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Professor Ilya Strebulayev on how to capitalize on your ideas and appreciate your failures (Startup Category)

#Startup #Engineering #Management #VC #Software #Leadership

Watched the cool. interview Ilya Strebulaeva is a Stanford professor and an expert in corporate finance and venture capital. Ilya gave it to Alexey Pivovarov, a foreign agent and the presenter of the editorial project. They talked about shifting the logic of venture investors. (How they think about betting, risk and the quality of decisions) a wider range of tasks, from project management to career development, which is well transferred to the topic of technical management. Below my insights

1Consensus isn't always 'team health', sometimes it's a symptom of risk If the group agrees too quickly, it can mean conformity and lack of alternatives. How to apply: in architectural reviews and design-docs to introduce an explicit norm: "minimum" 2 alternatives" and "1 designated opponent”. This turns “disagreement” from a personal conflict into part of the process.

2The order of statements is critical: “authoritative speaks first” → distortion of the distribution of opinions. The exterior summary clearly indicates that when the most authoritative participant speaks first, the opinion of the rest shifts. How to apply: in discussions of incidents/post-mortems and large technical solutions, first collect individual assessments (written)And then we talk.

3Blind voting/gathering opinions before discussion increases signal honesty

  • The suggestion to "use blind voting" is given as a practical technique. How to apply: for RFC/ADR: before the sync, we ask everyone to choose the A/B/C option 2 The pro/con argument in the form. At the call we discuss differences, not the basic position of the leader.

4It is useful to start the discussion with “Junes” (or "the quietest") Starting with the Juns is a way to get a more diverse picture. How to apply: In the requirements review, the first to speak briefly is the one with less hierarchical power.

5Venture valuation methods are applicable not only to investors, but also to those who manage teams/launch projects. This is a key retelling framework: VC approaches are useful for managers and initiators. How to Apply: Treat Big Initiatives as a Betting Portfolio: Limit Bet Size (time/budget)Determine success/failure criteria and exit points (kill criteria).

6Failure is an asset if you turn it into data, not stigma This idea is already in the title of the video. ("appreciate your failures."). How to apply: standardize post-mortems: what was assumed, what was observed, what will be changed. A useful pattern is to keep a “register of hypotheses” and note which ones have been disproved and why. (This reduces the recurrence of errors.).

7Monetizing ideas as an engineering challenge The theme of “how to make money from your ideas” is stated in the title; it is useful to read it as a call to think about value-delivery, not just about “technological beauty”.

  • How to apply: for each large feature, fix: "who hurts", "what metric will improve", "what is the minimum delivery (MVP) It confirms the value, what is the cost of error. This disciplines the backlog and removes the illusion of progress.

Strategic findings and practices 1Transform the management of initiatives to "bets + checkpoints"" For each major initiative, set in advance: (and) expected gain, (b.) cost of error, (into) checkpoints (g.) stopping criteria. This makes the “value of failure” manageable: loss must be limited. **2Metrics of the quality of decisions (not just delivery)**Percentage of decisions with fixed alternatives; average time to review a bad decision; number of repeated post-mortem incidents These metrics are directly related to theses about group dynamics and learning lessons. 3Modifications:

  • Introduce the norm "written position before the call" (for decisions above the threshold);
  • Defend dissent (Not as an “opposition to the leader,” but as a “compulsory element of quality.”); To teach facilitation: who speaks first, how we fix the arguments, how we close the decision.

#Engineering #Management #VC #Startup #Software #Leadership