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"Start Ups" Part 3: The Team Leader

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MightyAtom
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
Korea (South)1897 Posts
July 16 2012 16:42 GMT
#1

Start-Ups: The Team Leader

By: MightyAtom



In Korea I think the trend is moving towards this; when investors are looking to put money into a totally brand new company, they are more looking at the entire composition of the Team. If you think about how critical operations are in the health of any business, you want to have that A-Team that covers all the bases. While this is partially covered in a lot of books, I'd like to just address it here.

For the most part, we start things with our friends. But if movie The Social Media is to be believed, lots of crap can happen and teams can change. Just look at the Beatles, before they made it big, one guy, who was under performing, left the band, and another was dismissed outright. But when the odds are stacked against you, you need the best team that you can get.

This doesn't mean you won't work with your friends or the people you know, but it is a matter of active leadership to develop and create a team that works. But any start-up or new business needs someone who will take full responsibility to make things work. This is a key element first as this is what defines a leader. Ultimately, no matter how great of a team you put together, if there isn't a clear team leader, it simply won't work. Achievement isn't done via committees or consensus, but it's done by someone taking responsibility to get the best out the situation. And while people may think there is a fine line between a dictator and what I've just outlined, there isn't. A dictator imposes their own will, a real leader focuses the will of their team.


The Leader



The leader, the CEO, president, founder, managing director, or whatever you want to call it, is not a privilege. There are about a billion books on this in every field and 99% of them are all bullshit because everyone tries to make it seem as though the leader is something better.

I'll tell you that if I didn't have some of the key people working with me, nothing – absolutely nothing – would get done. That is just the nature of the world we live in now. Businesses require people who are specialized and for the most part, you will need a team, maybe not at the beginning, but eventually you will as you grow and develop. Thus, this issue of leadership will always come up, its unavoidable.

In running a new company or start-up, the most important thing is not the vision or roles and job responsibilities, but rather it is the understanding that one person will take full responsibility because they are the most capable to do so. This, in and of itself, is quite a difficult prospect when you're just starting off on your first business venture, simply because: (i) people in general don't have enough maturity to identity that person, (ii) give that person the space to do their job, or (iii) for that person not to be corrupted by the "I'm the boss" title. The title, the responsibility, it is overwhelming as well as our own self perceived expectations of what a 'leader' should be.

In many ways, like anything in life, the relationships in your team need time to grow, mature, and develop, but it does start with the responsible guy. The guy who will take responsibility for the vision, the understanding of the business, the progress of the business and the final results of the business and who will do it with passion.


Slackers



In school they make you do these group projects, and, whether you get to pick your teams or not, there is always one guy who slacks off, but because it is a group project, you get the same mark. You think that this is unfair and there is always 1 or 2 out of the 4 or 5 who end up doing most of the work. In business we call this the 80/20 rule (I have no idea off the top of my head if it is from originally business), but basically 20% create 80% of the results in any given situation.

You may bitch and moan and think, "WTF is with this school system? How the fuck is this teaching me to be a good leader and coordinate people?" I 100% agree. For what the intention is, it sucks at its objective of developing team work. But what it is good is the opposite: showing that at the end of the day, someone has to take responsibility.

By the time I entered into my grad studies in business, whenever there was a group project, I would ask if I could just do the work by myself as a team of one. Now, it being business school the profs would be like, "Um ok, if you want to do the work," and I was like "Yes, no worries." Now all the other groups thought that:
MightyAtom is a dick who thinks he is better than us, or
MightyAtom is a dick who is an idiot too to think he can do all the work himself
But what I was simply doing was cutting to the chase. It was a 50/50 chance that out of 4 people, I'd get one to help me, and the time spent in figuring out who was actually going to help could have been better spent just doing the work.

But that is school. And in real life, I can't do that because I can't code, I can't design, and I can't do everything because I don't have the skill set. But my key point here is that what makes someone the leader isn't first and foremost their 'leadership skills', it is the their ability to take responsibility to get the job done. In the course of getting things sorted out, the rest will naturally follow and leadership comes naturally. In a new business there isn't even staff to delegate tasks too. Instead it is a matter of coordinating for results where everyone is motivating each other — but everyone understands there is the one person who keeps the process moving. That fundamentally is the leader.


The Leader, Round 2



Aside from the main initial characteristic that defines the leader – ultimate responsibility for the project – things like the maturity to listen and take advice, but to also stand firm is something, that only comes with time. But in more practical terms, a leader needs to be the one to be able to clearly define each persons' roles and responsibilities within the company and then help set targets for the company. If do you these 2 things and the team is willing to follow it, either via inspiration, respect, or fear, then you've got a great start. But I'll say this: there are no natural born leaders. Leadership, like every other skill in this world, needs to be learned and developed. Ultimately the crux of the situation is when new leaders think that there is some prescribed role for them to play as either the corporate CEO or unfailing dictator boss who always needs to be confident and right and any criticism is an attack on their position which is all BULLSHIT. Leadership is about taking responsibility for progress. If there isn't progress, even as failure and making things right, then you're not leading. You're just on some ego trip.

Before you start anything, as the leader or a founder or team member of a start-up, you need to have the confidence that you can hold your own. That you, first and foremost, can deliver your contribution and then be proactive to help the company with anything else. To that, you need to be able to also see the big picture and this is where the vision of the entire new company or start-up comes into play. But in my experience there are leaders who have a vision which is just a vague mess, or leaders who have a clear vision that focuses the activities of the team. I usually get paid a hefty consulting fee from those 'leaders' how have lost the forest in the clouds and need to get back to some level of focus. Ultimately it comes back down to progress and progress is only achieved by the leader who is actively focusing a team's resources and capabilities to make steps towards that 'vision' or end goal.

Virgin Book



I'd like to share Business Stripped Bare: Adventurers of a Global Entrepreneur by Sir Richard Branson. I'm sure most of you know him, he is the guy behind the brand of Virgin Air, Virgin Cola, Virgin Mobile, and basically anything else starting with "Virgin" [e/n: remind anyone of Apple?]. He is also a truly great leader. In this book he runs through what he has learned and considers important and what is more than what he outlines (which is great) is his general approach as well as his real life examples. In business and law, we call these case studies. But they are more than just anecdotal stories, as most of them have real life failures and triumphs that all have contributed to his success and development.

What is uber unique about Richard is not only the way he uses his brand, Virgin, but also how he has set up multiple new companies in multiple industries with multiple teams. He is not a silent investor. His brand, Virgin, is always on the line with every new venture he takes on. He is also not working with the same team for every venture, but needs to assess and take on new teams for each new industry he dives into to.

This book is a great starting point to understand, not so much the business of Virgin, but Richard's approach as a leader. And to be great, you at least need to have the goal and dream to be great no matter how humble the start.





Stuff You Should Do


Research online what Virgin is and Sir Richard Branson.
Read the book.
Read his other books if you have time (the issue with a lot of non-fiction books is that once you've read one by the author, reading more on the same topic doesn't really give a whole lot more).
Let's go through the book chapter by chapter in this thread and I'll try to throw in some of my real life case studies.


Most great books have great introductions that really flesh out the direction of the book, and Business Stripped Bare is no exception. Here are some excerpted quotes from the introduction that may make you more open to reading a business book that is more about the creative achievements of someone taking that responsibility.



Business Stripped Bare


At its heart, business is not about formality, or winning, or "the bottom line," or profit or trade or commerce, or any of the things the business books tell you it's about. Business is what concerns us. If you care about something enough to do something about it, you're in business, and you'll find ideas in this book that will help you. This is a business book for everyone, whether or not they imagine themselves to be "business people"...

Every business, like every painting, operates according to its own rules. There are many ways to run a successful company. What works once may never work again. What everyone tells you never to do may just work, once. There are no rules. You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over, and it's because you fall over that you learn to save yourself from falling over. It's the greatest thrill in the world and it runs away screaming at the first sight of bullet points.

Most of what I've done with the Virgin Group is about my own gut instinct. I've never analysed what I do in any formal way. What would be the point? In business, as in life, you never step into the same river twice.
So all I can do for you now (and I firmly believe that this is all anyone can honestly do) is map the territory I've seen. The good news is, I've covered a lot of territory.

(Branson, Business Stripped Bare, Introduction, 2008)


I wouldn't say this a phenomenal book, but it's great because he reflects on a life's experience of running and establishing new businesses from around the world. He is not a conventional leader, but he is a great profile of a leader. If I was going to point someone who wasn't familiar with business to a business leader, it would be Sir Richard Branson because he isn't one dimensional and he done what very very few people have done, built a brand that covers multiple and diverse industries in a global context. In most marketing brand strategy and corporate strategy approaches/books he is the example that is never discussed because he stands as such an anomaly to the traditional business world. If anyone is to put you on the right foot, to prevent you from buying into what a leader should be and simply be the leader that you can be with your passion and humility to be better, it is this man.

[image loading]

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur
by Richard Branson






Brought to you by the TL Knowhow Team
Written by: MightyAtom
Edited by: tofucake

Administrator-I am the universe- Morihei Ueshiba
CFCryptos
Profile Joined December 2011
United States70 Posts
July 16 2012 17:00 GMT
#2
4/5^^
<3Spread the Love<3
ShoCkeyy
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
7815 Posts
July 16 2012 17:59 GMT
#3
:l I love you right now. This is the best first article for TL Know How...
Life?
tofucake
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Hyrule19031 Posts
July 16 2012 18:01 GMT
#4
It's the third article :O
Liquipediaasante sana squash banana
Am0n3r
Profile Joined April 2010
United States254 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-16 18:10:51
July 16 2012 18:09 GMT
#5
I absolutely love the first part of the article, for the exception of maybe you getting out of group projects and working by yourself, as it actually gets you ready for situations in which you cant bail and abandon the sinking ship...

The last part of the article with Richard Branson, I would actually recommend to read "The Leadership Challenge" Barry Z. Posner and James M. Kouzes http://www.amazon.com/dp/0787984922 as it delves further into what qualities it takes and how to develop them.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
ShoCkeyy
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
7815 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-16 18:36:52
July 16 2012 18:35 GMT
#6
On July 17 2012 03:01 tofucake wrote:
It's the third article :O



"Start Ups with three parts" It's the first article :O
Life?
quirinus
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Croatia2489 Posts
July 16 2012 21:19 GMT
#7
Reading these three threads really makes me want to start a business. Too bad I'm still in college and don't have money. xD

Thank you for writing this!
All candles lit within him, and there was purity. | First auto-promoted BW LP editor.
ZeeMan
Profile Joined August 2010
Australia66 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-17 00:40:28
July 17 2012 00:37 GMT
#8
There is a disclaimer at the bottom of this page, but most people will not see that. Move that to the top of these threads if you are REALLY want to disclose that these are marketing links, and not just point to this small text to cover your asses when people complain.
MightyAtom
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
Korea (South)1897 Posts
July 17 2012 01:57 GMT
#9
On July 17 2012 09:37 ZeeMan wrote:
There is a disclaimer at the bottom of this page, but most people will not see that. Move that to the top of these threads if you are REALLY want to disclose that these are marketing links, and not just point to this small text to cover your asses when people complain.


I think it's pretty obvious that they are marketing referral links, they have the price listed on them lol. I mean where are you getting idea that we haven't been forthright about this? No need to cover my ass, it's already exposed. ^^
Administrator-I am the universe- Morihei Ueshiba
Aerisky
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
United States12129 Posts
July 17 2012 06:38 GMT
#10
Really enjoyed all three parts, kudos ^^

My favorite was probably the second, but all in all, very useful. I'll keep this in mind and see whether I can get the books after I return to the US. Here's hoping the knowhow section kicks off! Shame there isn't more conversation, but the page views are certainly there. It was a lot more controversial than I would have imagined, but I hope it develops into a strong part of the site.
Jim while Johnny had had had had had had had; had had had had the better effect on the teacher.
haduken
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Australia8267 Posts
July 17 2012 12:45 GMT
#11
Read all three... didn't really get it.. sigh I guess if you are knee deep into this stuff or starting out looking for perspective it would make more sense.

For a worker drone like me, I will just quietly exit here and hoping the lottery number this week matches the one in my wallet
Rillanon.au
MightyAtom
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
Korea (South)1897 Posts
July 17 2012 13:36 GMT
#12
Go visit kickstarter.com and look through the projects there first ^^ as well as the other sites I mention, this is only a pointer, the real value comes in just reading and ask questions later in this or the threads.

As people start reading the books and posting questions, I hope things will be much more interactive. I don't even spend this much time on my own staff! lol.
Administrator-I am the universe- Morihei Ueshiba
k!llua
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Australia895 Posts
July 18 2012 18:13 GMT
#13
The 80/20 rule is called the Pareto principle and was borne out of an observation in Italy that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population, FYI. (or for your ultra-pedantism)

Thoroughly enjoyed the write-up though, particularly the change of topic for what you usually see on TL. Very nice.
my hair is a wookie, your argument is invalid
Kumaki86
Profile Joined July 2012
Canada1 Post
Last Edited: 2012-07-25 21:23:42
July 25 2012 21:22 GMT
#14
Being a student in the Business Managment (Accounting Major) in Canada and having come from a third world Asian-country where corporate culture is almost non-existence. I always have this conflict within myself that whether to finish degree, get a entry-lvl accounting job, work up the Corporate ladder just like the masses or quit school and do startup business just like my parents. After reading your posts, I see that you have already done what I've been contemplating to do. I'm curious as to what your answer would be based on your current experiences. If you were to do again,
Would you go through the corporate ladder experience again? or skip it and dive right into startups? From your posts so far, I'm deriving that skills you picked up in the corporate world are not so useful on the startup side of business or actually operating your own business. If so, I'm just gonna quit wasting my precious time and dive right into doing my own businesess. And if you're interested in doing cross-border business with my country, let me know. My country is going through big big reforms. :D
Opportunities are for those ready
MightyAtom
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
Korea (South)1897 Posts
July 26 2012 08:02 GMT
#15
On July 26 2012 06:22 Kumaki86 wrote:
Being a student in the Business Managment (Accounting Major) in Canada and having come from a third world Asian-country where corporate culture is almost non-existence. I always have this conflict within myself that whether to finish degree, get a entry-lvl accounting job, work up the Corporate ladder just like the masses or quit school and do startup business just like my parents. After reading your posts, I see that you have already done what I've been contemplating to do. I'm curious as to what your answer would be based on your current experiences. If you were to do again,
Would you go through the corporate ladder experience again? or skip it and dive right into startups? From your posts so far, I'm deriving that skills you picked up in the corporate world are not so useful on the startup side of business or actually operating your own business. If so, I'm just gonna quit wasting my precious time and dive right into doing my own businesess. And if you're interested in doing cross-border business with my country, let me know. My country is going through big big reforms. :D


Sorry this is going to be a quick post because I'm on a deadline: if I were to do it all again now- I'm not sure. When I was in university in the mid-90's we just started using the internet, I mean I used 'pine' for email, irc chat on unix terminals (green screens with built in keyboards) and had to decide between the mosaic and netscape browser. And capital was not easy to come by: things like venture capital wasn't as common as it is now by any stretch.
But I think
#1. there is nothing stopping you from doing both now, school/entry level work/ & the beginnings of a start-up; if it really starting to take off, then make the decision now, but you can't make the excuse you don't have enough time. If you are sleeping more than 5 hours a night, then sleep less and do more work.

#2. If you're not product oriented, then stay with your job and learn something, passion is a lot, but it's nothing if you can't build a product of sorts or have some industry understanding, you're just dreaming.

#3. While the skills were not totally transferable, my expectations are far different; I mean with my skill set in a regular company I can close xxM level deals without breaking a sweat, but in a start-up, you just can't do that, its a far more organic process so much of my skill set doesn't apply right at the beginning, but once the start-up does increase in scope, of course I'll be able to exert my skill set far more. But yes, just cause you rock the corporate world, that doesn't translated much into a start-up, but out of many start-ups I do see, would I say I've done a much better job than them- yes- but again most start-up fail anyway, so it ain't much of a comparison I guess. But for me, I did enjoy my corporate life a lot, but what got me to the top also pushed me to look for something more. I can say when I was clawing my way up I didn't ever think that I wanted to be in a start-up.

#4. There are a lot of opportunities out there, but you still need to be in a position to take advantage of them, if you have the capital, your parents have the network and you're willing to work 18 hours a day and work smart and learn at the same time, go for it. But there are a lot of trust fund kids who I've met over the years that blew 2-5M of their cash by building out their ideal company and starting calling themselves CEO and hired 15-20 staff and didn't know shit. They'd talk to me over coffee saying how they got this and that figured out, and mean while all I'm thinking about is how to get some of the guy's cash through our company before he burns it all through. Now that sounds heartless, but of course I'd try to give the kids some advice, but if they were taking, the I'd rather take their cash than let someone else take it. ^^ but if you don't have those connections, if you are more in love with the idea of being the CEO, then take a very deep breath and again: nothing stopping you from doing both and if it gets as big as facebook, then you can decide to quit then.

#5. If I knew what I knew now, I'd go into start-ups cause of the capital and tech situation has changed drastically in the last 20 years, but, in the same way, I would have also not dated the hot cocaine addict model and gone for the hot doctor instead- but if all things were equal now- really I don't know, likely not, because I am not a product guy, the value I have in business is because I can negotiate, do strategy and understand process. But if I was a sick coder or product guy, yeah, I definitely wouldn't go the corporate route. But if you're thing is about exploiting opportunities in an opening market, maybe the time is now, because there is only a limited time for that, BUT- unless you are working 18 hours a day already, you have time to do both now and then make a decision later.
Administrator-I am the universe- Morihei Ueshiba
Warrior Madness
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Canada3791 Posts
July 26 2012 22:21 GMT
#16
On July 26 2012 06:22 Kumaki86 wrote:
Being a student in the Business Managment (Accounting Major) in Canada and having come from a third world Asian-country where corporate culture is almost non-existence. I always have this conflict within myself that whether to finish degree, get a entry-lvl accounting job, work up the Corporate ladder just like the masses or quit school and do startup business just like my parents. After reading your posts, I see that you have already done what I've been contemplating to do. I'm curious as to what your answer would be based on your current experiences. If you were to do again,
Would you go through the corporate ladder experience again? or skip it and dive right into startups? From your posts so far, I'm deriving that skills you picked up in the corporate world are not so useful on the startup side of business or actually operating your own business. If so, I'm just gonna quit wasting my precious time and dive right into doing my own businesess. And if you're interested in doing cross-border business with my country, let me know. My country is going through big big reforms. :D


Is it possible for you to go for some consultation job post graduation? Or some sort of internship? Some of the best people I've worked with did management consulting at the big firms. It's ridiculously competitive to get a job at a Bain or McKinsey but their training is world class. You learn so much, and you're surrounded by some of the smartest and most ambitious people you'll ever meet. Plus you'll get the opportunity to wet your toes in a colourful range of businesses where you'll start with knowing absoutely nothing about it and end up knowing everything about it, in a short span of time. I never went to business school or climbed the corporate ladder myself, I just dove in head first into my own startup (head first into concrete a lot of the times), but if I had to choose a job to prepare me it'd definitely be management consulting.

Here's a great resource for consulting:http://managementconsulted.com They also have a great list of must have classics such as well anything by Peter Drucker.

I liked the series by MightAtom but I was surprised there was no mention of lean start ups. A lean startup focuses on iteration rather than perfect execution, it focuses on testing certain assumptions about the market, your business model, your product and shortening the product development cycle, scaling your business based on these experimental tests. Versus say, using the majority of your capital to perfect a product for three years (Which was why a lot of the dot com companies failed so miserably).

Two books:
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Ries
Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
by Alexander Osterwalder

Especially if you're developing a web application or software these two are a must.
The Past: Yellow, Julyzerg, Chojja, Savior, GGplay -- The Present: Luxury, Jae- The Future: -Dong, maGma, Zero, Effort, Hoejja, hyvaa, by.hero, calm, Action ---> SC2 (Ret?? Kolll Idra!! SEN, Cool, ZergBong, Leenock)
Am0n3r
Profile Joined April 2010
United States254 Posts
July 30 2012 18:41 GMT
#17
On July 27 2012 07:21 Warrior Madness wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 26 2012 06:22 Kumaki86 wrote:
Being a student in the Business Managment (Accounting Major) in Canada and having come from a third world Asian-country where corporate culture is almost non-existence. I always have this conflict within myself that whether to finish degree, get a entry-lvl accounting job, work up the Corporate ladder just like the masses or quit school and do startup business just like my parents. After reading your posts, I see that you have already done what I've been contemplating to do. I'm curious as to what your answer would be based on your current experiences. If you were to do again,
Would you go through the corporate ladder experience again? or skip it and dive right into startups? From your posts so far, I'm deriving that skills you picked up in the corporate world are not so useful on the startup side of business or actually operating your own business. If so, I'm just gonna quit wasting my precious time and dive right into doing my own businesess. And if you're interested in doing cross-border business with my country, let me know. My country is going through big big reforms. :D


Is it possible for you to go for some consultation job post graduation? Or some sort of internship? Some of the best people I've worked with did management consulting at the big firms. It's ridiculously competitive to get a job at a Bain or McKinsey but their training is world class. You learn so much, and you're surrounded by some of the smartest and most ambitious people you'll ever meet. Plus you'll get the opportunity to wet your toes in a colourful range of businesses where you'll start with knowing absoutely nothing about it and end up knowing everything about it, in a short span of time. I never went to business school or climbed the corporate ladder myself, I just dove in head first into my own startup (head first into concrete a lot of the times), but if I had to choose a job to prepare me it'd definitely be management consulting.

Here's a great resource for consulting:http://managementconsulted.com They also have a great list of must have classics such as well anything by Peter Drucker.

I liked the series by MightAtom but I was surprised there was no mention of lean start ups. A lean startup focuses on iteration rather than perfect execution, it focuses on testing certain assumptions about the market, your business model, your product and shortening the product development cycle, scaling your business based on these experimental tests. Versus say, using the majority of your capital to perfect a product for three years (Which was why a lot of the dot com companies failed so miserably).

Two books:
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Ries
Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
by Alexander Osterwalder

Especially if you're developing a web application or software these two are a must.

This is exactly what I am planning on doing after graduation... I am a senior to be, studying Operations and Technology Management with Supply Chain... I have more technology oriented background than most of the business students and I am looking to spend my next year networking and trying to get into consulting for couple years, not quite sure yet where to start.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
firehand101
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Australia3152 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-31 09:04:14
July 31 2012 08:22 GMT
#18
Blog 1=excellent
Blog 2=more excellent
Blog 3= this is the best thing ever!

This is my fav part of TL: People like MA and Rekrul giving us simpletons a view on an extraordinary life. Its like reading a fiction book.....except its real? Well that's what it feel like for me anyways
The opinions expressed by our users do not reflect the official position of TeamLiquid.net or its staff.
so_pringles
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
10 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-07 20:55:23
August 07 2012 19:28 GMT
#19
What's the best advice for working 18 hours a day? Over the last several years I've been wondering about things like this, trying different diets, different exercise regimes, different sleep schedules, different supplements, different mindsets, reading articles, forums, stories, etc and I still haven't found something that works great. Right now I'm trying to get a prescription for modafanil, which is for people with sleep disorders and shift-work-sleep problems. I can work 18 hours a day but I only get the same amount of work done as if I sleep 8 hours since my efficiency drops.

Is this simply a case of mind over matter? Is it a teamwork thing, where you need to surround yourself with super hardcore people and you'll become more hardcore yourself? It seems most of the people I know that are "terminators" as I like to call them are Korean, is this a Korean culture thing, and since I was born into a white, complacent family which discouraged me from pushing myself I am handicapped? I can work with 4 hours a sleep a day for 1 week, but after that my immune system starts shutting down and I get sick, vomiting, bone chills, fever, sore throat, etc. I really want to be successful and push myself, I'm not doing it for money or fame I just want to be able to push to new heights, and help and inspire other people. (I'm more of a production drone than a manager/business type)

How to do it?
MightyAtom
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
Korea (South)1897 Posts
August 08 2012 11:38 GMT
#20
No one works 18 hours a day unless there is a real need/deadlines that need to be met for clients etc. And it is usually done in a team situation as a young business professional such as a consultant, accountant, investment banker or lawyer. Productivity always trumps quantity of hours, but it really is an issue working 18 hours a day isn't sustainable more than 2-3 weeks every two months or 18 hours a day for 3 months out of year (e.g. consulting projects or end of fiscal year).

When you're running a start-up, you're racing against your burn rate and expectations to launch to have a proof or concept or to simply get live cause of competition or funding considerations, but unless you run a major conglomerate and you're over 50, you're not going to naturally be working 18 hard hours a day, cause when you're ceo, all the work your doing is all based on your decisions not actual physical labour. Most management consultant will work 18 hour days in the first 2 years of their careers, but afterwards they will get their choice of projects and teams and be able to manage their time easier as they start to specialize in certain industries.

1. we do it be we really have to do it: no sane person would work 18 hours a day, day in and out.
2. you just need to know that you have the capability to put on the afterburners, so when the shit hits the fan, you know you can get it done.
3. if you're younger, less than 30, I can't see you putting in those hours unless it is on specific team projects or it's coding/being a programmer, and you just lose track of time and go 24 hours straight, sleep 10 hours then repeat, but as a natural cycle rather than it being forced.
4. most people will work long hours because it is their main tool for achievement, but if you don't have the option because of health problems, then you need make the time you do work the most productive and focus on that way.
When I had severe health burn out and couldn't work more than 20 mins before just losing my mind, I'd have my staff simply set up everything for me to the point where they would list as many pending questions as they had, then book off 30 mins with me, and I'd answer everything in rapid fire. Of course by that time I was quite senior so the work that I needed to do was simply because I was the final authority for sign-offs and it wasn't like I was actually writing anything, simply directing.
5. health really is the most important thing, I'm not one who has maintained any sort of balance, but there is one thing of working yourself to exhaustion and there is another thing of being sick. When staff get sick, I pull them off everything and get them to fully recover. Tired and sick are entirely 2 different things.

If you want to push to new heights, then its about sustained focus- how you express that sustained focus is up to you, and part of that is pressing yourself to do your max, but also having the sense to understand it is your max productivity, not simply your max for the sake of hours. Really most of middle management corporate korea, just sits at their desk from 8am to 8pm with only 2 hours of real productive work; that is just retarded.

But the fact that you have tried to press forward, you definity have it, but remember, we work because that is what it takes to get the work done, we don't do it for the sake of just doing it, life is too short for that.
Administrator-I am the universe- Morihei Ueshiba
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