Josh McFarland: Answering Startup Questions

Josh McFarland is a partner at Greylock Partners (a Venture Capital Fund), an experienced product leader and entrepreneur who specializes in designing, building and scaling technology-driven businesses. Previously, he was VP of Product at Twitter, founder and CEO of startup TellApart, which he grew at Greylock as an entrepreneur-in-residence in 2009. In 2015, Twitter acquired TellApart for more than $500 million — the largest acquisition in Twitter’s history. Before that, McFarland was a lead product manager at Google.

I really enjoy this presentation because it answers so many of those “startup biz” questions. He’s super helpful and super positive. I think it’s so important to put your ego aside and let others take your brand to the next level. He talks a lot about working/communicating with people—the right way to do it and the kind of people you’d want around you in a start-up. You need to surround yourself around people who are going to support, encourage and fuel you, (YES ENERGY). Other things he covers include learning to argue well and fighting for what you want, as well as knowing when to let go. He covers so many crucial skills. I personally feel that communicating with and managing human beings is a dwindling skill. And he really reinstates the fact and the practice of doing so, when you’re starting a company. I also love how he discusses creating a safe, organized and energetic space for work. And not just for yourself, but for everyone else. Startups should be a place where you love to work and create in; where you look forward to being in. And of course, Josh makes sure to mention giving it your all and going all in with everything you have in a startup. That’s always a wonderful and encouraging reminder, and will be even better with people who believe the same thing.

FAV QUOTES

• “The act of entrepreneurship is so difficult; there is no right time.”
• “Starting a company is like eating glass and staring at the abyss of death.”
• “There is no right time to start a company; but there’s also no bad time to start a company.”
• “Surround yourself around people with YES energy.”
• “Seek it out” (yes energy)
• “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”
• “How do you get what you want? Get on the other side of fear. Just go for it.”
• “You need momentum.”
• “The way to build value is to make money, not to save money.”
• “Learn to argue well.”
• “Look for confident humility.”
• “Know what you want to fight, know what you want to let go.”
• “Make your space great and rely on your rituals.”
• “You’re in control of your destiny.”
• “Make no little plans.”
• “Bring the full force of everything that you have to creativity, to passion, to drive, to expectations of outcome. It will be worth your time.”

If you’re interested in watching the whole thing: https://ecorner.stanford.edu/videos/answering-common-startup-questions-entire-talk/