Great book by the star CEO of Snowflake.
Amp It Up by Frank Slootman was highly recommended on Twitter X and Hacker News.
Frank Slootman was the CEO of a couple of high-profile companies that he took to IPO: Snowflake, Service Now, and Data Domain. In the book, he shares his management philosophy and supporting stories.
The main pillars are:
- Raise your standards
- Align your people and culture
- Sharpen your focus
- Pick up the pace
- Transform your strategy
⠀ Common motifs that run through the stories are:
- Execution is king, it trumps strategy (without good execution you don’t even know if it’s a strategy that’s failing you).
- Focus on a few things at a time (serial execution).
- Hire and retain doers.
The advice on parting with people seems a bit cutthroat, but OTOH we know how demotivating it is to work in a team where some people are not contributing. Frank said for the Forbs article:
“When I was a younger man, I was more tolerant; I always thought I could coach people to a place where they would be great. And 99 times out of 100, you’re wrong on that, which is the reason I [now] pull triggers much faster. I still don’t think I’ve ever taken anybody out of a job too soon. It’s [always] been too late.
Src: The Outsider: How CEO-For-Hire Frank Slootman Turned Snowflake Into Software’s Biggest-Ever IPO
The themes in the book correspond nicely to some other books I’ve enjoyed:
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel
- Insanely Simple by Ken Segall
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Especially, the thoughts on serial execution, singular priority, and picking up the pace. Too often, the companies or teams fall into the trap of doing everything. It must be a great experience to work for a CEO who understands the value of focus, in an environment that encourages and rewards fast, impactful delivery.
Career advice
- Be picky about the company you join. Some companies can be “elevators” while others will keep you stuck.
For managers
- Increase the sense of ownership in people.
- Drivers vs passagers: you want to hire “drivers”.
- Wrong people are terrible for the team, hiring the most important thing. And don’t wait too long to part ways if things are not working with an employee.
For leaders
- Don’t hesitate and wait situations out for too long. Pull the plug. Don’t waste everybody’s time.
- Declare war on your competitors (win-win is great, but in business it’s commonly a zero-sum game).
- Don’t shield people from the real stakes (your company will go bankrupt and they will lose their jobs).
- Attacking markets with unpopular incumbents is easier than attacking the ones with strong incumbents.
- How fast the company can grow? What’s blocking an asymptotic growth?