Wow, we are at Chapter 11! We are going to about adapting. You know, similar to when you had a dad, and then he ran to get milk and got lost coming back home… I adapted and you can too, but this time in YOUR BUSINESS.

When Eric was the CTO of IMVU he thought he was doing a good job, but on a couple of occasions he realized that he’d actually been failing at his job! He struggled because he knew as the company grew, they would need additional processes and systems designed to coordinate the company’s operations at each larger size. As the CTO of a startup he didn’t want to make IMVU bureaucratic to become more “professional”. But having no system wasn’t an option. So many startups fail, so he had to figure out what to do next.

Most advice he had heard had suggested splitting the difference, basically engaging in a little planning but not too much. The problem is that it’s hard to give any rationale for why we should anticipate one particular problem but ignore another. Over time everyone will take the most polarizing position possible, which makes splitting the difference ever more difficult and ever less successful. Getting out of this trap requires a significant shift in thinking.

The question is: “Should a startup invest in a training program for new employees?” Early in IMVU would give you an emphatic NO. It requires a huge effort to standardize our work processes and prepare a curriculum of the concepts that new employees should learn. But when the mentors and mentees performances were linked the mentors took this education seriously. The training program evolved organically out of a methodical approach to evolving their own processes, that’s what Eric refers to as an adaptive organization (one that automatically adjusts its processes and performance to current conditions).

When are going too fast? Most of the book has emphasized SPEED. Startups are in a LIFE-OR-DEATH struggle to learn how to build a sustainable business before they run out of resources and die. They need built in speed regulators to help find their optimal pace! You cannot trade quality for time! Shortcuts taken in the product quality, design, or infrastructure today may wind up slowing a company down tomorrow!

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