July 2012
6 posts
How to use KPIs in your Startup
We just hit 53 full-time people at Treehouse. I’ve never managed this many people before so I’m having to learn as I go. I have zero formal training in management or business. I love it though, as I have a naively fresh view on how to run the company.
One of the biggest challenges I’m encountering is how to align everyone’s goals and communicate them clearly.
To tackle...
1 tag
Trading in my car for a bicycle
I’ve gone through a couple nice cars (Audi A6, Range Rover Vogue, Prius, etc). Now I just ride a bike, so I thought it’d be interesting to share why.
The reason for switching to a bike was simple: Cars are crazy money black holes. We didn’t pay cash for those nice cars - we had car loans. We were paying very high car payments each month, in addition to high fuel costs.
...
So I thought I had cancer
I noticed a lump on my body last Tuesday night and for about 12 hours I thought it was all over.
It was strange how everything got really clear, really fast.
I was so thankful for my amazing wife and two sons. To love and be loved unconditionally.
I missed my Mom, Dad and three sisters. They all live across the Atlantic Ocean from me.
I was deeply happy and content to be working at Treehouse...
2 tags
How we avoid 'Job Title Creep' at our startup
Yesterday I sent out an email to the whole Treehouse Team:
Hi Everyone,
We’re growing fast which is insanely exciting. However, one of the bad things that happens as a company grows is ‘title creep’. Things like ‘Lead’, ‘VP’ and ‘Director’ turn into ‘SVP’, ‘Lead Director’, etc. It’s bad as it causes confusion...
2 tags
Hiring Employee #1
Brad asked a great question that I’d like to tackle …
@ryancarson Would love to hear about hiring employee #1 on your blog. When is the time? Who to look for? How did you go about it?
— Brad Touesnard (@bradt) July 2, 2012
When is it time to hire your first employee?
This will be determined primarily by profitability and cash in the bank. I’d recommend waiting to hire your...
1 tag
Living outside of America
I was born in Colorado in 1977 and lived there until I was 21. I went to a private Christian school from age 5-18 and then studied Computer Science at Colorado State University.
I graduated at the height of the .com Bubble in 2000 and could’ve gotten a job at any tech company in the USA. I was offered ridiculous salaries with signing bonuses of luxury cars. Pretty tempting.
Something...
