High Growth Handbook (Category Management)

I read it in a couple of months. book Elada Gila, which was published in 2018 Stripe Press was created at a time when the technology sector was experiencing steady growth after recovering from the crisis. 2008-2009 years. It was a time of relatively cheap money, active venture funding, and optimism in the startup ecosystem. Conditions have changed, but the basic principles remain the same:)

For starters, the author, who once worked at McKinsey, then moved to Google, where he helped launch a mobile team for Google Mobile Maps. He went on to make a startup MixerLabs about social media and geolocation services, which was acquired by Twitter. 2009 The year Gil took over as vice president of corporate strategy. Then he went to venture capital and as an investor invested in such well-known companies as Airbnb. (When the team was less 10 man)Stripe, Square, Coinbase, Pinterest, Instacart, Gusto. In general, Elad is quite an authoritative author in the world of venture capital:)

When it comes to the structure of the book, it is almost 350 pages and nine chapters 1. Role of CEO Evolution of the leader from practitioner to visionary, delegation of authority, time management 2. Management of the board of directors selection of venture partners, independent directors, evolution of the board over time 3. Recruitment, recruitment and talent management Strategies to attract and retain key employees 4. Formation of an executive team Hiring C-level executives, managing top management 5. Organizational Structure and Hypergrowth Reorganizations, processes, structural changes 6. Marketing and PR Differences between disciplines, promotion strategies 7. Product management Best practices in product management 8. Financing and evaluation Late rounds, IPOs, secondary stock sales 9. Mergers and acquisitions M&A strategies for growing companies The book also includes an annexWhat's easy to say no to?"with practical recommendations for avoiding antipartners:)

Separately, Elad took a pack of interviews with industry leaders to supplement his thoughts with practical advice from respected people.

• Reed Hoffman. (LinkedIn) Strategy and management of the Board of Directors
• Mark Andreessen. (Andreessen Horowitz) - on venture financing
• Sam Altman. (Y Combinator) The role of CEO and the growth of companies Aaron Levy. (Box) - Operational scaling
• Patrick Collison. (Stripe) Payment technology and growth Keith Rabois on hiring and managing executives
• Naval Ravicant. (AngelList) Investments and the Board of Directors

If we compare the book with modern conditions, we can distinguish such key differences.

1. In 2018 Startups have been operating under low interest rates and available capital. K 2025 The ecosystem has gone through several crises, the COVID pandemic.19Inflation, interest rate hikes and market “adjustment” 2022-2023 years. In general, now burning money is not accepted. (||If you are not an AI startup||) And startups are trying to stretch their finances longer.
2. In 2018 Artificial intelligence is a promising technology, and 2025 This year he became a key differentiator. AI-focused companies can now raise funding rounds, while others have to tighten their belts.
3. Startups used to aggressively increase the number of engineers and look at the company’s growth metrics, but now many investors look at the employee’s contribution to the company’s financial results. Therefore, startup founders do not seek to inflate staff, but leave teams small, actively using AI to do some of the work.

As a result, at one time the book was well received by the startup community and even despite the changing conditions, it can be useful now - for this you need to understand the logic of Elad's advice and understand how to change them, given the change in the cost of money and the appearance of a game changer in the form of a frontier of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others.

#Management #Leadership #AI #Engineering #Software #Career