"A Raving Success” - Planning for Performance

Learning from today’s failures in order to achieve tomorrow’s success

Lisa Morton once said “Some say I'm an overnight success. Well, that was a very long night that lasted about 10 years.” Her point is well made and recurring throughout time due to a fact, which all successful people know. All success is predicated by a much longer period of trying, failing, trying and trying until the stars a-line and success happens.

In my own career, I have worked with 3 start ups thus far and can say with a degree of certainty that Dublin’s startup scene is currently one of the most vibrant, youthful and committed in the world today! As with elsewhere, the formula for success is still elusive and first time entrepreneurs seem to have a consistent expectation for success. I personally think it’s admirable but from experience know that the high failure rate is down to many things, which are covered in some of my prior posts. What is as important as the environmental and constituent elements of a new business is the expectations of the entrepreneur and how they go about putting it all together.

Here are some points I have noticed in my own career to date, which bear merit to the new business entrepreneur setting out on the road to success.

Expect to succeed in business, not in your business! Contextualise your mindset with a high fault tolerance knowing that whilst you expect your business to succeed, it is likely to fail on your first try as an entrepreneur. This does not mean you should fail in business. Segregate your career as an entrepreneur from your new business and be prepared to start again. Accept failure as part of the company lifecycle, which will drive your career as a business owner. By doing so, you can be less burdened by the ability to fail, thus focus on the path ahead to success.

Flexibility is key, assertiveness is its vehicle! They say ‘keep an open mind, but don’t let your brain fall out.’ The entrepreneur should remain mentally flexible and open to comments, suggestions and criticisms. They should vet them for positive intent on behalf of the sender and deal with them assertively even if it’s negatively intended. To assert oneself positively even in a negative situation is to establish a stronger position based on one’s interests rather than the position they hold. A conversation that starts off as negative, can with an assertive reaction by the entrepreneur finish very positively a couple of minutes later.

 Manage your time or it will manage you out of business! I submit that time is equally as valuable a commodity as money to the new business entrepreneur. Manage time on a bootstrap basis with strict discipline around time management techniques like 7 day forward scheduling, setting time for “urgent” tasks where incoming emergencies need to be dealt with and important outbound tasks that can be proactively planned. Tasks that are not important or urgent can be delegated or automated. Never underestimate how much time is needed to do emails, answer calls, engage employees in their issues and so on. This is time you need to plan for. Augment your schedule as you learn from experience how long it actually takes. I always put time aside for my breaks, checking email AND planning my time for the following day and week ahead.

Manage your work life balance -  Work hard, stay committed and do what you need to for your business. However, there is a limit that needs to be respected. Keep a tight reign on your time as overworked and exhausted can put you out of business as quickly as anything else, especially when your own judgement and performance becomes impaired by fatigue.

Start with the end in mind - It’s too easy to have a great idea, start a business and get lost in the reasons why things can’t be done, cope with them and come out the far side a different person with a business you never wanted at the beginning of your journey to success. Success does come with a price but don’t prepay for it with a lack of consideration for things normally associated with larger companies like organisational structure, leadership practice, process management, documentation of work practices and company culture. IF you intend to have a business success with a hierarchical company culture, then match that intent with an appropriate business idea and plan. Don’t expect to succeed in a startup that requires a team effort from founders, employees and interns building services or developing specialist products that require expert knowledge using a dictatorial leadership style, chain communication practice and a wish for a “command ‘n control” hierarchical company culture. Match your “style” with you business plan as if you do not, the secondary issues that arise from this mismatch are likely over time to destroy your business before it really begins.

 Protect your “interests” - As in a prior point, remaining flexible to protect your interest in a relationship context is key to success as is protecting your interests such as intellectual capital, product schemas and physical goods patents. Registering trading names, brand names and trademarks are an important part of the road to success. Don’t build a castle of success for someone else to walk in and take the keys because if you let them, they will come when there is money to be made!

From idea to vision to practice to culture - people come first! - A start up of any kind is more likely to succeed if Founders surround themselves with like minded people. There is synergy with 3 Founders and 6 Employees all being givers and collaborators gelling in a near unconscious way to form the nebulous adhocracy company culture before they even write a single operational policy document. Deceiving any one of those people who are not like you into “becoming you” is an act of arrogance that will ultimately lead to compatibility problems. Given the profound impact employees and founders alike have on the potential of a new business, such an issue can lead to disaster if left unchecked.

There is no exhaustive list for becoming a successful entrepreneur. Many “feel” their way through a process of “on the job” learning as they go to become successful and in many cases are blessed with good luck to help them on their way! What is clear though is that those who learn from the mistakes of others, clearly understand who they are, what they want and how they are going to get it will stand a higher chance of success than those who are unclear in these areas. As the old saying goes “give a man a fish and he feeds his family for a day, show a man how to fish and he feeds his family for life”. With entrepreneurship, the trade craft can be learnt without drowning in the process. Do you agree? Leave a comment today...

Sources/Credits:

Pics;

https://stocksnap.io/search/business/sort/relevance/desc

https://picjumbo.com/?s=business

Credits:

Lisa Morton for here quote from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/overnight_success.html | http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/overnight_success.html#EBuTrwVeB7l1pE0c.99

Consultative Leadership - How to lead a start up!

Progressive leadership for a dynamic start up… why consultative leadership is so important…

We all know of the stories coming out of technology like San Francisco’s very own Airbnb, who ‘stole the show’ after renting out their apartment in San Francisco on conference weekend. It was a tough slog for Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia who had the foresight, wisdom and mental acuity to make the right decisions at the right time. Their good decisions married with exceptional luck gave birth to the Airbnb we know today. Kudos to them both for a job well done!

What we rarely hear of is that over 90% of all startups fail due to issues such as lacklustre marketplace need, misjudgement of costs, unforeseen disruption and funding issues. When you add internal development issues, founder disputes and bad leadership practices (often stress driven), then you can see why Airbnb’s ‘Cinderella story of success’ is the exception rather than the norm.

As a Technologist, I found a tech start up survey report on Inc.com to be very insightful indeed. An MIT doctoral student called Jorge Guzman did a survey on Silicon Valley failures and found some interesting patterns from using “pattern recognition” algorithms on start up registrations in California from 2001 to 2006. I thought some of his findings to be very insightful of tech start ups globally and are as follows:

Short Names - companies with short names are more likely to succeed. It makes sense when you think of branding and how word association works for companies in the marketplace.

Incorporate - companies who incorporate to a LTD/LLC/etc are more likely to succeed. It makes great sense once again on branding grounds. It also signals commitment by the founders to the project along with serious intent to be successful. Those who project a confidence of success with a well organised and structured start up are more likely to be trusted in business ergo are more likely to succeed.

Products - start ups with a patent are likely to experience a growth dividend of 25% above those who don’t. If the patent has a unique take on something that creates value in the eyes of the company, this conclusion makes perfect sense.

Networking - companies who are located in Silicon Valley V elsewhere in California are 60% more likely to succeed. This makes perfect sense to me for a tech start up as networking is key to any success, especially in technology.

So with all of insights, it is reasonable to think a good business idea has a better chance of being a roaring success, but that’s only a portion of the criteria for a successful start up. If the founders are not consultative leaders, they are increasing their chances of failure by attracting, employing and leading a personality type that cannot and/or will not meaningfully contribute to their success. Participative leaders who want the group to direct the strategy will not gain traction in a start up when employees are expected to do many things at once in a near uncontrolled environment. Dictatorial leaders who set a false sense of structure and then micro-manage employees into leaving will always have a work deficit and an opportunity cost that can cost the very same directors their business. Richard Branson once said “take care of your employees and they will take care of your business”, he is quite right!  

One of Silicon valley’s best kept secrets is how start up successes lead their companies. They use consultative leadership models that have the following attributes:

Strategy Setter – Management sets the direction the company needs to go with high level strategic goals defining the general direction for staff to brainstorm around so they can strategise how to operationally get there.

Employee Positioning - This has everything to do with people and little to nothing to do with HR. Management treat staff as assets (not cost overheads) and by definition actively harness feedback from them on the business and how things could be done better feeding into a Kaizen improvement cycle that keeps the company lean and current.

Marketing - The employee revered by management as a primary asset is also able to contribute to working conditions, how things get done and how the company could market itself better. Company events, idea boxes and regular team meetings provide good feedback in a structure for idea generation and capture.

Culture - The consultative leadership model works well in a clan or adhocracy culture. The focus on people gives everybody a sense of belonging and security insofar as they are directly contributing to their own success or failure with their colleagues in the company. Good founders start with the end in mind and socially engineer good relationships with employees that are Givers (v Matchers or Takers) by nature, thus a good fit with clan or adhocracy cultures. Team players are important and the consultative leadership practice; if done correctly in a collaborative environment creates a structured people centric culture, which is critical to success, longevity and innovation.

Communication – A two way (respectful) communication style in verbal and non verbals is a key attribute of success where staff are respected by founders for speaking their minds, even if the founders may not agree.

Combine all of this with strong founder vision and a willingness to be a real leader especially when stress levels are high, than it’s easy to see why balanced judgement is worth its weight in gold.

What happens after an initial growth period in a ‘successful’ startup can often damage a company's longer term prospects. Some founders fork from Silicon Valley’s magic formula of success by cutting employees out of the decision making process and withholding information relevant to their roles. Others cut them out of stock options that now hold worth due to “our” success. For good employees who invested in the founders through the currency of commitment, there is no greater betrayal! Other issues are the entrepreneur who cannot let go, scalability becomes an issue and as the pressure mounts, the ability to lead competently becomes compromised with employee morale sinking as a result.  

With all the learned lessons out there, it’s incredible to think how anyone could make those mistakes but they do. There is no rulebook saying a start up cannot recover to become a success. However, if the founders do not genuinely believe in the power of their people, how can their people genuinely believe in them? Place any half belief on the part of the founders under the pressure of a start up gaining traction and you have a route of potential success to definite failure.

The big take away for a success in a start up is this… if you bring your people with you, they will make sure you get to your destination! It’s not a bad sentiment when you think of how many fail. As the old saying goes ‘Surround yourself with like minded people and you will do great things!’ Do you agree? Share your start up experiences by leaving a comment…

Sources/Credits

Pics;

www.startupstockphotos.com

www.pexels.com

www.joelonsoftware.com

www.businessinsider.com

www.theselfemployed.com

Credits;

https://growthhackers.com/growth-studies/airbnb

http://www.inc.com/laura-montini/getting-closer-to-the-science-of-silicon-valley-success.html