Insight
Hackett: Leaders should share information only when employees can act on it
“My, Feeling about all this, and just this is a general thing, being a manager, executive, founder, is you should give people as much information as possible. You really should try and be transparent. If that information is actionable, if it can actually cause …”
Opinion
Hackett: Google erred pitching wearable cameras as AI platforms, not cameras
“In, in typical Google form, they pitched it though as like, this is the center of our AI learning platform about the world, which is the same marketing mistake they made with everyone wants a face computer. No, everyone does not want a face computer. Everyone …”
Insight
Hackett: Programmers fool themselves thinking they sustain 12–14 productive hours daily
“Programming is like a deeply draining, incredibly mentally complex task, and doing it 12:14 hours a day, you're not getting 12 or 14
And you're just completely fooling yourself.”
Insight
Hackett: Startups cannot get acquired with only one month of runway
“90% of people ask me this question when they've got a month of cash left, and the answer is you can't.”
Insight
Hackett: Media lacks agile vocabulary and feedback loops common in engineering
“Media especially does not have process thinking in the way that engineering does. And I think that a typical engineer would be shocked to see that there are all of the elements of an agile or similar sort of methodology of development, but none of the vocabula…”
Insight
Hackett: Social product creators must take responsibility for civil discourse
“If you're designing a social product, and you kind of just throw your hands up and go, it's the internet, you're wrong. Like, that is not the era we live in, and we need to take on that responsibility as people who make these things.”
Insight
Hackett: Founders should pitch investors who will say no first
“So the pro tip on fundraising, actually, like those kinds of sales processes, like start with someone you, and don't, this is something, someone gave us this advice, but like start with someone you don't care about, who you don't think is going to, you know th…”
Insight
Hackett: Any investor response without a term sheet is a no
“Understand that if you don't have a term sheet, it's not a yes. And even if you have a term sheet, there's still some chance that it's not a yes, but probably is. But don't leave a meeting and hear yeah, we're super interested. Tell me who else is investing an…”
Insight
Hackett: Startup acquisition processes take at least six months
“It takes six months if you want to go down that path at a minimum, and me as a, like, process optimizer, hyper-organizer, no, we can, of course we can do it in three months. You cannot.”
Insight
Hackett: Never fake leverage in acquisition talks because Silicon Valley talks
“If you're in the valley, all, everyone talks to each other. Assume that all the information is out there. If you're not in the valley, it's maybe tuned down a little bit, but still, like, don't get caught lying. It, it's not worth it. It doesn't make sense.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hackett: Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew committed to Beme within 24 hours
“And he was decisive too, I think, in comparison to lots of other investors, he was like, a day later, we got a yes.”
Insight
Hackett: Founders pitching VCs should seek partners, not beg
“Even if you haven't, I think it's just important to sit there and go like, this isn't you know, I'm not begging. I'm looking for a partner. I came here because you invited me. Just to get yourself in that mindset of like, absolutely belong in this room.”
