Category: Startup

Without trust, all is lost

Lessons, Startup

“Why didn’t you come to us? Why didn’t you tell us this two months ago? We could have helped.” Ron (one of my investors) said.

Last week, Sam (one of my advisors) and I discussed our strategic partner and the relationship’s challenges. Sam then shared a Sam-ism (a piece of wisdom Sam sometimes shares to explain something he has learned in his 40+ year career). He said, “In any new relationship, I readily expend trust. If you break my trust, I am more cautious and go to the thinking trust but verify. And, if you break it again, the relationship is over. Then I do not trust you any further until you acknowledge your failure and apologize. Rebuilding is then possible, but it is a long road.” 

Ron and his organization have broken my trust more times than I could count in the past two years. They would promise to do or act on certain things, but then nothing would happen. When asked, it was like they forgot and just swept it under the rug, pretending like it never happened. And then, every quarter, they would ask for feedback through a survey. I was always honest in my responses, but it consistently came back to bite me. Ron and the organization’s members would either ignore the feedback or defend themselves instead of growing from it. This cycle caused me to lose trust in them repeatedly, with no acceptance on their part.

It made me feel bad like I was a terrible person. That this investor, this organization that supposedly believes in my company and me, disregards my feedback and defends themselves. I was frustrated, angry, and emotional from all of this. What was I to do? They were my investor, after all – they had a strong say in my company. How could I keep moving forward when I felt so conflicted?

…

I paused for a minute, considering how to answer Ron’s question. I could tell he wanted me to say that I was sorry and I should have come to him sooner, but the truth was, I wasn’t.

“I don’t trust you,” I said honestly. “I don’t trust your organization.”

Ron didn’t seem phased by my response. He kept talking like nothing had happened like he always does. But this time, I felt empowered by speaking the truth. No longer did I feel the anger and shame of this feeling. Instead, I felt the power of saying the truth face to face (well, zoom face to zoom face).

Ron explained how his organization had helped many other startups with this and that. He skipped right over what I said about trust and went straight into defensive mode. There was no acknowledgment, no ownership, no empathy, just attack. Pushing all the blame back to me; it was my fault.

Immediately as the call ended, I felt those strong emotions come on again. I was frustrated and angry from all of this. I took a deep breath and then another.

…

Without trust, all is loss. A relationship that is intended to support, grow, and develop falls apart under these conditions — especially one between an entrepreneur and investor. There is no room for growth and collaboration, only blame, defensive mechanisms, and a failed relationship.

This is not how trust is built. There is no self-awareness, vulnerability, or alignment in mutual respect – the foundations of a trusting relationship are entirely absent here.

As I continue to grow my company and attract new investors, I now realize that I need to seek relationships with those with a growth mindset. Investors who understood that they are not always right and who believe in mutual respect. This is another learning opportunity for me and a way for me to get better.

A hard week: bad contractor break up & lessons learned

Lessons, Startup

It’s been one of the hardest weeks of my startup journey thus far and concluded with a hard meeting. I had been anxiously waiting for this meeting for the past month. Every scenario of how it could play out occurred in my mind with all the anxiety-filled thoughts with each outcome I thought through. The actual meeting was just as hard and uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I spent so much time thinking about what to say in the meeting and how to get through the meeting that I didn’t prepare myself for how bad I would feel after the meeting.

Let me fill you in on the back story. As you have gathered, I am a technical founder and have learned to sell through my experience building this business. My process is based on all the blogs, books, and advice I have received. It also means my process is not standardized, efficient, or productive. I know that at some point, I would need extra help to accelerate the company’s growth. By the end of 2021, I knew that the time had come. So I sought a Sales and Business Development contractor to accelerate our deal volume and close additional partners. After months and months of interviewing, I finally found and hired a Sales/BD Contractor who I believed was the best fit.

This meeting I just had was the result of that contractor who had a bad breakup with the company. I will spare you (and the contractor) all the details about the relationship and how it unfolded, but I want to share my reflection on the situation and lessons learned.

Before I share, I want to reiterate that every decision I have ever made with the company is in the past. I repeatedly tell myself and believe that I made the best decision possible with the information I had at the time. This mantra clears my consciousness and gives me the space to reflect, learn, and grow, so ultimately I can become better because of it.

Lessons Learned

  1. Before hiring a Sales/BD contractor
    1. Clearly define the goals, metrics, milestones, and reasons you are hiring a Sales contractor
    2. Determine what type of selling skills this contractor needs to have to be successful. What stage of maturity are you at?
      1. A product has already been sold to a few customers and a defined playbook (defined could mean many different stages, from a few notes to exact personas to sell to, etc.)
      2. There is a product that has no playbook and needs to figure out how to sell
      3. There is a product in development, and pre-orders are needed, resulting in a lead time
    3. If you say the product is in 1 or 2., then have 100% confidence that it is. If not, say something in the pre-hiring discussions to set the right expectations.
    4. For the best results, the product should be in 1. and have already been sold by the founder to early customers.
  2. Managing and working with a sales contractor
    • Clearly describe to the contractor and ensure understanding of the steps are clear for what happens after a deal is signed
      • What blockers could arise in delivering the product to the customer promptly?
      • Who in the company is responsible for delivering the product?
      • If an order isn’t completed through the process, it takes too long, or there is an error along the way, then have a post-mortem. Talk it through with your team and fix it for next time.
    • Have a minimum of weekly sales calls to understand each deal in the pipeline in detail
      • What deals are you working on, and in what stage are they in?
      • What are the drivers for the customer? Why is the customer interested in this product?
      • What are the blockers for the customer? If you could remove all those blockers, would they sign tomorrow? What else is holding them back?
    • If issues arise, have a check-in and figure out what is happening with “Aaron Cooper’s Famous 3.”
      • The contractor understands the goal. Enough to repeat it back to you and gets it.
      • The contractor disagrees with the goal or feels negatively toward the goal.
      • The contractor doesn’t have the skillset or ability to reach the goal.
    • If an issue keeps coming up or can’t be resolved in a check-in, it is time to let the person go.
      • Don’t feel shameful, guilty, or unsure. If you have a gut feeling about the situation, just let the person go. It will save you from all the challenges later.
  3. Ending the relationship
    • Make sure the paperwork is clear.
    • Get a status report or hand off and move on.
    • Let it go, this is the hardest part, but you have to let go and let the control go. Learn from it and move on.

My Company’s Identity Crisis

Lessons, Startup

This afternoon I had a follow-up call with a prospective investor, Tom, to review our pitch deck. We were going through questions about our use of funds, exit strategy, market and sales plan, and milestones. As we were talking, I sensed that he was formulating an idea in his head. Then Tom asked me, “What is the scope of the problem you are trying to solve? What is the best opportunity to maximize investor capital? Is it to focus on the dementia and senior living market, or is the scope broader than that with applicability to drop the technology into 5 or 6 different verticals?”

Grants fill the gap in funding startups where investors don’t

Startup

What market is experiencing massive growth and has is the focus of only a handful of investors and VCs? I will make it even easier; 1 in 6 people in the US will be a part of this market by 2050. Easier than that, it is a $740 Billion market today: the answer… the senior care market.

Where incubators fail

Startup

I cannot speak for all incubators or accelerators, but I can talk to the two that I have been apart of thus far in my startup journey. From my experience of working out of a co-working/incubator space, the single point of failure is consumerism. Yes, you read that correctly, but maybe not in the way you think.

7 Hiring Steps from a First Time Founder

Startup, Systems

My first employee fell into my lap. In August 2018, I had this crazy idea that there was all this “free” and “non-dilutive” money out there through foundation and government grants that we could take advantage of if we only knew how. I had too much on my plate and wasn’t going to have time to take this on, so I went looking for someone to help.

Getting to Product/Market Fit: Reverse Engineered System and Instructions

Startup, Systems

From my searching, I stumbled upon this article written by Rahul Vohra, the founder and CEO of Superhuman. He boldly states that “product/market fit drives startup success – and the lack thereof is what’s lucking behind almost every failure.” This point is well taken and very real to me. The quest to find and achieve true product/market fit is the single most worrisome milestone for founders. Until you hit this point, there is no clear way to drive growth, revenue, success of your company.

Sales 101: Get a Face-to-Face

Lessons, Startup

The investor call ended, and on cue, my partner called me to discuss.

“Sales 101, get a face to face meeting with them.” He forcefully said. “They have expertise in the industry, understand the problem, and have experience in startups. They check all the boxes.”

The Main Street Entrepreneurs

People, Startup

In 1950, my Grandpa moved from his childhood hometown of Pittsburgh, PA to Wilmington, NC in search of a career. He was a trained optometrist who was seeking to open a new practice, yet he realized that his hometown already had its fill of optometrists and he needed to find a new home for his practice. He had a few characteristics of the ideal place, but really was open minded. When he landed in Wilmington, he set out to start his new life.

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