How Founders Can Make the Grind Bearable
June 16, 2025
Startups are hard, but you don’t need to deliberately suffer to succeed.
Today, we’re talking about the basics of managing people. Many first-time founders find themselves in the challenging situation of managing people with minimal guidance. So, here’s the basics:
Establish clear company-level and team goals with individual responsibilities. Build consensus with your team around these goals, so they also feel connected to their completion.
Keep a close eye on people’s progress. Weekly updates are the minimum but many engineering teams do daily check-ins. Outside of status updates, you’ll need to conduct bi-monthly 1-on-1s with your direct reports to give them space to vent and raise concerns.
Hold weekly all-hands meetings to track goals and deadlines. Openly address failures and when something goes well, be sure to celebrate — even a few statements of gratitude and some applause can boost morale.
Best of luck out there.
