press - intrigued by the themes they would cover and publish. This was the first book from the catalogue I read. Even though it had interesting interviews and practical quick guides, the quality of the work felt tainted because of typos (some pictures attached). There were similar issues in the third book I read, An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management. Although I'm still looking forward to the rest of the catalogue, the avoidable mistakes discourage and rub away excitement. Overall: Read the directions even if you don’t follow them.

"High Growth Handbook" by Elad Gil is like a go-to guide for anyone looking to scale their startup from a small team to a thriving company. Gil, who has been involved with big names like Airbnb and Twitter, shares his insights and experiences on what it takes to grow a business successfully. The book covers a lot of ground, including the crucial role of the CEO, how to manage your board, and strategies for hiring the right people. One of the key takeaways is that the CEO's job is more about making things happen than just coming up with ideas. It’s all about communication and keeping everyone aligned with the company’s vision. Gil emphasizes that as companies grow, the dynamics change rapidly, and what worked with a small team might not cut it anymore. He provides frameworks like the 4P's and SWOT analysis to help leaders make smart decisions even when data is scarce. There are also practical tips on handling mergers and acquisitions, which can be a game-changer for scaling businesses. Overall, "High Growth Handbook" is packed with actionable advice, making it a must-read for entrepreneurs who want to navigate the ups and downs of growing a startup. Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your company to the next level, this book offers valuable insights to help you succeed. The stripe press version is this book is top tier quality for the value you are paying. You will not be disappointed. Enjoy

Elad has written an extraordinary reference for growth stage companies - and for entrepreneurs who want to be well positioned for being in growth stage at a future time. As a founder and startup junkie, I’ve seen plenty of great material on starting a company (Paul Graham essays, Lean Startup, Four Steps to the Epiphany, Zero to One, etc.). Perhaps because there are much less entrepreneurs that have achieved this level of success - but I’ve not seen nearly as many materials on running/planning for growth stage. With that lens, I’ve read this book end to end and have learned a few takeaways that have fundamentally changed how I think about startups: (1) most founders I know think very deeply about building product for great markets, but we don’t spend nearly as much energy on thinking about building great channels; (2) it’s important to build dynamic boards that evolve over time depending on their ability to offer value to the company; (3) hire specifically for the next 12-18 months during the hyperstage growth periods of a company; (4) it can be a competitive advantage to RAISE prices rather than to lower prices. Oh and lastly - don’t hand out envelopes full of cash or buy giant chrome pandas.

This is an extremely well organized, resource full book on the subject of growth, and managing growth. My business is nowhere near the stage where these are factors, but I learned a great deal about how to begin my business with a successful mindset and professional approach. Even if you’re not looking to grow your business into the tens of millions of dollars, this book has tremendous value in his well worth your time. From page 1, it is clear that the writer has relevant, appropriate experience to the matter at hand, and the interviews are absolutely wonderful. These are people who have truly been extremely successful, and the rest of us small business owners can get a great deal of insight from their experiences, mindsets, and approaches to real business dilemmas.

It’s great to have a book that focuses on later stage companies. I wish tho’ this book was split into multiple as a lot of topics are short and not very well covered.

Fantastic read. After reading the book, one of the first things the author says is that the book is made to be a reference guide and not to be read front to back - I go back to this book at least once a month. I've also shared it with my colleagues and those who are trying to figure out why their startup is stagnant. I highly recommend it. It really points out that you need to have a SOLID and a good foundation before growth can be the next step.

This author is legendary. Excellent advice and tips. This is what startups need and the interviews are a plus. But even in the 2nd edition, lots of typos and the font is still too small. The book is well made and stylish. Would prefer if the book was 50 pages longer to accommodate a larger font. Wish the company didn’t cut costs. Also, marketing/branding chapter is bad and only a few pages. It’s a vital High Growth component with little info on it.

Ce livres contient des informations que je n'avais jamais lu dans d'autres livres. Il est très dense et très documenté. Il faut être motivé pour le finir, mais il en vaut la peine. On sent que ces informations viennent de personnes qui les ont pratiqués, c'est très concret.

I read it by recommendation, its great for know what to do and what not to do when scaling your company

The real value in these words isn't the text of Elad Gil per se, but the advice contained in interviews with others who have been through the startup trenches. However, some backstory beyond accomplishments would go a long way. Some of the interviews come from people who are just talking heads pontificating on decades-old accomplishments rather than proxies of the modern consumer. i.e. we as readers have to separate the noise of people who primarily sell to businesses, and indie hackers actually building sustainable businesses on the forefront of consumer today. The book doesn't make that separation: people are either "founders" or "investors" when there's a broad spectrum of products with differently sized markets and audiences. Having said that, I did find much of the advice applicable to my own work, albeit in very limited contexts. Here are some nuggets: "The general model for successful tech companies, contrary to myth and legend, is that they become distribution-centric rather than product-centric." (24) "If you don't start layering in HR once you'e passed 50 people on your way to 150, something is going to go badly wrong. 150 is the Dunbar number, the number of people you can directly know.... At that point there's a necessary impersonality of the professional relationships in the company." "One of the things you see crystal clearly in VC is how much competition emerges whenever anything works... invariably six months later there are 20 venture-backed competitors doing the exact same thing. And so at some point, if the early guys don't get to the other 95% of the market, somebody else is going to go take it away. And whoever has 95% of the market, number one they're going to get all the value." (27) These concepts sound logical in theory, but in reality VC-backed copycats don't simply win over customers on sheer funding. Assuming the first movers continue to serve, the loyalty of their existing customers and the strength of their brand -- the uniqueness of their characters, the way their story can't be replicated, their existing testimonials and customer base, the head start they've built -- are clear moats. The definition of a moat isn't merely "the ability to charge more," as Andreesen might want you to believe. In fact, Marc Andreesen is one of those quoted in the book whose quotes come with a massive grain of salt. He's a venture capitalist, with clear skin in the game of wanting competition in a space, and more unicorns to invest in. Good advice from Claire Hughes Johnson: "I think founders should write a guide to working with them. It would be one of the pieces I'm describing, to clarify the founder's role: 'What do I want to be involved in? When do I want to hear from you? What are my preferred communication modes? What makes me impatient? Don't surprise me with X.' That's super powerful. Because the problem is, people learn it in the moment, and by then it's too late." (43) Sam Altman says: "Press feels great and delivers nothing." (112) "I think the biggest change people fail to make is that at some point your job becomes more about hiring people and working with them to get what you want done than doing it yourself. The number one failure to scale that we see in CEOs is the failure to make that transition." (113) Aaron Levie: "Identify the areas where you're going to want a partner in helping you scale... What are you really good at? What do you want to get better at? And what things aren't going to be a competitive advantage for you to personally get good at?" (144) "You want to wait for the person that really fits." (145) Patrick Collison: "People's disposition with regard to the company is actually a function of what they feel like they signed up for. If they feel like they signed up for an all-encompassing project, they'll be much more willing to treat it that way than if they discovered it by surprise later on. And so you can actually change the outcome simply by being explicit at the outset." (190) "Again, the more people you have that are in fact truly adaptable and can stick with it, the better." (193) "I think most companies start to explicitly encode and articulate their principles or values too late. I would try to produce a provisional revision literally when you're just a handful of people. Then continue to update it on an ongoing basis, because assuredly there will be things you realize or come to appreciate are wrong over the course of the company." (193) "The CEO ultimately does not have that many jobs, but I think culture is among them. And it ought not be delegated. Briefly speaking, I think there are five top responsibilities of a CEO: being the steward of and final arbiter of the senior management; being the chief strategist; being the primary external face for the company, at least in the early days; almost certainly being the chief product officer, although that can change when you're bigger; and then taking responsibility and accountability for culture. And culture is so fundamental to what the company is that it's truly problematic to delegate." (194) Shannon Stubo Brayton: "For consumer products, I would 100% say product marketing is the place you should invest the most heavily. You're essentially trying to build a road map. You're trying to understand how people use the product, if they like it, if they don't." (231) "In general, you and your cofounders will be encouraged to have a founding narrative about the company and a personal explanation for why you are working on your company." (232) "Off the record" - this usually means the journalist may not write about the conversations or quote you. "On background" - this usually means the journalist may write something like 'sources say that Google is moving into flying cars' without directly quoting you as the source. "On the record"- If you are not 'off the record' and not 'on background' then you are 'on the record,' which means you can be quoted specifically and directly attributed for the comments or quote. Finally, Elad Gil's Product to Distribution Mindset: 1. Build a product so good that customers will use you over an incumbent. Build a large user base on the back of this first product. 2. Be aggressive rather than complacent about customer growth early. Outsized companies like Google, Facebook, and Uber were aggressive and calculating about growth from their earliest days. 3. Realize your customer channels are a primary asset of the company. Build new products or buy companies and push them down your sales channel. (Examples: Google acquired Where2 and branded it Google Maps, acquired Writely and branded it Google Docs, Uber bought Jump and branded it Uber Eats) 4. Realize that your company will not be able to build everything itself. The smartest companies realize they are also in the distribution business, and will buy (or build) and then redistribute a range of products. --- END QUOTES --- While the advice rings true on paper, the book never explores companies smaller than Google/Facebook/Uber/Stripe and never articulates why or when you want to scale in the first person. Privately holding a company, self-funding through profits, buying back early investors, and bootstrapping are al valid paths to growth that receive little to no mention in this book, undeservedly casting the spotlight on incumbents of huge scale that everybody already knows. We don't need another book about Google, Facebook, Amazon, Stripe, Uber, Twitter, Netflix, Disney, or any giant conglomerate the press has already belabored ad nauseum. We need more lesser-known upstarts with less conventional growth levers and funding strategies, that don't receive the press of modern business literature and TechCrunch stories. Unfortunately, this book seems intent on focusing on that top 1% as if that should be the Holy Grail of all startups, when in fact there are more effective hacks deserving of mention in this book -- the ones that you might see on Indie Hackers, Startup Story, Hacker News -- or not at all! ...Which is where this book falls short. Tell us something we don't know!

Superb read for any founder looking for a base to work from when about to scale your business!

Most entrepreneurship books are written for the zero to one stage. This is a great guide for the next set of challenges facing founders in the scale stage of their businesses