What's the Culture of Experimentation?

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I'm not a huge fan of slides. Sometimes they're the most efficient way to structure conversations. I like written form because it forces a level of clarity that you sometimes can get lost with slides. But there are other places where slides can be beneficial as well. And is the format sort of around slides that someone's presenting a memo? Like what are the assets that people are using? Can you share a little bit more? We kind of went on a little tangent when you were talking about a culture of experimentation. You can often pressure test things by saying like say the inverse, we want a culture that doesn't welcome experiments.

Our guest today is Don Faul, CEO of CrossFit.

Don has a fascinating background where he’s been able to find success in environments as different as a combat zone and a corporate board room. After spending 8 years as a platoon commander in the U.S. Marine Corps, Don had stints at some of the most vaunted companies in tech, including Google, Facebook and Pinterest, the latter of which he served as the Head of Operations. It’s a really unique set of leadership experiences spanning very different cultures.

In today’s conversation, he answers some burning questions like if micromanagement is always a bad thing, how to create a long-term company vision that genuinely gets people fired up about the future, and what folks tend to get wrong in their all-hands meetings.

We also discuss what it takes to lead in this current environment, and how leadership looks different when things feel like they’re going off the rails, which plenty of startup folks are feeling right now. Don unpacks his biggest lessons on how to embrace transparency when things aren’t going well, and candidly shares his own experience of having to wind down a company.

Read the article Don penned for First Round Review: The Pivotal Stories Every Startup Leader Should be Able to Tell.

You can follow Don on Twitter @donfaul

You can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/firstround and twitter.com/brettberson