Comments on: Let’s Get Practical

By: jared_stil28971

jared_stil28971 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:58 +0000

Thanks Brad. Looking forward to the posts! As an aside, I'd be honored to write a guest-post about leadership in crisis times. I would draw on my experience running $350M+ in contracts in Iraq, as well as the lessons I learned (good & bad) from Colonels, Generals and Ambassadors that I supported there in 2004. Just thought about it as I've read some of these 3,127 posts

By: FreedomSpeaks

FreedomSpeaks — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:58 +0000

I'd agree 100% with the "don't panic" sentiment. Panic is NEVER a good thing, and always leads to poor decisions and eventually regret. Keep your wits about you. We're all going to need them.

Jason Kiesel
Founder & CEO
http://www.freedomspeaks.com

By: Ole Eichhorn

Ole Eichhorn — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:58 +0000

I thought slide 3 was the most valuable slide in the Sequoia deck Slide 56 was good, too.

By: eric norlin

eric norlin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:57 +0000

my thoughts:
http://defragcon.com/Blog/?p=287

By: AndrewWise

AndrewWise — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:57 +0000

Honestly, everyday startups should be in a panic. They have competitors all around them, and at any point, one of their competitors can easily crush them. A startup entrepreneur's life should be gloom and doom until 1) acquisition or 2) ipo.

Economic crisis or not, startups should always be planning for the worst

By: bfeld

bfeld — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:57 +0000

Nothing quite like some dead meat to wake you up.

By: bfeld

bfeld — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:57 +0000

Jared – thanks. Feel free to drop me a draft of something and I’ll toss it up there if relevant.

By: AndrewWise

AndrewWise — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:57 +0000

Brad,

My apologies, i didn't mean to use the word "panic". Definitely the wrong choice of words. I totally agree, "sense of urgency," is a better choice– Startups should always feel the pressure, which aids in making them such great companies.

Knowing you have that pressure everyday, and knowing you can actually do something about it is what separates working at a startup from working at a enterprise-level organization.

By: Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:57 +0000

Brad thanks for bringing folks back down to earth with your calm and collected rational thoughts. Much! appreciated.

By: bfeld

bfeld — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:57 +0000

Andrew – I respectfully disagree. I don't think "panic" is ever helpful. There's a huge difference between "panic" and "enormous sense of urgency and focus." I think every startup should have an enormous sense of urgency and focus. I don't think they should continually panic.

It might just be semantics, but to me panic means "reactions – many of them irrational – based on immediate stimuli."