The most compelling business tool for Startups
We all know that relationships take work. They require compromise, balance and playing up one another’s strengths and weaknesses. The same applies to business partnerships. Big or small, personal or professional, everyone is looking for that winning combination that brings out the best each party has to offer. But…
Why some entrepreneurs are scared to create partnerships and why this is so wrong?
However many startups were founded upon the founder’s aversion to the corporate routine and the desire to change the status quo.
It is clear that startups are more focused on their people and culture but when business is growing and the founders want to keep it that way, remaining a startup in the purest sense of the word is a Utopian concept, and clinging to it means saying no to future growth and, ultimately, to reaching the desired unicorn status. Strangely enough, this pursuit of staying a startup forever is pretty much limited to Central Europe. It’s a bit of a cliché to use Silicon Valley or London as examples of a healthier, more sustainable attitude towards the startup-corporation relationship, but things become clichés for a reason. In these markets, there’s a symbiosis between the two worlds.
Benefits come from our differences
Both well-established companies and newly founded startups need to know what they can gain from working together and inspiring one another.
Corporations turn to startups for fresh ideas, forward-thinking product concepts, and bright minds that would be hard for them to attract directly. Startups see their corporate counterparts as those who’ve already made it and who can prevent them from reinventing the wheel. Regardless of how long the founders resist the corporate world’s calling, they’ll have to take something from it and apply it to their company, be it managing finances, mastering the hiring game, or learning to make tough decisions such as who’ll stay with the company and who won’t.
Changing the product-first mindset
The founders, many of them highly skilled tech-oriented people, have a natural inclination towards ploughing all the money into the product itself and hoping for the best when it comes to marketing it.
This scenario works in the early stages of a startup, when there’s not much to sell yet. However, once there is, a certain shift in resource allocation is inevitable.
Human-centered approach to decision-making strategy
To be or not be (a badass CEO)? That is the question. As a manager of a startup you are going to face one really serious decision…
When a startup is successfully growing, and the first HR-related questions start demanding answers. These may not be very pleasant, as founders often have to decide whether to remain friends with their original team or act as businessmen and CEOs, regardless of how it affects their personal relationships within the company. Good people who’ve been with the startup since day one might not accept the transition to a more corporate — looking environment, even if they’d benefit from it in the long run. This is the defining moment that will predict whether the founder really has what it takes to become a serious entrepreneur.
So, should you “corporate up” right now?
Certainly not for the sake of looking more serious. But if you’ve felt stuck for some time, giving up a bit of the cool startup factor in exchange for a better running, well performing business could be the decision that will push you towards a better tomorrow.
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