A co-founder is someone who is with you from the very beginning of your company’s journey. They’re the ones who have seen your idea grow from an early-stage startup and have helped you work on it to make it what it is today. Co-founders are essential for almost every startup. They are the people you share your vision and ideas with, and who give you feedback. You’re working together towards the same goal, and you’re in this together.
Co-founders are the people with whom you are building your business on a daily basis. They are your partners, and they help with achieving your company’s goals. There are different types of co-founders. You can have business, technical, or marketing co-founders. All these individuals bring their unique skills and talents to the table and work together to ensure the success of the company.
Take all the time in the world to choose your partner, dont choose because of the lack of options
Most entrepreneurs start out on their journey alone. They get an idea, build a product, try to find customers and clients, and only then do they decide to build a company. In this scenario, the founder is both the co-founder and the CEO. There are many reasons why you might need a co-founder. The most common ones are: Finding someone to share the risk with, finding a team member, securing financing, improving communication, adding complementary skill sets to the company, finding expertise that you lack, etc. You should only find a co-founder when you feel that you really need one. It’s best to do this as early as possible, before you need one. The earlier you get a co-founder onboard, the easier it will be to scale your company and grow it to the next level.
Finding the right co-founder for your startup is crucial for the success of your company and your future. The best way to find the right co-founder is to think about the skills you’re missing and then look for someone with those skills who shares your vision and your goals. You can also use online tools and websites to find the right people. One of the best ways to find the right co-founder is to start by building a listing of skills that you think are essential for your success. From there, you can create a list of skills that you have and skills that you’re missing. Once you have this list, you can start looking for the right people.
There are many ways to find a co-founder, but not all of them are effective. In fact, some of them can actually damage your chances of finding the right people and lead to poor results. If you want to find a co-founder, avoid these 3 mistakes to make sure you do it right: – Don’t rush the process: This will often be the case for people who want to find a co-founder quickly, perhaps because they are running out of money or because they want to start the business before something happens (i.e. a key member of their team quits). Rushing the process will likely lead to bad choices, so don’t do it. – Don’t look for co-founders in the wrong places: Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of looking for a co-founder at the wrong places, such as among their friends, family members, and colleagues. Although these people might be great co-founders, they might also be the wrong ones. – Don’t pick the first person you find: The ideal co-founder is someone who shares your vision and your goals, who brings value to your company, and who you trust. If you pick the first person you find who meets these criteria, you might end up with a bad partnership.
Finding the right co-founder is crucial to the success of your startup. To find the right person, you need to think about the skills you’re missing and then look for someone with those skills who shares your vision and your goals. You can also use online tools and websites to find the right people.
Let’s explore why the Importance of mentorship is crucial for your startup in this article.
Before diving into the importance of mentorship, let’s first explore why having a mentor is crucial for a startup. As mentioned, startups are very uncertain ventures that can become highly stressful, especially in the early stages.
Having a mentor will help ease some of this stress and give you the confidence you need to push forward through difficult times. If a mentor can provide you with guidance on important business decisions, then they can also help you to improve your emotional intelligence and better manage your own emotions. This will be crucial when navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. For example, a mentor can help you to understand your strengths and weaknesses, plan your product roadmap, and make better decisions about hiring and funding opportunities. Having a mentor will also give you access to invaluable industry knowledge and connections that will be crucial to the success of your business.
With a good perspective on history, we can have a better understanding of the past and present, and thus a clear vision of the future. — Carlos Slim Helu
Finding the right mentor is not an easy task and it’s critical that you find someone who is a great fit for you and your business. What do you look for in a mentor? The first thing you must do is to create a list of desired qualities. What are the qualities of the ideal mentor for you? This is the first step in finding the right mentor. Once you’ve created a list, you can begin to think about where you can find the right mentor.
There are many places to find a mentor, including professional organizations, alumni associations, and online mentorship programs. If you belong to a professional organization, you can approach someone who’s listed as a mentor and ask if they’ll mentor you. You can also search LinkedIn for alumni who might be a good fit. If you’re not sure where to start, you can try a few different options and see what works best for you.
While many mentors may suit you, but only one might truly click and feel right as your mentor. How will you find the right mentor for you? Here are some tips to help you find the right mentor for your startup: – Stay open to different types of mentors. While it’s important to find someone you click with, you shouldn’t limit yourself to finding just one mentor. Having more than one mentor can be very beneficial. You can ask each person to specialize in different areas of your business and they can act as mentors on call, helping you out when you need advice. – Look for a person who’s been there before.
One of the best ways to find the right mentor is to find someone who’s been where you are. They’ve been through the process before and know what you’re going through. You can learn a lot from people who’ve been there before and they can help to ease some of your anxieties. Make sure the mentor-mentee relationship is a good fit. It’s important to find someone who you click with and who is a good fit for your business. You shouldn’t force a relationship if it’s not a good fit. Finding the right mentor for your startup can be difficult, but it’s a crucial step for your business. Having a mentor can help ease some of the stress of entrepreneurship and provide you with guidance and industry insight that you might not have had otherwise.
Yes, having a mentor is crucial for your startup. It can help you ease some of the stress of starting your own business and provide you with invaluable industry insight and guidance. You can find the right mentor by staying open to different types of mentors and making sure the relationship is a good fit. Having the right mentor can help you navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and help your business succeed.
]]>The first thing you should do before jumping into any type of business is to find a market for it. This means you need to identify your target audience, understand their needs and find a way to fill those needs with your product or service. This will help you determine your startup costs and expected return on investment. In order to identify your market, you will need to conduct some market research. You can do this by reading articles on the different markets and industries, researching your competitors and finding out what your customers want and need. The more research you do on your target audience, the better your business will be positioned to meet their needs.
I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. — Warren Buffett
You also need to assess whether your product or service is something that people actually want. If not, then all the research in the world won’t help. It is important that you are passionate about what you are selling. This will help you weather the lows of starting a business and keep you motivated to succeed. You should also consider the ease of producing or acquiring your product or service. This will help you determine your startup costs. In some cases, you may want to create the product yourself. In others, it would be better to outsource the work to a manufacturer or third-party supplier. This will also help you estimate your ROI.
Every business has costs associated with it. It is important to know what your startup costs will be so you can create a budget for your business and have a clear idea of how much money you will need to start up. The best way to figure out your startup costs is to create a list with all the expenses associated with your business. This includes things like equipment, inventory, rent or mortgage payments, salaries, and insurance costs. You should aim to keep your budget as low as possible while still ensuring that you can adequately fund your startup. If your business costs too much to fund, it might not be worth launching.
After assessing your product or service and your startup costs, you need to estimate your return on investment. This will help you decide if the business is a good idea or not. It will also help you figure out when you can break even and start making a profit. The best way to estimate your ROI is to use a profit and loss (P&L) statement. You can use financial calculators to help you put together a P&L statement and determine a rough estimate of your ROI. Keep in mind that profit and loss statements are extremely rough estimates. They are not exact calculations. You will need to do more research, including market research, financial projections and more to determine a more realistic estimate of your ROI.
Finally, you need to pick the idea with the best ROI. You should consider all the factors listed above and make sure that your business idea has a high ROI. This will help you be successful in business and make more money. The best way to do this is to create a list of all the business ideas you have come up with. Then, take each idea and assign points to it according to the factors listed above. The idea with the highest points is the best choice. Remember that none of these factors are set in stone. They are all flexible and can be altered based on your own circumstances. You can always do more research, create different kinds of lists, and tweak your points system as needed.
The best way to find the best startup idea for you is to first understand what drives your motivation for creating a business. There are certain personality types that are more likely to succeed in certain industries. Once you have a better understanding of what drives your motivation, you can then research different industries and business ideas. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a perfect business idea. Every industry has its ups and downs, and every business has its good and bad points. The important thing is to focus on finding an idea that you are passionate about and that has the best chance of succeeding.
]]>Starting a business is a massive leap, and we know the risks and challenges involved. “How to Stay Motivated During Tough Times” is a question many entrepreneurs grapple with, but awareness doesn’t make it less manageable and, in no way, prepares us for what’s to come.
Every day, we face new challenges and curveballs that can test our will and make us question our goals. It is easy to be blind-sighted by our emotions, but digging deeper into the whys and controlling the situation as effectively as possible can make a significant impact.
Being creative within the constraints of client briefs, budgets and timelines is the norm for most agencies. However, investing in research and development as a true, creative outlet is a powerful addition. In these side projects alone, your team members can pool their expertise to create and shape their own vision — a powerful way to develop motivation, interdisciplinary skills and close relationships.
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” — Robert H Schuller
The first stage involves a myriad of emotions that might shape the course of your company’s development. This was the stage where everyone in our start-up was excited and eager to land our first client.
Still, there was also that overpowering fear and frustration about what it’s going to take to get that first client to turn up so we can finally do business and show them and our future clients what we can do and offer.
Fortunately, we received projects, but most importantly, everyone on the team realized the importance of their roles in helping to accomplish the goals and meet the client’s expectations.
During the first stage, we learned to value everyone’s contribution to the organization. Having one less committed team member could cause problems for everyone.
Compared to the initial stages, the continuous growth and room for learning in the next phase are more challenging and can test everyone’s resilience and commitment. This is where we get our dose of failures, and mistakes often lead to money loss in a business.
This stage requires us to be fearless in taking new chances, adopting new methodologies, and tapping additional mentors and advisors that can allow us to see our challenges from a different perspective so we can find solutions in non-conventional ways.
Growing can be scary because we often like to stick to the processes that worked for us in the past, but with businesses, changes are necessary. We must be adaptable and accepting of new concepts and ideas to minimize sinking into the same pitfalls.
During the start-up phase, we only have a few people onboard. As the company grows, hiring new talents becomes imperative. One of the challenges of getting new hires is ensuring that the organization’s culture is maintained and that everyone is agreeable and supportive of this culture.
This weight lies on the shoulders of our recruitment team and a hiring process that can find the balance between talent and work ethics. From the recruiters and sourcing coordinators to the operations leadership team, everyone needs to perform their functions while, at the same time, thriving in a culture that everyone is supportive and happy with.
Retaining people and making them feel valued is always a challenge. When we finally find and practice that organizational culture, we have employees growing with the company, taking on new roles, and steering everyone to success. We have to exert less time and effort to address attrition, and goals like global expansion can be more attainable.
Basing our structure and implementations on a well-written and scientifically researched playbook is not guaranteeing that we’ll always be prepared for tomorrow. Despite having the best team, surprises are inevitable.
At our startup, we have come to the understanding that every day, anything can happen. Being in the entrepreneurship industry longer than others doesn’t mean that we’ll always be ready and well-equipped for the unknown.
We will not have definitive answers or immediate alternatives to challenges and questions. Still, we have learned to be resilient and adaptable to change to make the necessary adjustments. We know that we will figure things out, whether it’s to do with our recruitment process or employee engagement.
Understandably, addressing the unknown is not an overnight process, but a carefully thought out methodology, implementation, and follow-through always lead to wins.
Like most growing companies, at our startup too, communication was a focus initially. However, as everyone got into the routine and grew comfortable with different situations, the communication dwindled.
Before and when a company goes live, all information is disseminated on all levels, and each member is aligned in all aspects. During the learning phase, communication decreases as expected, but it should still be a top priority for everyone.
Open, honest, and straightforward communication can make everyone feel part of the team, and a sense of belongingness is part of healthy organizational culture. Nowadays, many communication channels are available for use, including traditional announcement boards, emails, and group chats.
These best practices came from our own experiences, which are worth sharing because they continue to help us make every day a successful business day.
If we’re wrong, we take full responsibility for it. Making excuses won’t help, so acknowledging the mistakes, apologizing for them, and doing something about it is an excellent formula.
Apologizing is sometimes taken as a sign of incompetence when it comes to work because it usually means we failed to do something correctly. There’s some grain of truth in there, but being able to sincerely say “I’m sorry” says a lot about our character, not just as employees but as individuals. These two words are not the easiest to say, but they can make a huge difference.
Always have an open communication line with everyone you are working with but, of course, make sure that everybody remains professional and respectful. Be honest and make every conversation worthwhile.
There are days when we’ll need more ideas for business, and we’ll need everyone to be all hands on deck. So don’t hesitate to ask for assistance, another alternative, or a bright concept from your team. Remember that everyone should be geared toward the same goal.
On a side note, the leadership team also needs to learn how to delegate effectively. We must remind ourselves that we have competent and reliable people on our team who can always help us.
Everyone on the team must be valued, and their efforts appreciated. We like to ensure that all our employees feel important to the team and like an integral part of the team. You can easily overlook this, especially in times of struggle, but making everyone feel like a single unit can make a difference.
We hope that my experiences also help you stay motivated and positive during tough times!
This quote from Robert Tew may come in handy and be worth sharing with your team: “The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need tomorrow!”
]]>Identifying suitable candidates to fill a position is demanding, and processing these applicants after they undergo the standard hiring processes of interviews and assessments doesn’t get any easier.
The person waiting on the interview pod might just be the one to break your current sales record or elevate your business to a whole new level. But it takes more than good compensation to attract the right employees to your organization. The organizational culture is equally important to youngsters entering the workforce today.
The recruitment team members are the first people who will interact with a potential employee and must embody the company’s culture.
Your company culture refers to “how things are done” in your workplace. It may be embodied in a memo or be a silent guideline.
So what makes a successful company culture? Hiring the right people is key to thriving organization culture, and the recruitment team is responsible for getting that done.
Regardless if your business has been offering products or services for a decade or it’s your first week in the industry, you need people who can do the job well, working for you.
People are the most crucial element in any organization. The organizational structure is pointless without the people. They are the ones who will help the company reach its goals.
During the initial recruiting process, your recruiters should be able to market and showcase your organization’s culture as a benefit. Infographics around the recruitment pods and your company websites should offer a preview of what’s to come for future employees, focusing on a culture of collaboration, acceptance, and appreciation.
Make your core values known; it is in recruitment that applicants get their first share and experience of these values. For example, if part of your organization’s culture promotes open communication, then practice timely feedback to let the applicant know the status of their application.
You can feel the culture of the company almost immediately
The recruitment team faces added pressure to get capable people to join the organization due to the following reasons:
The combined norms, behaviors, and work ethics of the employees define and dictate the culture of an organization. The tangible and intangible guidelines like the dress code, office layout (not any more thanks to covid), engagement activities, open communication, and resolving conflicts are all components that make your organization’s culture, and these depend on the unique characteristics of your employees.
The people working for the organization are those laying the groundwork for your startup’s future. Having the right people on board is important, as they will grow with the organization and contribute to its success.
On the get-go, placing people with the potential to grow means reducing the need to re-hire and filter a new batch of employees. Instead, the company may offer older employees, who understand its principles and endeavors, new leadership positions. In the long run, this entails better performance and employee retention.
Leadership teams would agree that people management takes time and effort. Having to deal with absenteeism, attrition, and poor performance doubles the effort.
With the right team members, you can invest more time in running the business instead of worrying if your people are showing up to work and completing their tasks with the quality you need.
No Startup, whether a sole proprietorship or a 100 million dollar corporation, is or will ever be an island. All organizations thrive when all their team members and departments work together and when they are aware of their respective roles in the organization’s success or failure.
The need to replace bad hires can disrupt the current workplace system and negatively impact employee productivity and morale especially in tech companies where the attrition is getting higher all the time.
Having the right people in your organization fosters respect between customers and employees, regardless of whether you work in the customer service sector.
The interpersonal skills of your employees play a significant role in building a loyal client base. If they can interact well internally, you may expect them to offer the same level of respect, courtesy, and appreciation to your clients and customers.
Today, applicants do their research first about a company before applying. Jobseekers look into reviews and personal feedback from previous employees and current team members as part of their preparation.
And this is where the employees—tenured and newbies, rank and file or executive positions—all come together because the collaboration of shared expectations, norms, and work ethics creates a thriving company culture.
Today, younger candidates are attracted to a workplace that has a casual, transparent, and supportive environment. These candidates are keen on what a company can offer them as young professionals, apart from what they can contribute to the organization.
And for the recruitment team, the compensation is no longer enough to sell a position to the company because the organization’s culture and values are equally important to individuals with the right education, experience, and skills. New hires will thrive, be productive, and be engaged when they fit with the organization’s culture.
Finding candidates who support your organizational culture and share its values can be challenging. But finding that perfect fit can open new opportunities for you and your employees; all while shaping your organization culture; in my case, this was how we scale our company in several countries; the first hires were the ones that later helped us to scale all our new locations.
You cannot create this positive culture overnight, but with the right mix of people and recruitment process, you may be confident that the business is on the right track and that your workforce feels content and valued in their positions.
And everything begins with a practical, effective, and smart recruiting team!
]]>Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) or administrator in charge of the total management of an organization. An individual appointed CEO of a corporation, company, organization, or agency typically reports to the board of directors. In British English, terms often used as synonyms for CEO are managing director (MD) and chief executive (CE).
As you can see, the term “I’m the CEO” sounds nice, but, in reality, it is one of the most diligent positions in the company; now, let’s review the functions that a CEO does (again, according to Wikipedia):
Typically, the CEO is a decision maker, leader, manager, and executor. This role involves high-level decisions about policy and strategy. The CEO leads, reports to the board, motivates, and drives change. The CEO presides over the organization’s day-to-day operations as a manager.
The main purpose of a CEO is to serve the company not the other way around.
Usually, a startup is born with one, two, and sometimes three founders; in most cases, one of them will be the face of the company and, in time, will become the CEO, so for that reason. Usually, the characteristics of this person could be:
In my experience, a CEO must deeply understand their employees, facilitate growth, and unite everyone toward a common goal.
Also, remember that the higher the position, the lonely it is, especially when there are rough times like putting all your time, effort, holidays, and even your own money to help the company. Here I will try to write some items about the most complex situations.
I hope this post helps. For questions, comment or email me I’ll be more than happy to help.
]]>The heart of our company is its people; without our team, we are nothing. That is the number one reason that we started the development team in Peru. We got our first contract fast, and luckily it was for a Spanish company! Rushed hiring of a senior team member without proper validation led to a negative impact on the team.We ended up with a big problem with our client; in the end, this person charged us and didn’t even finish the job. We realized that the selection process is critical, and I ended up working with fewer people but committed people than an army that doesn’t help and work as they are supposed to.c
Also, over the last few years, we have hired rockstars (you can read more in another post that we have), but they didn’t like it, or they didn’t want to understand the company’s culture, and that’s critical, too! You must be smart to be in a company, but at the same time, you must fit into the culture; otherwise, it will fail, and that’s what happened to us; for that reason, we now invest even more in our people and explore innovative startup business ideas.
Understaing Legal, Accounting and Finance will be a great help for any startup.
Our small team of less than ten fosters seamless communication through shared work, meals, and social activities. So everyone was on the same loop, but it got more complicated as we grew. When you have more people, if you are lucky, everyone will be in the same country, so communicating is simple. Rapid growth can lead to a loss of focus on company goals, potentially hindering commitments and career progression. Seek ways to maintain alignment and clarity amidst growth.
No company will survive without clients, but this doesn’t mean you have to work with all the companies that knock on your door. Over the years, we worked with small, medium, and big companies, and of course, we have had our fair share of not-so-good clients. We have also had excellent companies that genuinely see you as a partner, not like some others force you to do whatever they want, how they want. After a couple of years, we were able to select and categorize our clients to have a better working experience (of course, we had to fire a couple of clients in that process), but that allowed us to grow better and protect our team… and also avoid psychiatrist bills.
I like to use this phrase: expect the best, but prepare for the worst. At first, we had everything in place – estimations, sprints, team, and client commitment. Yet, we overlooked the possibility of things going wrong It could be something simple or profound, but something always happens. We have troubles with servers, Apple, AWS, internet; sometimes, even the client move dates or the client’s companies go bankrupt. Prepare to manage expectations better.
Like other software firms, we aim to create cool, widely-used products that boost the bottom line. We already had seven products, all of which failed for several reasons. Still, it was good because we learned so much about technology, management, marketing, product discovery, and others that were good. After all, they allowed us to differentiate ourselves from other companies.
This is a critical aspect because, in our case, we were only engineers, so no one knew much about finance or that legal stuff. We initially underestimated financial statements because we thought making a sale meant that you already had the money in the company’s bank account. Later on, this became severe trouble because you need to make a decision based on the company’s cash flow, and not everyone pays at the same terms, or even the way you charge could complicate the forecast and set up goals.
It is a win-win; relationships are the key to growth, at least, we believe. We partnered with a US company despite our mistakes because we wanted to use their technology and attract interested customers. Well, that never happened- they only took our money! It happened multiple times, helping us learn how to work and find the right partner. Last year, we finally found the perfect partner for our startup business ideas! It was a long and painful process but worth it in the end.
There are many mistakes that fueled our growth and strength, but these are the biggest. Hope it helps!
]]>The title of the post is Hiring Rock Stars, and yes, that is what all startups want and what you should be looking for, but depending on the maturity of the startup and the stage it is in, it will definitely require a different focus in terms of the seniority and experience of the candidates you are going to be hiring.
When I started, I didn’t have much money to invest, so I was looking for potential, not experience; I was looking for people with different values and characteristics.
Those were characteristics and soft skills I was looking for in a team member regardless of seniority, so all these were more important than the experience, at least for now.
You can hire rock stars, but be careful to hire someone who is too corporate. When developing your business strategy, you might want to have people that understand that constant change is always happening and can adapt to them. They must have all the characteristics explained before, but now you can search for more experienced members according to your budget. If applied correctly, your business strategy is going to be limiting the number of mistakes and improving efficiency.
The key is to have the right person in the right role to scale a team and company
You need to hire the right person for the right role, or the consequences will be harmful; here, the recruitment process is even more complex, and cultural fit is ten times more necessary. If you have the right person in the right role company will fly!
My recruiting process from day one was designed to force you to fail. I didn’t care about the resumes or anything they might say they did or how special they say they are… everyone could say that in an interview. I was interested in making sure they had the characteristics listed above. So my secret formula for recruitment is:
My findings using this formula were:
What we also did was:
We currently have a final test, the cultural interview, that is carried out by the CEO or Founder, so that we explain from day one how life at the company really is and set up the right expectations.
Don’t compromise on quality, even with a tight budget or time constraints. Lowering your standards in recruiting can lead to long-term company issues. If you fail, do so quickly, learn from it, and refine your process for future success.
]]>I made my fair share of mistakes with this topic in many of the companies that I started; in some, we were three founders; in other cases, we were only two people, and finally, I started with two founders and ended up myself.
I think the biggest lesson here is don’t choose a co-founder just because you don’t have more options, wait and choose someone who strengthens your weaknesses, that is aligned with you 100%, and is willing to die fighting for your dream too. Selecting the right co-founder for startup is an important step in ensuring success during its early stages.
In one of my early-stage startups (one of the first ones), I was close to scaling it up without making any financial statements. Lucky me, a Mentor pointed out to me the importance of having all these in order and why financials are critical for early-stage startups. This gives you visibility on many aspects: it helps you understand the health of your early-stage startup, to know ahead of time where you have to be more efficient, or even determine how much discount you can give a client without losing money, among other things.
Make sure you have that in place since day one. Plus, once you start making money, the IRS will hunt you down, so it’s better to have all numbers clear. Have in mind it’s hard to change pricing if you made a wrong calculation.
Like Finance, Legal is crucial from the very start. It’s very important to focus on getting all contracts from employment to clients. The better you have all contracts looked at and validated; the more organized everything will be. This will help you avoid any issue that later could cost you a lot of money. Also, don’t choose your legal or financial advisors by how much they charge: choose them by the value they’d add to your startup.
Your team is your biggest asset, never lower the bar on recruiting.
Once you start having some traction in early-stage startups, you’d think growing fast is always the best thing that could happen to you. The truth is that fast growth does not always mean more profit, and this is where you need to understand the financials behind the growth of early-stage startups more than anything. You could sell 1 Billion dollars and make 1000 profit, and you can sell 100 million and generate 50 million of profit. Which one sounds like a profitable company in the world of early stage startups to you? The answer is obvious.
So, be careful when you are growing because your financial structure must always support healthy growth. This also applies to recruiting; hiring too fast could be bad for the company if you don’t have a transparent and conscious process.
To scale up, you need a good process that can change based on the market and feedback or a crisis like the one we encountered with the Covid-19 pandemic.
As we started to grow, we had a lot of clients at the same time, and we didn’t have a promising sales pipeline forecast, so we ended up with many projects but not enough people.
Our recruitment process was good but a bit slow. We wanted excellent people, but to have “all hands on deck,” we decided to lower our bar by accepting people that maybe we wouldn’t have allowed in other circumstances. As you can imagine, the result was terrible, not only because the projects went awful, but because we had to spend more money fixing it and, in some cases, even losing the client, plus the effect on the company’s culture.
So never, never lower your standards on hiring!
At the beginning of your startup, you’d probably take any client that you can to get some traction or survive. Still, as you move forward, you will realize that not all the clients are the right fit. I don’t mean in a materialistic way (ok, money is crucial but is not everything). Some clients could pay a lot but come as a heavy load on the company’s shoulders, and before you know it, you’d realize perhaps 80% of your revenue is accomplished by 20% of the right clients; you need to evaluate and see which client you are creating a relationship with.
Years of experience have now led me to validate the right fit with a client before we go forward and sign anything. Plus, we’ve set up working everything in phases, so we are sure that if the client changes their way, we have a way out. In a service company, it’s critical to understand who you are working with because it will impact the hardest things to build up: the company’s team, culture, and morale.
All entrepreneurs have great ideas (if not, they would not be creating something from scratch, would they?). This is a good asset for all startups, it enables thinking outside of the box in all situations, but it could be a double knife edge if not channeled to the correct path or north because you lose focus on what will help you achieve your goals.
In my case, we have a service company that started building our own products, thinking that this might provide more revenue. Long story short, we stopped doing that because we were better at making products for other companies.
To create a product, we need a different structure, different teams, and processes besides the initial investment needed to ramp up. Another example is expanding to other markets, being strong in one, and then moving on to the next if you have the proper structure and team.
Partnerships are good as long as both parties are winning. Otherwise, they are not healthy. I’ve had my fair share of good and bad stories about this, so I can tell you to always have this crystal clear between both parties:
In each and every product or service company, you must have a sales engine. If you don’t create a funnel and have key metrics for decision-making, it will be complex to predict growth and expenses and you will have a hard time raising money. If you can’t have your own formula to scale sales, you are not getting anywhere. You can read more about it in the book Predictable Revenue.
Something that commonly happens is that the company’s founder is the one closing all the deals. This could be a good thing, but it’s not scalable. You need to make sure you have an engine that does not depend on one person, otherwise, it could slow things down if that person is not available or even worse stop the whole thing if something happens to that person. Since it represents a very high risk, I would recommend your company to be independent of the founder in general, but especially in sales.
Product or Service company, you need to create a sales engine. You can read more about it in the book Predictable Revenue; if you dont create a funnel and have metrics, it will be complex to predict growth and expenses and forget about raising money; if you can’t prove that, you have the formula to scale sales you are done.
The other scenario is with the Founder as the one closing all the deals, this is good, but you need to create an engine that does not depends on one person; otherwise is a high risk if something happens to that person. A company needs to be independent of the Founder in general but especially in sales.
]]>This journey started several years ago, almost at the beginning of Tekton, because I was the CEO not by choice; I was the CEO by need. In a way, for me, the essential part of building a startup is to create good quality products and to make them long-lasting; this means that the company should be more significant than the founder if that is the case. Understanding the CEO meaning in business is crucial to achieving this.
I tried for many years to recruit an executive team. As you might realize, I didn’t have much luck, which could be due to various reasons, from not knowing what I wanted, not making a proper selection process, and the maturity of the company and myself.
Long story short, I mentor several universities and accelerators, offering guidance on various aspects of entrepreneurship, including the “CEO meaning in business.” During one of my mentoring sessions, I met Lorena Ortiz de Zevallos. She was not part of the program per se. She was invited because of the need for tech orientation. In the end, her StartUp didn’t work out, and then we had lunch; I still don’t remember how we approached the subject of looking for a CEO, and suddenly she said I could do it!! Initially, I was not sure, but I said let’s talk….
After all my bad experiences hiring non-technical people, I was sure I wanted it to be as close to 100% as possible before hiring. My process was the following:
Every founder is no requeried to be the CEO o C-Level of their startup.
After all these meetings -that took longer than expected-, we decided to move forward. I think she got three months before moving from her old job. To make this work, I applied something different. I had her participate in several key company meetings, even before joining Tekton officially, so she was already learning about technology, our way of doing things, and getting acquainted with the company. I think this was a key differentiator.
It’s been three years since she took charge, and I can honestly say it’s been a rollercoaster (just as happens in all great and solid relationships), from going through emotional stress (mostly on my end) to having lots of fun and amazing experiences together. I’m glad everything worked fine, and it still does, but I must admit there were so many things that could go wrong. Some of my fears with the new CEO were:
This article is probably the first part of a series of articles so I can continue explaining the journey.
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