Framework
The Alliance: manage employees who'll leave in 2 years
Reid Hoffman's book The Alliance reframes employment as a mutual, time-bound pact in an era where tech tenure is ~2 years. Instead of resenting departures, you support people leaving and turn them into champions of your company.
“Reid Hoffman, who was the CEO of LinkedIn, the founder of LinkedIn, he wrote this book which was like, look, you got to— you can't just— you can't just close your eyes, pretend that's not happening. You can't get upset every time somebody leaves. That's actually the norm. So what's the right way to manage in this, in this type of scenario? And he calls it the alliance, which is a mutual understanding between the person working with you and you and you as the manager.”
Steal thisTreat departing employees as future champions, investors, and re-hires, not as defectors.
Framework
Reid Hoffman's GUR: Growth, then Usage, then Revenue
In his 2003 LinkedIn interview, Reid Hoffman explained how the company would win in three sequenced phases: first grow into the largest network using viral mechanics, then drive usage by making members better professionals daily, then layer in revenue by selling engagement and search to HR, sales, and recruiters.
“He called it growth, then usage, then revenue, which I then called GIR. He said, "First, we're going to grow and become the largest network. It's going to have utility for a few people. Then for most people, they'll just be latently there, but we're going to use all the viral mechanics to actually capture the network. Then we're going to focus on usage." which is we're going to figure out how to get you using your network to make you a better professional more every day. Then we're going to focus on revenue”
Steal thisSequence a network product: win growth first, then engineer usage, then monetize, in that order.
Take
Truly innovative ideas seem comical at first
Mike cites Reid Hoffman's point that genuinely innovative ideas look laughable at first, because anything that obviously makes sense already has four companies five years deep into it. Liquid Death's absurd premise was itself a signal it was differentiated.
“truly innovative ideas are almost comical at first because if it seems like it makes a lot of sense right now, it probably means there's 4 other companies that have been working on it for 5 years already. It's like the things that are truly unique and innovative, like almost don't make any sense at first or seem laughable.”
Idea
Fast Grants: YC-style science funding decided in under 48 hours
Shaan describes Fast Grants (created by Stripe's Patrick/John Collison), which fixes the slow science-grant system by making a $10K-$500K funding decision in under 48 hours, wired immediately. Backers include Paul Graham, Reid Hoffman, Chris Sacca, and Elon Musk, with over $15M committed.
“So Fast Grant is basically a $10,000 to $500,000 decision made in under 48 hours. If you approve the grant, if the grant is approved, you receive the payment as quickly as can be wired to your account. Now, and so they have the Carlson brothers behind it. They have Paul Graham, Reid Hoffman, Chris Sacca, Elon Musk, a whole bunch of different people. So they have— they've committed over $15 million already in fast grants.”