All in Good Fun Don't be afraid to lighten up--especially if you're the boss.

Before Ranjith Kumaran moved out of his VC firm's incubation space to an office that accommodates his current team of approximately 40 employees, he had acquired a reputation as a boss who cracks jokes--often at his own expense.

The 32-year-old founder of YouSendIt, a Campbell, California, company that lets users quickly send large files over the internet, had taken a mildly embarrassing story of being politely chastised by his investors and turned it into a war story his team could rally around.