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What Google learned in studying the most effective founders

submitted this link to Icon for group Startups
Startups
on June 15, 2022
  1. 6

    Interesting:

    While most people would expect self-confidence to grow with time, our data suggests the most effective founders are not nearly as confident as the least effective founders are. This observation aligns with what is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect...

    1. 2

      Haha the good ol' Dunning-Kruger effect. Doesn't surprise me that the least effective founders are the most "confident".

    2. 1

      This is interesting...maybe it has something to do with receptiveness to feedback? not sure if it's as related to confidence though.

    3. 1

      Peter Thiel talks about this in that 0 to 1 book.. people w/ succeed in business tend to have low SQ (and usually low self confidence), which makes them less susceptible to social queues.. which makes them hyper-focused since they tend to ignore people's comments

  2. 2

    Interesting. I feel like the interpersonal relationship with your coworkers is often underappreciated, especially when it comes to point #5 - Interpersonal Equity. It ensures everyone knows they have a meaningful position & responsibilities within the organization. I mean, you wouldn't want to have it any other way when you're in such an early phase of developing your product - minimize wasting resources, right? It's what I'm trying to do to the best of my abilities with BotMeNot.

  3. 1

    Yes to all of these — great takeaways.

    But I wonder how we can apply these to indie hackers. I'll take a stab at it:

    1. Choose purposeful, mission-driven projects.
    2. Remove distractions through focus apps or accountability buddies. Here's a post on the topic that I bookmarked.
    3. [this one doesn't impact indie hackers 🎉]
    4. Ask users what they don't like about your product. And read The Mom Test to learn how to get feedback the right way.
    5. If you have a co-founder, be open with them about how you work and what you expect from them. Have a meeting about it if you have to. Honest communication is key.
    6. Become the expert.
    7. Overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome! Here's an article on overcoming the latter. And remember that just about everyone is right there with you — so you're not an imposter at all 😅
  4. 1

    Interesting report, how did Google reach these conclusions?

    1. 2

      It's at the beginning of the article.

  5. 1

    Some of this may seem like simple advice, but it's so hard to implement it as a founder. For eg, "Invite disagreement." or "Minimize unnecessary micromanagement."

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