Joshua Slayton's Keynote at AngelHack Santiago Winter 2013

1. @joshuaxls
Joshua Slayton
angel.co/joshuaxls
DOING THE WRONG THINGS THE RIGHT WAY

2. IN THREE YEARS
Over $2 billion raised
$9 million invested online
50,000 introductions between talent and startups
200,000 submissions to over 100 incubators
Millions of API requests per day

3. SECRET?
BIG
WHAT’S THE

4. WHAT WE PLANNED ON
Over $2 billion raised
$9 million invested online
50,000 introductions between talent and startups
200,000 submissions to over 100 incubators
Millions of API requests per day

5. WHAT WE DIDN’T PLAN ON
Over $2 billion raised
$9 million invested online
50,000 introductions between talent and startups
200,000 submissions to over 100 incubators
Millions of API requests per day

6. WE MOVED FAST AND WE BROKE A LOT
OF RULES.
THROUGH TRIAL AND ERROR, WE
DISCOVERED HOW TO RUN A SMALL
PRODUCT TEAM.

7. NO
Managers
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

8. NO
Managers
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

9. IF SOMEONE NEEDS TO BE MANAGED, THEY SHOULDN’T BE
AT YOUR STARTUP.

10. MANAGERS CREATE UNNECESSARY WORK.

11. GOOGLE “VALVE EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK” AND READ IT.

12. * low resolution image stolen from Valve’s Employee Handbook

13. ALL BEGAN AS SIDE PROJECTS
Over $2 billion raised
$9 million invested online
50,000 introductions between talent and startups
200,000 submissions to over 100 incubators
Millions of API requests per day

14. CREATE CUSTOMERS, NOT JUST FEATURES.

15. No Management
Everyone is a manager
Everyone owns their work
Foster interpersonal skills
Value customer, not feature, creation
Recruiting is the hardest thing to do

16. NO
Managers
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

17. EVERYONE RECRUITS.
EVERY DAY.
EVERYONE HAS VETO POWER.

18. HIRE OTHER FOUNDERS.

19. * low resolution image stolen from Valve’s Employee Handbook

20. YOU MUST LET GO OF PEOPLE THAT DON’T WORK OUT.
YES, IT SUCKS.

21. Constant Recruiting
Hire founders, generalists
Everyone recruits all the time
Release the bad fits
Improve your recruiting process

22. NO
Management
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

23. YOU CAN’T SCHEDULE CREATIVITY.
SOME PEOPLE COME IN AT DAWN.
SOME PEOPLE COME IN AFTER LUNCH.
SOME PEOPLE WON’T COME IN.

24. VALUE RESULTS, NOT TIME IN THE OFFICE.

25. COMMUNICATING PRE-INTERNET

26. COMMUNICATING IN 2013

27. STILL, FACE TIME BREEDS SPONTANEITY.
BUILD A FUN OFFICE.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR TEAM.

28. No Schedules
Keep asynchronous channels open
Keep synchronous channels open
Have an office people enjoy being in
Value results, not time in the office

29. NO
Managers
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

30. Even good code stinks.
Learn to deal with it, and keep moving forward.

31. SET EXAMPLES
SPEND TIME WITH NEW HIRES
COMPANY WIKI
CODE COMMENTS
“MASTERSTROKES”
INTERNAL PRESENTATIONS

32. THE BOY SCOUT RULE
ALWAYS
LEAVE
CODE
CLEANER
THAN YOU
FOUND IT!

33. CRISES WILL HAPPEN
IT MEANS THAT YOUR TEAM IS
MOVING AT AN APPROPRIATE
SPEED.

34. “Smooth seas do not make
skillful sailors”

35. No Code Reviews
Teach by example
Document everything
Leave code cleaner than you found it
Crises will happen, learn from them

36. NO
Managers
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

37. WE BEGAN WITH A
TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
METHODOLOGY.

38. TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
TOO SLOW

39. TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
TOO FOREIGN

40. TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
TOO DOGMATIC

41. JUST BE READY FOR...

43. No Tests
Alarms on everything
Pipe them to email, chat, SMS
Bug fixes must be a top priority
Tests are fine, just not cumpulsory

44. NO
Managers
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

45. Constant Customer
Support
Customers are priority #1
Everyone does customer service
Respond to customers immediately
Turn negative experiences into loyal
customers

46. NO
Managers
Schedules
Code Reviews
Tests
CONSTANT
Deployment
Customer Support
Hiring

47. RELEASE CONSTANTLY.

48. Seven Deploys
Two Hours

49. That’s 30,660 releases per year!*
* we don’t actually release that much

50. OUR REPOSITORY
master commit
commit
commit
commit
*
*
*
** ready to deploy

51. IF YOU MUST
master commit
commit
commit
commit
feature

52. DON’T DO BIG FEATURES.
SHIP AN MVP IMMEDIATELY, THEN ITERATE.

53. Constant Deployment
master is always deployable
Optimize deploys to be quick
Rolling deploys, users see nothing
No big releases, iterate instead

54. SO WHAT’S THE
BIG PICTURE?

55. ELIMINATE PROCESS
LEVERAGE CREATIVITY

56. TECHNICAL
DEBT
YOU CAN PAY IT DOWN LATER.
BE SMART ABOUT IT.
USE IT TO MOVE QUICKLY.

57. THE ONLY ADVANTAGE YOU’RE GUARANTEED
OVER THE BIG GUYS
SPEED

58. TEAM TEAM TEAM TE
AM TEAM TEAM TEAM
TEAM TEAM TEAM TE
AM TEAM TEAM TEAM
TEAM TEAM TEAM TE
AM TEAM TEAM TEAM
TEAM TEAM TEAM TE
AM TEAM TEAM TEAM
TEAM TEAM TEAM TE
TEAM
IS EVERYTHING

59. GOOD LUCK!
(and I hope to see you all on AngelList)

60. THANK YOU!
@joshuaxls
Joshua Slayton
angel.co/joshuaxls