Kevin P. Taylor

Video: How Business Owners Can Balance Work and Life

Here is another video segment extracted from my interview by DePaul University's Raman Chadha.

How Business Owners Can Balance Work and Life – Coleman Entrepreneurship Center – DePaul University.

To summarize the video, there are many ways to change the world and do meaningful work. Entrepreneurship is one such way. But, as an entrepreneur you also have the opportunity to create and structure a company to fuel you reaching your life goals.

I also reference the E-Myth Revisited, a book that I read soon after founding Obtiva and one that fundamentally changed my outlook on entrepreneurship and business ownership.

Video: Building a Strong Company Culture

Here is another video segment extracted from my interview by DePaul University's Raman Chadha.

Building a Strong Company Culture – Coleman Entrepreneurship Center – DePaul University.

To summarize the video, create the company that you would want to work at as an employee. Then, hire people that will self-select into that culture that you have intentionally created.

Video: Managing a Management Team

Here is the second of several video segments from the interview Raman Chadha conducted with me at DePaul University. 

Managing a Management Team – Coleman Entrepreneurship Center – DePaul University.

In summary, at some point in a growing business, typically when entering the second stage, the founder needs to transition from being a day-to-day operator to being the leader of a management team. Leading, managing, and coaching an executive team requires a wholly different work-flow and set of skills than that of a startup entrepreneur. As the founder, if you are not interested in, or capable of, growing into this new role, it is time to bring in someone with the right skills.

Transitioning to a Second Stager, or "Damn, we did it!"

You're the leader of a multi-million dollar business. You have begun putting your management team in place. But, you work 50-60 hours a week. In fact, you are still involved in most day-to-day operations. You know you need to slow down, think strategically, and improve the business's ability to grow sustainably. 

If these statements describe you, congratulations! You've grown your company into a second-stager. It is no longer a startup.

As you'll have seen, a startup must do three things to prove itself: validate its business model; sell reference clients; and, of course, get its hands on cash. This is an all-or-nothing proposition, and the founders of a successful startup will be intensely-focused on succeeding on all three counts.

Then one day, the founders will pull their heads out of the oven, look around, and think, "Damn, we did it!" Keep a watch out for this moment. It will happen if you are one of the fortunate (yes, fortunate) few who make it this far.

The pull-your-head-out-of-the-oven-look-around-and-think-damn-we-did-it moment is an inflection point. It is a point on the growth curve of every business where the founders need to decide what is next and what needs to improve in order to get there. Chances are good that nobody on the team has thought quite that far ahead. Why bother thinking about market share, management teams, advisory boards, business efficiency, vision, BHAG, or mission, before a fledgling business has proven itself in the marketplace?

If you don't recognize the inflection point when it occurs, your company's growth will flatten out. The three concerns of the startup described above are not the only, nor likely primary, concerns of the second-stager. Not recognizing this will mean the founders will be focusing on the wrong priorities. Growth will stagnate, or worse, will become uncontrolled and possibly threaten the company's existence (the proverbial implosion).

To sustainably grow a second-stager, its leaders must embrace the following mandates:

1. Create a management team
2. Create organizational clarity
3. Over-communicate organizational clarity
4. Create systems to reinforce organizational clarity

Looking forward, in which of the above areas must you focus to move your second-stager forward?

Edward Lowe Foundation

I visited the Edward Lowe Foundation this past winter with a group of other entrepreneurs for a Leader Retreat. Though I didn't want to take three days off to attend, I was committed. You see, the entrepreneurs group I belong to requires all members attend the mandatory annual retreats.

As we all know, occasionally getting our heads out of the oven and contemplating where we are and where we want to go is a valuable exercise. Self-retrospectives.

The biggest take away for me this winter? The realization that Obtiva is no longer a startup. We've transitioned to a second-stage company.

In the coming weeks, I'll share some of what I discovered about myself, my team, and my company. In the meantime, I highly recommend looking into the Edward Lowe Foundation's leadership and entrepreneurial programs.