Founders at Work audiobook cover - Stories of Startups’ Early Days

Founders at Work

Stories of Startups’ Early Days

Jessica Livingston

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Entrepreneurship

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Founders at Work
Evolution of Ideas+
Overcoming Skepticism+
Team Over Idea+
Personal Projects to Empires+
Power of Simplicity+
Dangers of Venture Capital+
Customer Focus & Honesty+
Importance of Timing+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8
What did PayPal initially start out as before pivoting to web-based money transfers?
  • A. A project management software tool
  • B. Security software that generated single-use passwords for handheld devices
  • C. An online database for storing and tagging website bookmarks
  • D. A virtual pet video game
Question 2 of 8
Why did investors initially reject Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith's business plan for Hotmail?
  • A. They believed that email accounts would always be something provided exclusively by employers.
  • B. They thought the server costs for storing millions of messages would be too high to turn a profit.
  • C. They felt that the market for internet browsers was already too saturated.
  • D. They assumed people would prefer to send physical mail for personal communication.
Question 3 of 8
According to the stories of Excite and Marimba, what is often more important than having a great initial idea when launching a startup?
  • A. Securing millions in venture capital before writing any code
  • B. Having a flexible, intelligent team that can pivot when necessary
  • C. Filing patents to protect intellectual property early on
  • D. Hiring experienced corporate executives to lead the company
Question 4 of 8
How did Yahoo originally begin before it became a pioneering web empire?
  • A. As a search engine designed specifically for Stanford University's intranet
  • B. As an interactive television program guide
  • C. As a collection of online footnotes and web links for two grad students' PhD theses
  • D. As a tagging system for organizing digital photographs
Question 5 of 8
What key lesson about startup growth is illustrated by the collapse of the web design company ArsDigita?
  • A. Relying too heavily on open-source software can ruin a business model.
  • B. Expanding into hardware manufacturing is highly risky for software companies.
  • C. Charging too little for a premium service will inevitably result in bankruptcy.
  • D. Taking on venture capital can lead to a loss of control and destructive corporate changes.
Question 6 of 8
How did Joel Spolsky avoid needing venture capital to fund his programmer-friendly environment at Fog Creek Software?
  • A. He sold his previous company to Microsoft for millions of dollars.
  • B. He generated revenue by selling a bug-tracking software and discovered that raising its price actually increased sales.
  • C. He drastically reduced his employees' salaries and eliminated vacation time.
  • D. He relied entirely on open-source donations from the programming community.
Question 7 of 8
What did Paul Graham discover was an incredibly persuasive tool for selling Viaweb to clients?
  • A. Offering steep discounts for long-term contracts
  • B. Hiring charismatic, professionally trained salespeople
  • C. Being completely honest, knowing they had built the best software available
  • D. Creating aggressive marketing campaigns targeting their competitors' flaws
Question 8 of 8
Which of the following factors contributed to Flickr's success at a time when other photo-sharing services struggled?
  • A. They were the first company to offer physical photo printing services.
  • B. The rise of personal blogs and early social media made public photo sharing more appealing.
  • C. They secured an exclusive partnership with digital camera manufacturers.
  • D. They charged a premium subscription fee that attracted professional photographers.

Founders at Work — Full Chapter Overview

Founders at Work Summary & Overview

Founders at Work (2007) is a revealing look at what went on in the early days of over 30 influential US startups. In their own words, the founders of landmark companies such as Hotmail and Blogger.com tell their stories about the many ups and downs and twists and turns it took to make their ideas a reality. They also share the lessons they learned and the insight they’ve gained looking back on the trials and tribulations of those chaotic early days.

Who Should Listen to Founders at Work?

  • Entrepreneurs and aspiring inventors
  • Business students
  • Anyone looking for inspiration

About the Author: Jessica Livingston

Jessica Livingston is one of the founding partners of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, which has advised and invested in a number of successful startups including Dropbox and Airbnb. In 2015, she became a financial backer for OpenAI, a nonprofit dedicated to the responsible and safe development of artificial intelligence.

 

© Jessica Livingston, Founders At Work, published 2008 by Apress. Reproduced with permission of SNCSC.

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