In the first part of this series i looked at some of the more hard core challenges i am facing in building a new business. In this entry i want to explore some other softer lessons being learned as we launch our new business. These lessons cover selection of people, the culture we want to create, our approach to working and most importantly having fun.
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31Dec
Tags: Classified Ad Ventures, Start up
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28Dec
Over the last 3 months we have been setting up a new business called Classified Ad Ventures (CAV). As we set up this business, we are learning and re-learning what it takes to start a new business and I thought i would share some of these lessons with you.
Tags: Classified Ad Ventures
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27Dec
Since my departure from the REA Group a little over 4 months ago, i have been starting a new business called Classified Ad Ventures. I am often asked what it is about so i thought i would post an overview of the business and what we are doing. Continue reading »
Tags: new business, Start up
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26Nov
In tough economic conditions, every business goes through a review of operations and for many of them, they will have to let some people go. I have recently gone through this with my new business and there are some salient lessons that can be learned in downsizing.
Tags: Firing, Redundancy, Termination
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09Nov
Now that i have moved on from the REA Group, i am setting up a new business. In the process of doing this, we have decided that we will try our hardest to use new technologies to make the business run. The first decision we took was to get right of the old telephone system and to use skype alone.
The theory is simple. The business the we are setting up is global in focus and therefore we will need to be contacting people around the world on a regular basis. Everyone has a PC so this is not a problem and all we do is give each of them a head set and away we go. We are using Skype Business software that works like a dream. We now have 20 people working off it and there are no problems.
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06Nov
Yesterday i wrote some thoughts about the use of instant messenger in the work place and this stirred up strong debate, much of which is really around the trust we should place in our employees. Therefore following on from this i thought it would be good to explore just how much power we can gained from placing trust in people.
I have found that the more i trust people to get on with their jobs the better the work environment becomes and more importantly the more that gets done. Lets explore two extremes - first is a place with strong trust and the second is one without it.
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05Nov
The short answer is nothing! However i am hearing more and more about companies either banning or strong suggesting that employees dont use messenger and other similar applications. This got me to thinking - why?
For me, banning messenger is like banning the phone or email. I guess in days gone by bosses were banning email and the internet however imagine work life today without either of these.
The real issue is trust and understanding.
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31Oct
I was chatting with a few folk the other day about different styles that CEO’s have. Some wander around and chat, some roll up their sleeves and get deep into the hot issues, some just look at the numbers from their desk, while others cant help but micro manage.
This got me to thinking, can a CEO really manage a business from his / her desk or do they really need to get out amongst the people?
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29Oct
For much of the last 2 weeks i have been looking at business plans - lots of them. Each and every day i am approach by someone with a new idea. They are all wanting funding, all are claiming to have something special, and all truly believe they will be massive in a few short years.
The question for me is how do you find the real nuggets of gold amongst all the noise?
A couple of days ago i attended the Angel Connect conference in Hobart, Tasmania as one of the speakers. The conference looked at everything from what makes a good idea through to raising money, closing the deal and working with Angels and VCs.
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13Oct
Economic conditions aroun the world are tough. The question is now what is the likely impact on small businesses and more importantly those start ups that are reliant on funding to maintain their growth.
To answer this question, I came across a presentation from Sequoia Capita on startups and the economic downturn.
Here are the key messages:
- The recovery will be long - dont expect a quick turn around
- There are new realities - raising money on high speculative valuations is a thing of the past and series B and C funding will be very very tough
- Customer take up of businesses will be slower than projected
- Expense cuts are a must
- You have to become cash flow positive
The presentation then goes on to talk about specific actions businesses should take.
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