Mark II: a Startup in a Box

Taking the guesswork out of policies and procedures


I spend a lot of time thinking (and writing) about what makes a good startup. I use startups as a filter for much of the media I consume.

I have come to realize that much of what makes a good startup is generic, i.e. has nothing to do with the particular mission of the company. There’s a lot of infrastructure a good startup needs - policies, procedures, processes, etc. It’s a waste of a founder’s time to reinvent so many wheels when there is so much work to do on the mission.

Over time, I have cobbled together the skeleton of such infrastructure. I call it Mark II, and you can find it as a collection of docs and sheets in a Google Drive folder here. It’s a mix of objective facts, best practices from trusted sources, and my opinions. I generally link to or cite the first two types, so anything with no source is the latter type.

My end goal is a true company-in-a-box - the cultural and procedural version of Clerky. In the meantime, though, I continue to cobble. Please share your wisdom with me@timdingman.com, and I’ll be sure to incorporate it.