My goal is to be better than you

To be an early hire in my startups, you have to be better at whatever you do than I am.

To get fired at my startups (before we grow too large for it to matter), I have to be better at whatever you do than you are.

My goal is to be better at your job than you are.

Once I can do your job better than you, you’re surplus to requirements.

How do you keep your job?

Keep learning. Keep training. Keep getting better.

Otherwise, I will replace you with someone better than me.

It sounds harsh, but in a small startup where every piece is critical, there’s no place for an also-ran employee.

This is also the very essence of what people mean when they say “work with a co-founder with a complimentary skill set.”

If you think this is bravado, I will put money down that you’ve never been a founder frustrated by early hires that are just warm bodies where you constantly have to double-check work or send it back for a second pass.