Written for EO by Chris Bray, founder and CEO of BiG Media, an innovation firm that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and unlock new revenue streams for content creation and distribution companies. I remember the first time I turned down an offer. For my first few years in the TV business, I had taken every behind-the-camera gig that came my way. But when I was presented with simultaneously occurring jobs, I had to make a choice. One was for a repeat client as an assistant director. The other was for a new client as the main director. The latter was my dream. However, the thought of saying “no” to the former terrified me. I worried that client would never work with me again. Nevertheless, I turned the job down. A few months later, the client called again for another job and offered me more pay. And you know what I said? “Sorry, I’m really focused on directing now.” Illogical. Or so I thought until the client replied, “I know, but you are perfect for this, and we really need someone.” The client offered me more money than I had ever received. No longer feeling like a dummy, I took the gig—and added “no” to my lexicon. ‘No forever’ versus ‘no for now’In business, a respectful “no” feels final, but it rarely is. Besides, moving away from “yes” makes sense. The quickest way to destroy a budget is to agree to everything without forethought. Every time I said yes to projects with a return on investment that didn’t match my contribution of time, money and resources, I set back my business. I know how hard it is to turn down work. Insecurity compels us to be agreeable. We tell ourselves that if we get a reputation for saying no, we will permanently close doors to new business. However, being a “yes person” can quickly become a nasty habit. A bad deal is a bad deal whether it is your first or hundredth client. You must have the confidence to walk away; otherwise, you will undermine the value of your products or services. Can it be difficult? Of course. But without “no,” you will be destined to fail—through overspending, devaluation and overcommitment. Besides, pushovers enjoy no leverage. “Shark Tank” regular Barbara Corcoran‘s philosophy is to focus on serving clients and the organization by being picky. This works wonders for sales professionals, according to research by Velocify. Selling pros who use “no” manage 12 percent more prospects than their yes-people counterparts. They also contact leads 33 percent more often. Getting to ‘no’If it feels like failure to decline offers, take a few steps to get reacquainted with the most high-impact two-letter word in the English language: 1. Practice prioritization. Never say no without first understanding how much is actually on your plate. You need to weigh your duties to manage your time appropriately. Jot down each day’s to-do list, and give each responsibility a rating based on importance. Divide large projects into smaller chunks to tackle them a bit at a time. Work on top-rated priorities first by blocking off time to complete everything. Give yourself permission to tell others that you’re not available—you are busy. Eventually, this daily appointment with your priorities will help you carve lines in the sand. 2. Jettison yes-folks. In his book Good to Great, one of Jim Collins’ recommendations is to get rid of yes-people. Strong leaders have the confidence and are empowered by the company to disagree. Collins says the difference between good companies and great companies is whether leaders will debate in order to determine what is best for the company. When everyone knows that the company’s mission is the thing that matters most, keeping the wrong people in the company is unfair to the other employees who advance the company toward that mission. 3. Know your ideal customer. Know your customers better than they know themselves. As a consequence, you can say no in their interest. You can also ignore a lot of what they tell you. In their book Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings, statisticians Thomas D. Cook and Donald T. Campbell show that most customers are secretly yes-people. So adopt a Henry Ford mentality and don’t ask them what they want. Know them well enough to give them what they need. When building business-to-business products, you need to know how people do their jobs. To do this, converse with them. There are surveys, but nothing is better than speaking with people. Without this kind of understanding, it’s impossible to build a product that serves their needs and adds value to their lives. As someone who owns a tech company, I am a futurist. It is my job to understand the industry I am trying to serve, stay on top of trends, and forecast where the industry is heading. At BiG, we hire people who like to learn. If you enjoy learning, then doing research comes easy. Do enough research, and you will see patterns develop. A huge reason “no” is difficult is the belief that you will somehow incur wrath if you say it. The only way to overcome that hurdle is to know your company’s value. You deserve to take on roles that make sense. Being circumspect about job offers has been incredibly lucrative. I have never had someone in business dislike me because I said no. In fact, it has opened more paths than I could have predicted. Chris Bray is the founder and CEO of BiG Media, an innovation firm that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and unlock new revenue streams for content creation and distribution companies. When not running companies, Bray is an avid angel investor, with investments in over 15 startups and multiple exits. Prior to BiG, Bray was the founder and owner of Bray Entertainment, a production company that has created, produced and delivered more than 250 hours of content. The post Learning to Say No—In Order to Grow appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2PzNiY9
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When Extraordinary Happens: EO Boston Members Respond to a Day Legendary Rock Climber Alex Honnold4/26/2019 The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is committed to helping entrepreneurs learn and grow to new levels of leadership by providing learning opportunities, mentorship and access to experts. Mike Tucci, Kris Porcaro and Jordi Mullor of EO Boston-member company and chapter partner, Lexington Wealth Management, recently organized an event where EO members spent the day with Alex Honnold, the renowned rock climber who became the first person to summit Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan “free solo”—using only his hands and body without help from ropes, harnesses or other safety gear. Alex’s epic athletic achievement is documented in the film Free Solo, which portrays his journey through training, fear, indecision and finally successfully scaling El Capitan. The Academy Award-winning documentary, Free Solo, is a sensation, imbuing the man who scaled the 3,000-foot sheer granite mountain without using ropes, harnesses or other safety gear with rockstar status. With his popularity at an all-time peak after his inspirational story won the Oscar for Best Documentary, Alex Honnold is one of the world’s most sought-after keynote speakers. In keeping with its commitment to provide members with “access to experts,” on 11 April 2019, the EO Boston chapter, in conjunction with its chapter partner, Lexington Wealth Management via Jordi Mullor, Mike Tucci and Kris Porcaro, invited members to an all-day Learning Event: “Pinnacle Focus—When Extraordinary Happens. A day with Alex Honnold.” The event, which took place in Brooklyn Boulders climbing gym near Boston, included two screenings of Free Solo, along with more than 25 sessions to address every aspect of an entrepreneurs’ life, including workshops on Time, Money & Joy, Meditation for Entrepreneurs, Reaching your BHAG, Nutrition for Success and Scaling Up―plus climbing and bouldering instruction for participants and a keynote address by the guest of honor. During a VIP meet-and-greet with Alex, EO members asked questions about his achievement, mindset and risk management. We asked EO members to share their takeaways from the man who made the impossible possible: What was the most striking idea that Alex Honnold shared with you?“We held the event at a climbing gym and decided to recreate one of the most intense areas of El Cap, the Boulder Problem, so that Alex could teach attendees how he mastered it. Alex himself set up the replica. It was enlightening to watch him select and place each hand and foothold precisely. We witnessed his passion and got to see him in his zone. My takeaway was that every detail matters, and meticulous attention to each one pays off.” ― Jordi Mullor, head of operations and marketing, Lexington Wealth Management “Alex spoke about goal-setting and how scaling El Capitan was not his lifelong dream. He set smaller, consistent goals. Each season, he aimed to accomplish something harder than the last. He revisited his goals often and asked himself, ‘What do I want to do next season?’ These consistent goals led him to become capable of doing things that once seemed impossible.” ― Nicole Chan, founder, Nicole Chan Studios “I was struck by how much Alex had to sacrifice personally in order to achieve his goal. His singular focus threw his life out of balance to the exclusion of healthy, intimate relationships. It made me realize that it is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve audacious goals without personal sacrifice. Therefore it is critical to strive for balance in your life after achieving the goal before you set another one. Otherwise, you don’t have a ‘life,’ you just have a list of accomplishments, and the two are not the same.” ― Sean Dandley, entrepreneur and retired telecom executive What parallels did you draw between the challenges of climbing and entrepreneurship?“There were a lot of similarities! Working through the process of growing a business, throwing your heart and soul into it, sacrificing time and money, facing the fear and rising above to achieve the seemingly impossible was inspiring.” ― Mark Worster, co-founder, 30Turn “1. It’s possible to achieve big hairy audacious goals by breaking them down into smaller problems and working through each problem until it’s no longer a challenge. 2. Achieving goals is about risk management. Opportunity lies in asymmetric risk: Situations where the reward is significantly higher than the risk, even if others perceive the risk to be high. 3. For big goals, begin with the end in mind. 4. You absolutely will require a dedicated, skilled team.” ― Ryan Villanueva, co-founder, Best Delegate Model United Nations “Being prepared is paramount, but the most important part is believing that you’re prepared. Being in the right mental state, and knowing that you’re going to get to the top of your mountain―or your market. That you’re going to be as prepared as you’ll ever be.” ― Clemencia Herrera, EO Accelerator participant and founder/creative director, Moira Studio What was your biggest takeaway?“My biggest takeaway was that climbing El Cap was the result of 17 years of preparation. I’m back in start-up mode and keenly recognize that the last 30 years of experience in my particular area of concentration has prepared me for ultimate success. ” ― Mark Worster “That when I do something amazing, I want to do so with the same level of humility as Alex.” ― Nicole Chan “It took Alex 17 years of climbing religiously to accomplish his goal. Clearly, he does it because he likes the journey. He doesn’t climb for the money or to get a movie deal or find a girlfriend—but because of his passion and unique approach, he ultimately got all of those things. At his core he’s a man who loves the journey, as am I–and as most entrepreneurs are. We all need that reminder sometimes.” ― Dave Will, Founder, PropFuel “If there’s one big takeaway from Alex, it’s that it’s possible to achieve big goals, even the ones you never thought possible.” ― Ryan Villanueva If you’re an entrepreneur ready to meet and learn from experts from all backgrounds and industries, you’re ready to explore EO membership. Learn more on the application process. The post When Extraordinary Happens: EO Boston Members Respond to a Day Legendary Rock Climber, Alex Honnold appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2VuFKLQ The following article originally appeared on the BerniePortal blog, as part of its human resources (HR) best practices blog series. BerniePortal is a human resources platform developed by EO member Alex Tolbert. Navigating the world of human resources (HR) can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve created a blog series to answer common HR questions. To help answer each question and define best practices, we have three HR heroes with very different approaches to HR: Bythe Booke, Sam Blackheart and Peggy Prag. You may find yourself relating to one (or more) of our heroes depending on the given situation. To see full descriptions of each character, reference our first blog of the series using this link. Last week we covered, “Do I have to offer the same health insurance benefits to everyone?” Now, let’s see what Bythe, Sam, and Peggy have to say about our next question. BackgroundSeverance pay is the amount of money or benefits given to an employee as that employee leaves an employer either voluntarily or involuntarily. Severance is often offered to terminated employees in order to lighten the burden of unemployment. Employers also offer severance pay in exchange for signed release agreements from the terminated employee(s). This exchange is typically used in part to avoid the possibility of costly litigation. Is there a law or regulation?In most cases, severance pay is not required by law, however there are two primary exceptions. These exceptions include: • Severance mandated by state laws: Some states require employers to offer severance pay to employees in response to something beyond an employee’s control. For instance, certain states may require employers to offer severance in the event of a facility closing or mass dismissal of employees. States with severance pay laws include: Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. • Commitment to offer severance: An employer may also be required to pay severance to an employee if that employer either implicitly or explicitly made a prior commitment to pay severance. So what counts as a commitment? Common examples include: employee handbook clauses, employment agreements, a verbal commitment, or a history of offering severance to comparable positions. What happens if I am not compliant?If an employer is bound by contract or falls in the jurisdiction of state severance laws, that employer may be subject to a lawsuit and hefty fines resulting from that lawsuit. If caught out of compliance, what’s the likelihood I’ll have to pay?If an employer is caught out of compliance, that employer may or may not have to pay it. In order for an employer to be fined for severance non-compliance, a terminated employee would need to reviewing his/her employment contract, understand severance pay laws, pursue legal action and win a lawsuit against the employer. Is there a risk of a lawsuit?The risk of a lawsuit depends on the employee’s understanding of severance pay laws. Many terminated workers are unaware of their rights when it comes to severance pay, which may reduce the likelihood of a lawsuit. While the risk of a lawsuit is not high, it is still present. An employee terminated without cause may pursue legal action. For instance, in the case of Swanson v. The Image Bank, Inc, Swanson, a terminated employee sued her former employer, The Image Bank, for breach employment contract because The Image Bank failed to pay her the severance amount listed in her employment contract. Swanson was awarded US$450,000 in compensatory damages and US$50,000 in court costs. In breach of contract cases such as Swanson v. The Image Bank, an employer may be found liable for: • Expectation damages • Liquidated Damages • Compensatory and punitive damages • Attorneys’ Fees What’s the cost of compliance?If an employer is conscientious about making severance package commitments to employees, there should be no cost of compliance. Many employers offer severance pay in order to discourage legal action. This sort of “preventative” severance can take many forms, but commonly is seen in the form of wages. The general rule of thumb for severance wages is one week worth of wages for every year worked at the company. Some employers include other severance benefits such as employee benefits, outgoing services and unemployment compensation. Learn more. What is the risk of negative public relations?The risk of negative public relations is medium. If an employer is sued, the likelihood of negative public relations significantly increases. The risk also increases if a former employee becomes vocal on company review sites. Negative company reviews could significantly impact a company’s brand as well as its ability to hire new employees in the future. What is the risk of jail time?The risk of jail time is very low. What would our HR Heroes say is the best practice?Bythe Booke: If an employee leaves we should always offer severance to avoid us looking bad as an employer—no matter the circumstance. Our employment contracts do not promise severance, however, we should offer a week of severance pay for every year the employee worked at our company. This way we can cover our backs and also look after our former workers. It should also mean fewer negative reviews on job sites. Sam Blackheart: We should NEVER pay severance. If someone leaves, it is obvious we shouldn’t pay severance—after all, they made their own decision to leave. If we terminate someone it is because they were not performing, and we would have given them warnings along the way. So again, they made decisions that led to their termination. Why would we pay for nonperformance? As far as job boards—we have no way of guaranteeing that people we pay severance to won’t post negative reviews, as they are generally anonymous. Peggy Prag: Our company is a small business with a pretty low turnover rate. I’m cautious to set a hard-and-fast rule. Let’s see how things go and make decisions as specific situations present themselves. Alex Tolbert is a member of EO Nashville, one of EO’s largest US chapters. Alex is the founder of Bernard Health. The post “Do I Have to Offer Severance Pay?” appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2IEmnJY Tropical rainforests are home to more than half the Earth’s plant and animal species. The lush, green forests teeming with life once blanketed our planet’s equator, covering 14 percent of Earth’s land surface.In the past 200 years, humankind has done irreparable damage through deforestation, shrinking the rainforest footprint to just two percent of Earth’s land mass. While many of us realize the importance of saving the rainforest, the enormity of the undertaking can leave us feeling helpless, because it’s a bigger problem than any one individual can solve. Daniel Pfeifer understands this feeling—and it’s exactly what drove him to create a crowd-source funding platform to save the rainforest. He founded ourpiece.com, an organization that provides a streamlined way for anyone to make an impactful contribution to protecting the rain forest. We caught up with Daniel to learn how this innovative business model works. How did you get the idea to “crowd-source” saving the rainforest?The idea came to me a long time ago. I just couldn’t understand how―with so many people realizing the importance of protecting the rainforest―there is still so much acreage being lost each year. Of course, a single person can’t do it alone, but if we all work together, it should be possible. So, I decided I would take the initiative and make the necessary investment by starting ourpiece.com. Atourpiece.com, we buy sections of rainforest and work with local partners to protect these spaces from deforestation and clearing. We do this because we want to protect threatened animal and plant species by preserving the ecosystem and living environment of indigenous people. On our website, consumers can purchase a specific patch of virtual rainforest in very small increments―starting at just US$25 for a 25-sq.-meter area―and that land is then protected and will remain as rainforest.
How does ourpiece.com impact the local community and economy?Once we established how individuals and companies could contribute to conservation, we needed a way to care for the land itself. I puzzled over how to develop a sustainable business model without damaging the rainforest. I finally had the idea to integrate the land into a nature preserve, and this business model is working very well. Our first project, 40 hectares (about 99 acres) of biodiverse rainforest near Bahia Solano, Colombia, is integrated into an eco-park called Jardin Botanico del Pacifico. It provides the local community with jobs and income from the sustainable tourism industry, and also helps to educate local schoolchildren about nature and the importance of conservation. Tourists, biologists and backpackers often visit for several days, staying in the eco-lodge to experience the beauty of the rainforest first-hand. Do you consider yourself a social entrepreneur?Yes. But I don’t see a huge difference between entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs in many cases. If you teach people skills in their jobs, deliver good products or services, or are involved in infrastructure projects, then your company benefits society. In my way of thinking, any business which enhances our communities and empowers people to live better lives can be seen as a social enterprise. We’re fortunate to live in a time when at least 5 to 10 percent of consumers set aside a portion of their budget to benefit the greater good. It is our job as entrepreneurs to prove that we can create sustainable value from this available budget. When consumers realize that they can make a small investment to do good on a greater scale, they love it! What lessons have you learned from this entrepreneurial experience?I was surprised to discover how intense the competition can be for the money people designate for “saving the planet.” I believe it may be even more intense than in typical fields entrepreneurs enter. Therefore, it is critical to be very clear about your concept and unique selling proposition (USP) to capture a potential donor’s attention. Our key USP is that our organization operates without any employees so that our running costs remain very low. The money we take in is used to purchase land, which is protected by people who run a sustainable business on it. How has EO membership impacted you?EO membership is invaluable in both my business and personal life. I have learned key lessons: stay focused, never give up, and redefine my business model until it works extremely well. Improving areas of the company that are underperforming is another important concept that EO emphasizes. Through EO, I’ve become very sure about my way forward: I will not waste time with projects that are not important to me personally, such as those meant solely to earn money. What will the future hold for ourpiece.com?My dream is that the ourpiece.com community will protect one percent of the rainforest worldwide. By conserving land around the globe, we should be able to preserve the biodiversity we enjoy now and sustain it forever. By working with other organizations, it should be possible to protect the entire rainforest that now exists and even reforest large areas to reestablish some of the rainforest footprint humankind has destroyed. That’s a project I’m passionate about: protecting our rainforests so that future generations can marvel at their wonders. Daniel Pfeifer is a member of EO Zurich, CEO of the ba institute and founder of ourpiece.com. Learn more about the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and how to apply for membership.
The post Saving the Rainforest: Piece by Piece appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2INgnho Skip Prichard is a growth-oriented business leader, turnaround specialist and keynote speaker. He has written a Wall Street Journal bestselling book called The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future. Can you explain the significance of the concept, “Ask. Seek. Knock.” It may be a simple concept, but it had a profound impact on me. The late business philosopher Jim Rohn taught that success is not available to everyone. He shared the wisdom from the Bible that says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Success, Jim taught, is only available to those who ask, seek and knock. That means we must take an active role in seeking wisdom and bettering ourselves. Learning and growing our business starts with learning and growing ourselves. It is this change that has a lasting impact. I have seen business results soar when a committed group of people embark on the path of personal development. It’s counterintuitive, and many resist it, but it is often the key to changing culture and improving outcomes. You mention that you’ve learned as much from a homeless person as a successful businessperson. What are those lessons, and how do they differ? I have interviewed over 1,000 of the world’s most successful people in business, politics, sports and many fields. From them, I have learned tremendous lessons about leadership, success and business. Contrast these mega-successful individuals with those in my childhood. My family took people in from all over the world. They were all troubled in some way. One person we helped out was a man who had been homeless many times. I remember bringing him Thanksgiving dinner to his modest apartment. He was thrilled to show it to me, and we sat together talking about his life. He shared with me his story, what had happened, decisions he had made, relationships that were broken, how things spiraled downward. I may have brought him a meal, but he was the one bringing the real value. When we look at everyone around us as a teacher, we become open to some incredible and often surprising lessons. What not to do is often as important as what to do. If we are going to a destination, isn’t it as important to avoid potholes and pitfalls in the road? A luxury car with a navigation system is useless if it’s on the shoulder waiting for a tow. How did you come up with the nine mistakes? The nine mistakes were derived over many years as I interviewed successful people and then researched each of the mistakes. The research underlying the mistakes spans research on grit, the limited mindset, to research on the dying. It is this expansive view that yields the nine mistakes. They are simple thoughts when you read them, and hopefully obvious, because truth is always simple and obvious. The story came together in a rush of creativity on a long flight to Australia. The movie selection wasn’t appealing, so I opened my laptop and began to write. I didn’t fully realize what was happening until we landed and I had the narrative for The Book of Mistakes. Is there one mistake that entrepreneurs are particularly susceptible to? Why, and what’s the solution? All of them can be pitfalls for entrepreneurs, and I can attest to this from experience. The whole team could struggle with one or it may be individually focused. Let me answer with one that entrepreneurs are usually not susceptible to and why it still deserves attention. One of the mistakes is allowing temporary setbacks to become permanent failures. Most entrepreneurs have resilience and grit and just push past what “normal” people would. That makes this particular mistake more unlikely than the others. And yet recognizing a setback, and helping the team push through it, is a skill that is important. It is often more important for entrepreneurs because this may be a blind spot for them because they often just don’t see it. The team, however, does see it, needs you to recognize their struggle, and will become more loyal and focused when you help them through it. I offer a quiz that helps you identify your particular mistake. Most of us are afraid of making mistakes. Why are mistakes an integral part of success? No sane person craves failure, right? We don’t usually set our goals for the year and say, “I am going to fail at these five things, but at least it will be a spectacular fail.” Yet some failure is inevitable, a part of the learning experience, and can lead us closer to our ultimate success. How we look at failure is often the key. If we look at a mistake as fatal, we’ve just made the mistake I reference above and let it become a permanent failure. If we reframe this mistake, it often becomes just a bump in the road. In fact, many of the successful business leaders I interviewed are able to take any major victory or success and break it down for me. They can pull it apart and tell me all of the problems, the mistakes, the missteps that happened along the way. Each of these could have ended the project, but they were able to keep going until they ultimately saw success. The question is not whether you will make mistakes, the question is how will you deal with them. What was your biggest mistake along your entrepreneurial journey, and what did you learn from it? Jim Rohn once said, “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” That was likely the best advice I ever heard. It seems so counterintuitive. We think that to get ahead, we must work harder on or in our business. But the magic of personal development only happens when we work on ourselves. That’s when our skills expand, when we become more today than we were yesterday, when we gain tools that were inaccessible previously. I have made many mistakes, including all nine of them listed in this book at various times. I have overpaid for things and hired the wrong person for a job. All of the typical mistakes we make as we learn and take risks. The biggest mistake, however, is whenever I work hard on my job and not on myself. Because that’s when I limit my potential. As a leader, where do you turn to find learning, growth and stimulation? What an amazing time we live in. Books, podcasts, videos, blogs, classes, on and on… the opportunities to expand our horizons are endless. I’m lost in books because of the opportunity to grow and learn. There is always another page to turn and explore new worlds. To think that, not too long ago, a book was a rare and treasured item. Today, thousands of books are accessible for most of us from a device in our pocket. It’s incredible. Interviewing authors and leaders from all over the world stimulates my thinking and that’s why I enjoy sharing the insights I learn. Skip Prichard currently serves as president and CEO of OCLC and previously as president and CEO of Ingram Content Group, Inc. He is known for his track record of successfully repositioning companies and dramatically improving results while improving the corporate culture. His views have been featured in print and broadcast media including the BBC, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, The Daily Beast, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Writer’s Digest, Information Today and Forbes. He is also an Inc. Top 100 Leadership Speaker. For more information, please visit https://www.skipprichard.com and follow the author on Twitter. The post Creating a Successful Future: An Interview with Skip Prichard appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2IvGdqO Manny Padda is an entrepreneur, angel investor and philanthropist who won the 2016 Canadian Angel of the Year Award. As an EO Vancouver member, he was the 2017 Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Citizen of the Year Award. In this article, Manny shares his strategy for a smooth business exit plan. A version of this article appeared in Fast Company. I’m not sure when I first knew the startup I invested in last year was doomed. Maybe it was when they stopped fundraising efforts a month out from their goal, overly confident that one big investor was going to come through in the clutch. Maybe it was when they came to me for more money when that didn’t work out. Or maybe it was because the founder left to go start a second company before the sale was complete. Whatever the final straw was, no one was surprised to see the company eventually declare bankruptcy. Needless to say, this was not one of my more successful investments. I mention all this to prove that even with 23 exits under my belt—some as an entrepreneur, some as an investor—it’s never an exact science. For the last decade, I’ve invested and advised in everything from tech to sports, earning accolades as Canada’s Angel Investor of the Year in the process. Along the way, I’ve learned that a “successful exit” for a startup—that critical moment when the founding team and investors decide to get a return out of the business—will be different for everyone. While there’s lots of advice out there on how investors can exit successfully, there’s less for entrepreneurs in the trenches. That’s a shame because how you exit as a first-time entrepreneur is going to define your career going forward, proving to onlookers that you can deliver (or, in a worst-case scenario, that you’re a flake). Having seen both frustrating losses and plenty of coveted 10-baggers (industry speak for 10-times return on investment), I’d like to pass on a few key factors that can make for smoother exits for new entrepreneurs. 1. Know your exit options…from day 1I know many first-time entrepreneurs who plunge into a business without ever giving a thought to how they’ll get out of it. But this is actually important to do right from the outset and to reevaluate every six months or so: your end game influences how (and why) you build. If you’re seriously considering going public, for example, growth and user acquisition are going to be critical. Hoping to get acquired? You’ll want to focus on building out a killer product that bigger competitors can’t afford not to snap up. And if you’re planning to scale with venture capital, you’d better be ready to set aside the next three to seven years of your life to be head-down in the business. Whichever route you go, it’s about thinking about the end game right from the beginning. I saw how critical this can be with a Canadian event-ticketing startup I was involved with called Picatic. Founder Jayesh Parmar always looked at his options for exiting while building his business. When the time came, he recognized that Canada was a missing geography for Eventbrite, and positioned the company to capture that market and accelerate an acquisition. From start to finish, he had exit options in mind, which made his final sale to one of the world’s biggest online ticketing platforms a seamless transition. 2. Uplevel your board and exec teamOne of the best ways to punch above your weight when it does come time to exit? Bring a ringer onto your board or executive team. Senior individuals with industry credibility and expertise can, literally overnight, add multiples of value to your company. Even if you don’t necessarily have the resources to execute on his/her vision right now, bringing in an industry leader shows you’re serious and poised for growth. A junior mining company may not be able to bankroll and build a massive international project, for instance, but hiring an all-star COO/project development candidate creates a threat that they could. And optics like these can make a huge difference in the size and number of offers at time of exit. While it can be challenging for smaller companies to attract premier talent, I’m living proof that the right headhunter makes all the difference. 3. Always be buildingIt’s a classic startup mistake: With a potential buyer on the horizon, a company starts cutting costs like crazy to appear lean and efficient. They let money in the bank get dangerously low rather than securing more funding. They cut back on user acquisition to save funds. They stop building and stretch to make ends meet, letting revenue growth slip. But cutting core competencies isn’t fooling anyone: You might be making the bottom line look good, but your growth is suddenly in the tank. And that’s often what determines the size and value of exit offers. This is bad for business generally speaking; even worse, it puts you in a very vulnerable position. (I’ve seen cases where investors will dangle an attractive offer, then withdraw it at the eleventh hour once a startup has run out of money, forcing the founder to concede to far less favorable terms.) As a founder, you’ll have the most offers and options if you can show growth with plenty of money in the till—just look at Uber’s over-the-top valuation. The company is worth north of US$70 billion today, despite losing US$1 billion last quarter alone, precisely because of user and booking growth. 4. Know when to goFor founders, there are some clear signs that it’s time to get out. First: Are you “done,” personally? If you’re not feeling that passion anymore, it’s time to bow out gracefully. And this doesn’t always have to mean an exit: I saw how Sarah Goodman, former CEO of health tech company VitalSines, successfully transitioned to an advisor and COO role when she needed to step back. By taking this route, she increased the chance for success for the company and its stakeholders. More often than not, sticking it out as a founder culminates in a half-hearted fizzle out. Other times, the industry itself is screaming at you to “get out.” The clearest indicator here is a wave of consolidation: You generally don’t want to be the only “little guy” left standing after the heavy hitters buy up all your competitors. Not only will you have trouble finding a buyer, but you’ll suddenly be up against much better-resourced adversaries. And of course, there’s the very best way to know it’s time to go: has someone offered you a ridiculously fat check? Admittedly, this doesn’t happen often. But every once in a while you get a WhatsApp scenario—where a bigger competitor is so scared of your product that they’re willing to offer almost anything to mitigate that risk (like the $19 billion Facebook paid for WhatsApp back in 2014). 5. Don’t do an exit off the side of your deskA lot of entrepreneurs consider themselves to be lone wolves, but the worst thing you can do with an exit is try to go it alone. Don’t hole yourself up in a room and hammer out a contract. Get support from trusted people. Your angel investors, the ones who believed in you from the start, are generally great people to turn to, as are fellow entrepreneurs who have been there before (in good times and not-so-good ones). These are people who have the best interests of you and the business in mind. Note that this will NOT always be the case with your VCs, who, in many cases, need to be ruthless in pursuit of a quick return. It’s not personal; it’s simply the nature of their business. Bringing in an advisor on commission is a great way to get an outside perspective, or you can always ask your board of directors or investors to form a committee and pool their expertise. You want that steady guiding hand that’s been there before. Better still if you can leverage “smart money”—investors who have a strategic interest in your success over the long haul. In the end, a winning exit really comes down to keeping good company as an entrepreneur. It’s about going long on people rather than looking for easy money—connecting with investors aligned with your vision, fellow entrepreneurs whom you can lean on, and a board that has your interests at heart. Even then, exits aren’t easy and success is hardly a guarantee. But when you take the time to surround yourself with the right people, you’ll always have the network behind you to build again. Manny Padda is the founder and chief people connector at New Avenue Capital. Find him on Twitter at @mannypadda. The post Ready to Sell Your Business? Here’s the Secret to a Successful Exit appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2Zq3z6G Written for EO by Walker Deibel, an experienced acquisition entrepreneur who has co-founded three startups and acquired seven companies. Would you rather move a heavy object already in motion or one at rest? If you remember high school science, you’d choose the one with existing forward momentum. Starting a business follows the same principle. It is much harder to get a new idea rolling than to augment a successful one that has tons of energy. This is one reason so many great ideas never see the light of day. Too many individuals believe they need revolutionary ideas to become entrepreneurs. While having an idea is exciting, it’s not what makes or breaks a startup. Of small businesses started in 2014, only 56 percent survived four years. The success rate plummets to around one-third by 10 years. A paltry 9 percent can expect to exceed US$1 million in revenue in their first 12 months. Here’s the raw truth: Ideas do not create successful long-term entrepreneurs. Neither does raising investor capital or selling equity. What separates entrepreneurial winners from wannabes is the ability to run businesses. And when those businesses already have credentials? You can take the results straight to the bank. Forget the groundbreaking solutions. Go for what’s working now. I understand the excitement that comes from originating an idea. However, after launching multiple startups, I became convinced it was unnecessary to keep building organizations from scratch. Instead, I began to look toward companies for sale. They had existing infrastructure, cash flow, processes, and customers. The hard work was done. All I had to was acquire the business and then put my own spin on it. To be sure, buying a business sounds less sexy than starting one. That’s a complete charade. Nothing is less attractive than being broke two years from now with a dream and nothing to show for it. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t strive to implement your ideas. You just have to find a vehicle that will allow you to explore more efficiently and with less risk. I acquired a decades-old, well-established business-to-business fulfillment and print management company. With the team already in place, we set out to build a centralized e-commerce software platform that would streamline supply chain management across multiple locations. The platform was a goal, and the company allowed me to skip the dicey startup phase. The most successful entrepreneurs are not just idea-makers; they are CEOs with an accompanying mindset. Even icons such as Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos couldn’t have survived on ideas alone. Their prosperity came from a focus on making a business work. As Megan Holsinger, a professional who studies what separates CEOs from entrepreneurs, noted in an Inc. article: “What it really comes down to is risk. The style of many CEOs is to be risk-averse, whereas entrepreneurs and founders tend to be more willing to embrace risk.” Stop beating yourself up because you lack ideas. Instead, apply some acquisition entrepreneurial habits to your quiver. 1. Stay on top of trends.Typically, the first time you hear about an idea, it’s too early. If the idea hangs around to hit an adolescent phase, it might have staying power. That time period is perfect to ask yourself what industries the trend is not being applied to. From there, you can seek out companies for sale that could make use of the trend. Howard Schultz did not invent coffee. He just listened to the public’s desire—a trend—for a place to relax while they drank top-notch java. Eventually, he acquired the Starbucks name, based on a coffee shop he had worked for in Seattle. His accomplishments didn’t come from an idea, but from his insightful ability to capitalize on trends. Not sure how you can learn what’s happening on the street? Make friends with Google Trends. You’ll get to learn in real time what people are talking about and see what’s remained hot for more than a few weeks or months. 2. Go shopping.After exploring trends, browse companies for sale. Look for ones with growth opportunities inherent in the business model. Ask yourself how you could take the business to the next level, such as doubling revenue in 24 months. As you brainstorm, you will get accustomed to viewing the for-sale options in a different light. Look beyond today’s infrastructure to determine how you can scale the operations. Yes, it will still be risky, but not because you are starting from square one. A consideration as you go through this process includes looking for ways to penetrate the market beyond what the owner is doing. Figure out whether the market is right for innovation the company isn’t providing. This could help you diversify your portfolio, which can be chancy but produce big payoffs. 3. Apply your strengths to entrepreneurship.You must acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses. Being self-aware is the first step in being able to say, “I can see growth potential here, and with my background, I’m certain I can carry it out.” Gallup’s Entrepreneurial Strengthsfinder pinpoints what you’re really good at based on the talents of 5,000 prolific founders. Your results will reveal where you rate along the top 10 entrepreneurial talents, including creative thinking, independence, promotion, and confidence. After digesting the results, you will have a better understanding of the team you need to take your newly acquired business to loftier places. Ideas can be stepping stones, but they do not necessarily make good building blocks. Keep thinking and innovating, but don’t allow yourself to believe that the only path to entrepreneurship involves pushing a boulder uphill. Instead, find a boulder that’s already turning end over end, and jump aboard. Walker Deibel is passionate about helping entrepreneurs avoid the startup killers through buying an existing company rather than starting from scratch. His new book, “Buy Then Build,” is your guide to outsmart the startup game, live the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and reap the financial rewards of ownership now. The post No Idea? No Problem. How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur Without a Winning Idea appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2IwOjPm In today’s Octane blog, we bring EO members and non-members alike behind the scenes of 2019 EO Global Leadership Conference Macau (GLC), profiling Leonard Brody, one of the event’s carefully selected speakers who is known as “a leader of the new world order.” Brody is an award-winning entrepreneur, venture capitalist, bestselling author and two-time Emmy-nominated media visionary. At GLC, he will address the rapid pace of change, innovation and disruption facing us all―and what to do about it. In partnership with Forbes, Brody produced a documentary series and is writing The Great Re:Write, a book based on it. His mission is to be a guide in the midst of profound new trends that are rewriting the way we work and live. “The story of the rewrite began with my fascination around a question: How is this time different? We’ve lived through three decades of massive change, but it always felt like there was something different in the air. This time is different from the mobile era, from the web era―but how is it different?” Brody says. “This journey is about answering that question. It’s not about technology and it’s not about business models, but it’s about us,” Brody continues. Brody will address the following points in his GLC session:
While technology may be the catalyst of the rewrite, this is a deeply human story: How are executives and entrepreneurs, consultants and thought leaders metabolizing dynamic technological advancement to create game-changing innovation for their employees and their customers? KPMG partnered with Brody and Forbes to bring The Great Rewrite to life on Forbes, where Brody shares his thoughts on three pertinent factors: 1. Master digital disruption with digital reinventionThe critical balancing act for every organization: leverage core, established strengths and embrace your coming destruction. Along with new competition comes new opportunity. The ways in which customers behave, what they expect and what they want to pay for have all fundamentally changed. Reinvent your incumbent enterprise before you’re disrupted by another, or you risk becoming obsolete. Leaders must ask key questions: What do we do best, and how can we keep doing it? What do our customers want and expect from us? Who is stealing customers’ attention and their business? What technologies are disrupting us, and which should we adopt? The secret to a long and prosperous corporate life span involves a continual focus on mortality. 2. Empower the workforce for the future of work in an automated worldThe automation of physical labor will not stop. The digital encoding of human cognition and decision-making is arriving parallel to it. Smart robots, sensors, digital agents and other technologies have brought a new vocabulary to human resources: Companies now speak of “reskilling” and “upskilling” — the need to ensure that employees are empowered, not replaced, by the disruptive new technologies that are rewriting the planet. Smart leaders are getting ahead of the curve by empowering employees with “upskilling” and “reskilling” programs to compete in the workforce of tomorrow. 3. Focus on the customer to profit from the customer revolutionYou can’t own your customers. They can walk away more easily, and more loudly, than ever. That’s why smart companies are beginning to treat customers like prized assets, despite what the accounting textbooks say. Recognizing the ongoing value that loyalty brings, companies are rewiring every business function, from product development to their own staffing. Businesses are shifting away from “what can we make?” and “how can we sell it?” to ask questions like “What do our customers want? What do they not want? How do we calculate the value of our best customers? How can we improve the customer experience and increase that value?” Customer-centric thinking rewrites the old rules about where value originates. Broadly, it means creating an experience for customers that transcends products and prices. One component of customer-centricity is using data to determine where to devote customer-focused resources. Managers need to identify customer experience measures that have a proven connection with financial value. And then companies must invest in what it takes—people, technology, information, infrastructure—to bolster the activities that drive value. Information from this post originally appeared on https://www.forbes.com/kpmg/the-great-rewrite/#4ff639261eba. GLC is EO’s flagship leadership event, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities. If you’re ready to take your entrepreneurial journey to the next level, explore the many benefits of EO membership.
The post Leonard Brody: The Great Rewrite appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2VEqj0v EO members from around the globe are converging on the vibrant, diverse city of Macau in China for #EOGLC2019. And we’re continuing to profile some of the event’s premier speakers. Today: Steve Wozniak, who will be featured at EO GLC’s inaugural Learning Day. Steve Wozniak is an entrepreneur and inventor who likely needs no introduction. For anybody who doesn’t recognize his name, he co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs and is known as the developer of the 1976 Apple I—the computer that launched the now-ubiquitous brand. While his engineering prowess is groundbreaking in the realm of technology, Woz has managed to maintain his innate curiosity, positivity and desire to solve problems—not merely make products—making him unique in today’s Silicon Valley scene. “My dream was actually just to have a computer some day. If I’d imagined that it meant starting a company to sell them, I probably would have avoided the whole thing.” He continues, “My goal wasn’t to make a ton of money. It was to build good computers.” He’s kept it old-school in a time when financial gain has become a primary goal for many tech startups. “What Steve Jobs and I did—and at the same time Bill Gates and Paul Allen did—we had no savings accounts, no friends that could loan us money, but we had ideas, and I wanted all my life to be part of a revolution.” Smiles minus frownsConsider what he terms “his original formula,” which dates back to his 20s: Happiness = smiles – frowns. Doing things in your life and your work that make you happy is how he defines the smiles factor. Creating humor, he says, is an important part of his life’s work. Avoiding frowns, he explains, is equally important. It means being constructive, not frustrated, when things don’t go your way. “This kind of resilience is one of the most critical skills for success,” Woz once said. “I think about resilience as the speed and strength of your response to adversity. When you encounter a difficulty or challenge, how quickly and how effectively are you able to marshal strength and either overcome that challenge or persevere in the face of it?” Giving without stringsCreating happiness and providing opportunities go hand in hand for Wozniak. He generously gives without restrictions or conditions. His philanthropic efforts include supplying computers to schools, providing funds for people to go to college and developing ways to make technology more accessible. Making significant investments of both his time and resources in education, he adopted the Los Gatos School District where he provided hands-on teaching and state-of-the-art equipment. He founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum, Silicon Valley Ballet and Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. As EO advances its efforts to make an impact and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we’re honored to host Steve Wozniak, one of today’s most giving, smart, and hands-on entrepreneurs. GLC is EO’s flagship leadership event, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities. If you’re ready to take your entrepreneurial journey to the next level, explore the many benefits of EO membership.
The post Steve Wozniak Shows Entrepreneurship Is a State of Mind, Not a Destination appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2X2JVvq We’re bringing EO members and non-members behind the scenes of 2019 EO Global Leadership Conference Macau (GLC) as we profile the event’s emcee, Pascal Finette. Pascal was a tech entrepreneur before there was even a web browser. He’s a renowned speaker, author, founder and revolutionary who loves working with changemakers who have the desire—and capacity—to make things better. As co-founder at Radical Ventures and Singularity University’s chair for entrepreneurship and open innovation, Pascal is focused on creating new business models for success and positively embracing disruption. So, it follows that—like many EO members—he believes the problems of the world will only be solved by social entrepreneurs: Individuals tackling age-old challenges with fundamentally new innovations and different perspectives. He invests in these pioneering solutions through his nonprofit organization, Mentor for Good. Known for his direct, no-nonsense approach to work, he also founded the “GyShiDo” (Get Your S%#& Done) movement and publishes the self-proclaimed opinionated newsletter and blog, The Heretic. Words to live—and learn—byFrom The Heretic, we have compiled three of Pascal’s top nuggets of wisdom for fellow entrepreneurs. 1. It is not complicated. I hear way too many entrepreneurs pitch stuff that I don’t understand—and I’m sure they don’t understand either. I get it. It’s a competitive world out there. We need to stand out. Even so, I can’t stand people talking a great game without delivering, making things more complicated than they are or weaponizing language to make themselves sound smarter. Here is a radical and heretical piece of advice: Stand out by being the one person who doesn’t make things sound complicated. Instead, use simple, plain language. Try it. You will soon see that you are one of the few people others actually understand, and you will be forced to clearly communicate (and, therefore, completely understand) the essence of what you are recommending—which is an incredibly powerful way to become well known for your clarity and integrity. 2. Meet with your customers, not your colleagues. Sure, some meetings are necessary. Most meetings, however, suffer from a series of deficits: having too many people, running too long, lacking clear follow-up and (maybe the most egregious fault) leading to more meetings. But instead of advising you on what’s obvious (prune your attendee list, create an agenda, define clear next steps at the conclusion of every meeting), I’ll offer a radical thought: For every additional or unnecessary meeting, make all participants spend the same amount of time as they spent in the meeting actually talking and problem-solving with a customer. I bet you money that you will have fewer, shorter and more focused meetings. Plus, your company performance will go up as everybody focuses on the one thing that really matters: The customer! 3. Less is more. Allow me to rant for a moment (you will see why it matters in a moment). While exploring the old town of Chiang Mai, Thailand, I sat down at a cafe and observed a family of four staring at their mobile phones. The only interruption from the family members mindlessly scrolling through their social media feeds was when one of them shared a particularly funny posting. It was a sad sight to behold. However, I’m not focused on our rapidly deteriorating social interactions. I’m talking about business. To be more precise: I’m revealing the most powerful business habit of highly successful people. I am fortunate to be around very accomplished folks. And one thing they have in common? Spending hardly any time on social media—or on any other low-value activities. I’m not telling you anything new here. You’ve heard it before: Focus on what matters. Yet, too many of us are still spending too much time on things that don’t serve us. Consider Dieter Rams’ design philosophy: “Less, but better.” If you are feeling stuck in the current paradigm (don’t fret, I was there, too), may I suggest reading Cal Newport’s book, Digital Minimalism? Read it with an eye toward your productivity. And remember: Your productivity is what lies between you and building the things that matter! GLC is EO’s flagship leadership event, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities. If you’re ready to take your entrepreneurial journey to the next level, explore the many benefits of EO membership.
The post The Future Is Now: GLC Emcee Pascal Finette Shares Wisdom for Entrepreneurs appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization http://bit.ly/2G0G4rM |
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November 2020
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