If the Martians took over eBay it would take 6 months for the world to notice. Keith Rabois More Quotes by Keith Rabois More Quotes From Keith Rabois You generally know when someone asks you to do something- am I more writing, or am I more editing? The editor is the best metaphor for your job. Keith Rabois editingwritingjobs At first when you start a company, everything's gonna feel like a mess and it really should. It should feel like everyday there's a new problem, and what you're doing is fundamentally triaging. Keith Rabois everydayproblemfirsts Basically this is what you want - a high performance machine that idiots can run. Keith Rabois machineswantrunning Transparency people talk a lot about, it's a goal everybody ascribes to but when push comes to shove, very few people actually adhere to it. Keith Rabois transparencygoalpeople Your goal over time is to use less red ink every day. Keith Rabois inkgoaluse The job of an editor is to ensure a consistent voice. Keith Rabois editorsvoicejobs Building a company is basically taking all the irrational people you know... Putting them in one building and then living with them 12 hrs a day at least. Keith Rabois irrationalbuildingpeople Barrels are very difficult to find. But when you have them, give them lots of equity. Promote them, take them to dinner every week, because they are virtually irreplaceable because they are also very culturally specific. So a barrel at one company may not be a barrel at another company. One of the ways, the definition of a barrel is, they can take an idea from conception and take it all the way to shipping and bring people with them. Keith Rabois givingpeopleideas Most people, most great people even are ammunition. But what you need in your company are barrels. You can only shoot through the number of unique barrels you have, so that's how the velocity of your company improves... is by adding barrels, and then you stock them with ammunition and then you can do a lot. Keith Rabois uniquenumberspeople Usually when you hire more engineers, you actually don't get that much more done, you actually sometimes get less done. Keith Rabois engineersdonesometimes Possibly the most important thing you do is actually edit the team. Keith Rabois important-thingsteamimportant It's easy to shortcut when you get busy explaining the why's of the world, but it's very important to try. Keith Rabois importanttryingworld The office environment that people work in everyday dictates the culture that you are going to be in. Keith Rabois everydayofficepeople Where there are low consequences and you have very low confidence in your own opinion, you should absolutely delegate. Keith Rabois opinionshouldlows You are not going to do most of the work. You shouldn't be doing most of the work... and the way you get out of doing most of the work, is you delegate. Keith Rabois delegatesway You want to start with the objective of everything should feel exactly the same. Keith Rabois shouldwantfeels I think you must have your own office. I don't believe ever in shared office spaces. Keith Rabois office-spacebelievethinking Most people would agree that the details matter when it faces the user. But where the real debate is on things that don't face the user. Keith Rabois detailsrealpeople Every good startup is a cult. And it's really hard to create a cult if you are sharing space with people. Because a cult means you think you are better than every other startup, you have a special way of doing things that's better than anyone else in the world. Keith Rabois spacemeanthinking Some people can't learn to play the guitar by reading a book. You have to actually try to manage a bit and you won't do well at first. Keith Rabois guitarreadingbook
