Jan 2, 2019 · 32m · a16z
a16z Podcast | Guiding Startup Culture -- The Genius ISMs
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In this a16z Podcast episode, Genius co-founders Tom Lehman and Ilan Zechory discuss 'Genius-isms'—a set of seventeen core cultural principles designed to guide communication, product development, crisis management, and team accountability as the company scales.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 2.4 Guest teaching 4.3 Guest disagreement 1.1 The host pushing back 1.3
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 24:46 Ilan interrupts host wrap-up
When the host tries to end the interview prematurely, Ilan humorously calls it out with 'That's it?' to force extra time for a lightning round.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 27:05 Host challenges web comments dynamicThe host directly rejects the assumption that adding text comments to news sites is beneficial, pointing out that online comment sections usually devolve into hostile pissing matches.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 19:36 Tom on why high-profile experts failTom educates the host on why reliance on prominent advisors like Y Combinator partners fails, explaining that external experts lack the specific context and deep care required to solve hard startup problems.
The host holds their own ▶ 27:05 Host identifies comment section failure modeThe host demonstrates sharp industry awareness by pushing the founders to explain how their product avoids the toxic engagement traps common to digital comment sections.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genius ISM: Run Into the Spike | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | The host facilitates the discussion by asking open prompts about the company's culture ISMs such as 'run into the spike' and 'take the roast out of the oven'. Tom and Ilan explain their philosophy of embracing difficulty and pushing software releases out early. The dynamic is friendly and collaborative without confrontation. | |
| Genius ISM: Don't Be Le Corbusier | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | The founders detail concepts like 'Don't be Le Corbusier' and 'Feel it to my face', drawing from James C. Scott's book 'Seeing Like a State'. The host mostly listens while the guests explain company communication and interpersonal feedback dynamics. The tone remains informative and non-combative. | |
| Genius ISM: Write Like a Human | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | The host expresses strong agreement with the 'write like a human' concept and prompts the guests on how optimism affects trial and error. Tom and Ilan share how authentic writing and maintaining a 'we'll figure it out' mindset reduces startup anxiety. The exchange is highly agreeable and constructive. | |
| Genius ISM: The Chaos Will Not Be Minimized | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Tom and Ilan explain why discomfort and chaos are necessary for fast-moving startups using military and racing metaphors. The host asks a brief validating question regarding scale. The guests deliver an energetic monologue about pushing past comfort zones. | |
| Genius ISM: Don't Fill Up on Bread | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | The host asks a sharp question inquiring if the founders consider themselves experts in anything. The guests respond with self-deprecating humor before sharing a key lesson from Y Combinator about why founders must trust their own situational knowledge over outside experts. | |
| Genius ISM: It's Not Not Your Job and Cultural Reflection | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | The host asks about the ordering of the ISMs and what the process taught the founders about themselves. Ilan humorously shares board feedback cautioning them to focus on hiring engineers rather than generating more cultural slogans. | |
| Expanding Genius Platform to News Annotation | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | When discussing expanding Genius annotations to news, the host directly challenges the concept by noting that traditional web comment sections usually devolve into pissing matches. Tom and Ilan defend their platform by explaining their curated wiki-style editorial structure and community verification mechanisms. | |
| Lightning Round and Episode Conclusion | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | The host guides the founders through rapid-fire questions covering music recommendations, sneaker preferences, and moving company headquarters to Gowanus. The dynamic is lighthearted and playful to conclude the episode. |
Statements from this episode (17)
Zechory: Startups require written cultural principles at 25 employees
“It turns out that there's plenty of complexity with 25 people that you have to do this type of thing to.”
Lehman: Always choose to do the task you least want to do
“Yeah, so run into the spike is basically the idea that whenever you're trying to decide what to do, you should do the thing you don't want to do. So there's always, when you're making a decision, you're like, well, it's this or that, and like, I know what I wa…”
Zechory: Achieving anything valuable requires paying a toll in pain
“It's also a thing where we believe that for anything you do that's valuable, you kind of have to pay the toll of, like, getting there. Like, there's a bridge to get to doing the thing that's valuable, and you have to walk across the bridge, and there's someone…”
Lehman: Startups should release imperfect projects and refine them in public
“You know, the worst thing is the best thing. Like, the worse the project is, the better it is to get it out there, and then really perfect it in public to the extent it needs to be perfected.”
Zechory: Startups must ship rapidly like Lil B, not perfectionists like D'Angelo
“Yeah, there are artists who, you know, take, 10 years, 15 years between projects, between an album, or between their next film, or whatever, and then there are artists who put out thousands of songs, or whatever, and we think that in the art of trying to build…”
Lehman: Don't execute grand upfront plans; build products incrementally
“It's called Seeing Like a State by Jim Scott, and it basically sort of is a long argument against sort of making a grand plan, And then trying to execute it, and it's just, it's gonna go awry, so don't make a grand plan, do an incremental thing.”
Zechory: Unspoken emotional dynamics will undermine business partnerships
“You know, you can't really run a business if it's loaded with Or do a creative project with someone if it's just totally loaded with unspoken emotional stuff.”
Lehman: Writing in your natural voice makes business communication more appealing
“And the answer, the actual reality is just trust your normal voice, and that will make you seem more appealing, and that will be just more fun and better. And so it's just write like you would say it.”
Zechory: Startup conditions always feel gloomy regardless of actual success
“If you're doing any startup, things will appear incredibly gloomy, no matter how good your circumstances are.”
Zechory: Genius will prioritize optimal decisions over minimizing employee disruption
“Like, we're always going to be changing. We're always going to be doing what's best for the company. It doesn't mean that too much change can't be disruptive to actual effectiveness and productivity. Like you still have to like, think about that. But we are no…”
Lehman: Feeling comfortable means you are not moving fast enough
“If you are feeling comfortable, you are not moving fast enough, you're not pushing hard enough, and it's kind of a corny, like, cliche at this point, but I think it's very true, and so, you know, if you work here, you shouldn't expect to feel comfortable, but …”
Zechory: Startups must avoid filling up on tempting, low-impact side projects
“Don't fill up on bread. Like another way of saying this is just like, don't work on stupid shit that seems like it might be good. There it's so, there's so many small projects you can do that seem like they're valuable. You can have so many pieces of bread bef…”
Tom Lehman: Incremental software releases must align with a grand vision
“I think the sort of challenge is, when you're thinking about worse is better, you're thinking about doing small things, you don't wanna, there's a reality, which is you don't wanna release some huge, You know, in the software context, some huge feature in whol…”
Lehman: External experts and investors cannot solve a startup's hardest problems
“Whenever we had a hard problem and we went into a meeting with a lawyer or an investor or a YC partner or some kind of expert thinking, this is the meeting where someone's going to tell us like what to do. And it's so great that we have access to this. It just…”
Lehman: New employees should trust their intuition when something seems broken
“Everything you think that's messed up is actually messed up. Like there's a tendency, you come into a place, you see something messed up, you think, oh, it's me, like I'm not seeing the real deal, like I must not know what's up. No, if you think it's messed up…”
Zechory: Genius board told founders to hire engineers instead of writing principles
“That's what, you know, we were having a good-natured board meeting, and the, sort of, slogan of, as we presented our 32 isms or whatever to them Was sort of like, more, more engineers, fewer isms, I think was the basic, like, rallying cry”