by in Entrepreneurship, We Are PivotDesk
We created Been There, Done That to serve as a sounding board for the struggles that we, as entrepreneurs, ALL go through. The fact is, none of us are immune to the challenges and unpredictability that come with building a business and establishing an office, yet, many of us are too afraid we’re lost or don’t know where to start.
The result of this isolation? We drain precious resources trying to reinvent the wheel, we slow down, at worst — we fail.
That’s why through this series, we’ve done our best to give a raw look into the fundamentals of what it takes to establish an office and grow a business — real, actionable stories based on our own experience.
…But soon after launching Been There, Done That, we heard from many of you that you wanted more — more coaching, more resources more access to the network of entrepreneurs PivotDesk has built.
So, we’ve started to host events aimed at giving you just that…more!
Rather than limit the benefits of these events to attendees, we’ll be sharing the key insights we covered live, right here on the blog.
Keep an eye out for more PivotDesk event recaps coming soon.
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A morning of raw advice that really matters when you’re in the trenches of building a business
VC Behavior in the Changing Market
Q: There has been a lot of talk in the media about ‘unicorns losing their horns’. Do you anticipate this change in the market will affect the culture of VC backed startups?
D: Yes, there will be cultural shifts. Failing unicorns took funding that could have otherwise been allocated across other companies. Given that fact, VC’s are likely to be more cautious with their investments. Given the nature of their business, to keep afloat, VCs will need to scale back and spend less money investing in companies seen as a gamble. As a result, companies will also need to limit employee perks, and make more careful hiring decisions. Hiring and company perks can add to the burn rate, and it times like these, a low burn rate is crucial to stay in business. Due to the fact that the market dictates hiring, people breaking into the startup scene will have to have different expectations such as lower salaries and less equity than they may have desired. It is the natural cycle of the market, and unfortunately this is what is happening right now.
Work/Life Balance
Q: I work during the day at the startup I am employed at, and work all night toward building my own company. I’m working non-stop and I’m worried about burning out. Is this a stupid way to work?
D: It isn’t necessarily stupid, but I can tell you first hand it never gets easier. You need to create a work schedule that fits into your life long-term. If this is how you work now, it is how you are going to work for a long time. At the end of the day, there will always be more you could have done for your business, however, I’ve seen many people fall victim to overwork and eventually their productivity suffers — a mental breakdown will do that. The best way to prevent burnout, in my opinion, is to set measurable goals for yourself, both personal and work-related, with deadlines. Stop once you hit your goals. Doing so gives you a light at the end of the tunnel and holds you accountable to focus on aspects of your life outside of your work.
Hiring and Firing
Q: What is your hiring style, do you take the rockstar that doesn’t mesh super well with your team, or do you take the person who fits well culturally that may not be such a rockstar?
D: It is very possible to find both, but it’s not necessarily easy. Yes, you want to hire rockstars, but you need to choose the ones that will complement your culture if not enhance it. A rockstar with a strong personality or workstyle may change your culture, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but make sure your other employees will be game for the change. Pay close attention to the values of the rockstar, because culture beats strategy every day. A team that works well together culturally will get twice as much done than two star players rubbing everyone the wrong way. I happen to subscribe to the hire fast/fire fast school of thought — it’s not for everyone, but you shouldn’t let a poor hiring decision take down your business…and believe me, it can.
The Toxic Client
Q: Not all paying clients are good clients, can you give an example of a time where you found this to be true and how you handled it?
D: We run into clients that take a good amount of investment to get set up and that then end up going around the system and not paying us. Some of these are major brand names that we spend days if not weeks hand-holding. One of the biggest brands on our platform decided to start going around us and while we had spent a lot of time getting them set up and their name was important to our success, we had to make the difficult call to end our service with them. We refer to this as firing a customer.
The interesting thing is that bad customers will often turn around but you have to make the hard call first, otherwise they know they can get away with murder. In the case of the example above, it was less than a month before that same large brand was asking to work with us again because they bit off more than they could chew trying to facilitate all the guests in their space without us. Don’t be afraid to fire a bad customer — especially if you’re investing significant man hours into them.
Want to attend a Breakfast Without the BS event live with David? If you’re in the NYC area click here to request a spot at our next event.
The modern workplace is changing fast...
Are you keeping up?