Managing a Startup Isn’t Different – Don’t Reinvent Everything

Startups are different creatures and they require a different way to being managed. (as you write)

The aim of many startups can be totally different than a large company, or even a small ongoing company such as a lifestyle business, or local shop, etc.

Good sources for ideas about this are the Startup Owners Manual as well as customer development approaches. A startup is a short term way to search for a sustainable business model and its customers, as Steve Blank says.

Also see Compass.co for managing startup goals and benchmarks.

Managing a startup is different. In a startup you want as many people as possible to be "self managing". In an enterprise often you hire "commodity" workers who should be able to do what you ask, and do it when you ask, but aren't supposed to find more things to work on.

In a startup you want "motivated self starters" who will build the feature you asked for, and then solve the six problems that spawn from that, or at least say "hey these things are all going to break or look ugly with that change"

Startups also have to manage their "brain burn" very differently. At MSFT I could push employees hard then send them on a 2 week vacation. I can't do that at a startup.

At MSFT I had 5 people who could do any one task and I could shift loads to manage brain burn. In a startup I am lucky to have 5 people total, and likely I tried to round out my team so I don't have much over lap.

In short, Startups are different. If you manage the same as you do in enterprise you will fail.

Don't reinvent, there are plenty of places to learn how to manage at a startup, just don't think that managing in a fortune 500 and a "we raised $500k" is the same.