These are the principles we come back to every single day. When we don't know how to make a decision, we always come back to principles.
Ask: is this product really 10x better than the status quo? If not, don't do it; big problems / markets are just as hard to solve as small problems / small markets.
We’re here to serve our customers. Go backwards from the customers and obsess after giving them the best experience possible.
If enough smart people are in a room together, we'll figure it out. Hire slowly rather than to "fill a role."
The best idea wins. Use logic to support your thinking. In each meeting, we’ll have discussions to distill the decision we’re making to the fundamental truths of the human condition or physics and then build back up. Always discuss the idea, not attack the speaker. When a decision is made, disagree and commit wholly.
No passive aggression. If someone isn’t doing something right, tell them. Be brutally honest with feedback and don’t sugar coat anything. Trust in your team.
Results matter, not "effort." Done is better than perfect. Finish what you start. A documented mistake of an idea that didn't work is positive. Constantly release, test, and deploy little bytes instead of waiting for one large deployment.
Over 10 years, 1% improvements and actions lead to massive exponential increases. Practice continuous improvement as an individual and as a company. Always ask why, why, why? Break things down to the first principles and then build back up.
Have just enough and no more. Constantly simplify. Always ask: "how could I accomplish what I'm trying to with 10x less money?"
"Play for the name on the front of the jersey...people will start remembering the name on the back." We all have individualistic desires but by working for the good of the company in the short term, you make yourself significantly better off in the long term. When in doubt of how to make a decision, ask: is this in the true, authentic best interest of Chef?
Assume your ideas are wrong and constantly stress test them. The default is that your idea is wrong and that you have to prove it’s right (not the other way around). Seek diverse perspectives.
Don't preach something without embodying it yourself. Rather than asking your manager for permission to see if an idea is worth doing, execute it and then show her what you made assuming cost is not too high). The reason we hire smart people is not to tell them what to do; it's so that they can tell us what to do.