Tracy Young, co-founder and former CEO of PlanGrid, describes how the construction software startup acquired its earliest beta users during Y Combinator.
Insight
Young: Work-life balance is about output, but startup progress correlates with hours
“How, how do I think about work-life balance? It's all about the outcomes that we create. It's all about the output, you know in terms of, like, what we are able to create together. It's less about the hours. Although, I will say, as a startup, it sure seems li…”
Insight
Young: Founders can manage pregnancy while scaling a 400-person startup
“I think first off, it's totally possible, right? I was leading our team, I don't know, you know, however many, however much revenue we signed us up for that year and Hitting our targets, leading a team of over 400 people parallel pathing conversations with our…”
Insight
Young: Coworkers recognize underperformance before the CEO does
“Because when someone's not working out everyone else knows, and then, you know, the CEO knows.”
Insight
Young: Leaders must timebox underperformance with clear expectations and a 3-month deadline
“So I would say the moment that we figure out someone isn't working out, time box it. It's like, oh, but there's always some excuse, right? You know, but I just don't have time. They're like pretty good. They're performing. It's like net, net. Is it positive or…”
Insight
Young: Startups past 50 to 100 employees must transition from generalists to specialists
“At some point, let's say, past 50 people, and certainly past a hundred, people just have to start specializing. Like, one person has to be charged of that one thing, or else it gets too chaotic and complicated, and you don't really know what people are working…”
Insight
Young: Company operations break down into chaos at around 150 employees
“I want to say a 150 was when everything broke, right? Something about Dunbar's number and everything goes to complete chaos.”