Miki Kuusi is the co-founder and CEO of Wolt (acquired by DoorDash for $8.1B). He discusses Wolt's equity compensation philosophy when building company culture.
Opinion
Founders who personally interview their first 1,000 hires show lack of trust
“The methodology of the founder or the, like the, all powerful CEO, it's almost like creating this picture of someone that, you know, like, you know, hires everyone up until a thousand employees, which to me tells that, oh, you don't trust your people to hire p…”
Insight
Hire high-potential candidates before they achieve major scaling milestones
“One mistake people make in hiring is that they're looking for the person that has already done you know, what you need. And you're like, we need to hire that person. He's done this before. He's going to do it for us. And it's going to be amazing. But what peop…”
Insight
Kees Koolen: A startup's first recruiter is its most important early hire
“One of the things he said to me was that, Miki, the most important hire you're going to make next is that you need a great recruiter. That's the most important hire, your first recruiter.”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Wolt received an acquisition offer at 3x its Series B valuation
“We even had an acquisition offer at three extra valuation that we raised money at.”
Insight
Sequoia research shows startup momentum is statistically difficult to lose once achieved
“Out of looking at 400 entrepreneurs, if you have achieved momentum, that momentum is statistically so incredibly difficult to lose.”
Insight
Kuusi: Advice from successful founders suffers from extreme survivorship bias
“Every advice you hear from an entrepreneur, Always be mindful about that, because like, you know, first of all, entrepreneurs, they're successful telling advice. It's like a lottery millionaire telling that, you know, keep on betting. You're gonna eventually w…”