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Cult Creation

: How to hire your startup team

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Cult Creation

Not all cults are bad. In fact for startups they can make all the difference. Learn how tobuild a team from one person to an unstoppable army.

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Cult Creation


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WHO

I am Steve Newcomb. I am mostcommonly known as the founder ofPowerset, which is now the MicrosoftBing search engine. I have been part ofbuilding 12 other startups and none of mystartups have ever failed. Many thingsdefine me, but above all else is myendless appetite to learn and to discovernew things.

HOW

Get notified each time a new essay isreleased:facebook:stevenewcombis bestrss:my rss feedphone: (415) 290-0787email: steve.e.newcomb@gmail.comweb:www.blognewcomb.comtwitter:@stevenewcomblinkedIn:stevenewcomb

WHAT

I am a man, 40 yearsold with brown hairthat seems to haveits own agenda. Istand 6 foot 1.5inches, but I'mconvinced I haveshrunk at least 1/4inch.Sometimes I havefacial hair,sometimes I don't, itseems to depend onhow close or how far Iam away from beingin the Caribbean.

WHERE

I live in South Berkeley in a normalhouse. I'll work anywhere I can get to theInter-tubes or any place where I can meetsomeone interesting. I particularly likecoffee shops, but I usually don

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t ordercoffee. I love iced tea, it is my elixir ofchoice (only with Splenda of course).

WHY

There are far too few entrepreneurs thatstop long enough to share their storiesand knowledge. If just a few of us stop totake the time to write down what we havelearned so that we could pass it on, wewould make the paths for futureentrepreneurs just a little bit easier toblaze.The essays that I write are for the benefitof founders of startups. My intent is tooffer a no bullshit approach to advisingpeople. I try to always include lessonslearned from my experiences increating my companies. If youare a first time founder, orconsidering becoming one, Ihope that my essays cangive you raw insight intowhat it was like for me.And while I don

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t thinkthat my experiencescould ever represent allof the knowledgenecessary to become agreat founder, I do thinkthat I have a fewnuggets of uncommonand perhaps uniqueinsights.

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Over the years, I've been accused bythe press of many things, but one of my favorites is the articles that claimthat I create cults or even religiousorders in my companies.

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Whileyou’d think I might be pissed, there’sa lot of truth in those articles. Infact, I’m quite proud of beingrecognized for creating cult-likecultures in mycompanies,because it’sactually part of my plan.Why? If you are afounder of astartup, then burnthe following infointo head.Having a goodteam, or even anexcellent teamisn't enough - youneed to build a “cult.”

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And by "cult"what I mean is a group of super highquality people who trust each otherand have similar ways of thinking,learning, reacting, problem-solvingand working together.

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Further, thisteam needs to bond together under aleader they trust and respect. Theymust not be afraid of any type of challenge; they must be willing towalk through fire when their leaderasks them; and they must believethey deserve to be the ones that willchange the world.

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Do this and you and your team canhandle anything.

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Don't, and you'llbe heading to thedead pool.As a founder, Ican tell you thatone of the veryfew things thatwill enable you toget some sleep atnight is knowingthat you’re not theleader of just acompany, butrather a cultfollowing.

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If you're like nearly every founder Iknow, you worry a lot.What happens when founders try tosleep at night is this: their mindspins uncontrollably betweenscenarios that result in a glorious

Cult Creation

By "cult" what I mean isa group of super highquality people who trusteach other and havesimilar ways of thinking,learning, reacting,problem-solving andworking together