Tom New on humility, mental health & good/bad news
Ignite #11, the last Ignite Programme of its kind, has come to an end. Our teams have come a long way and the Showcase was a success. Our EiR’s have been a big part of this. You’ve already read about Deb and we’d now also like to introduce Tom New to you.
Give us your elevator pitch…
I am Tom New, co-founder of Formisimo. We do online form analytics. This sounds very nerdy, and it is. We basically tell large online brands where and why people struggle to complete online forms and check-outs.
What do you like about being an Entrepreneur in Residence and mentor?
I’ve been doing Formisimo for about 3.5 years now. Obviously, I have been on that rollercoaster of emotions. You get to this point where you’ve been focussed on one thing, your thing, your baby, for such a long period of time. So, it’s really nice for me to meet new companies who are still in that really early stage and who still have that crazy fire in their eyes. They are just massively enthusiastic about the journey they are about to embark on. In part that’s really refreshing and inspiring to me. That’s the selfish reason. The less selfish reason is that it’s really nice to be able to help people out, based on our successes and mistakes. It’s great to be able to see people on the verge of doing one of those and then being able to help, advice and steer them in the direction so that they can hopefully safe three months of pain or so.
What makes a good founder? That fire in their eyes?
Really good question. I think that’s a prerequisite. You can’t be half in when it comes to building a startup. Honestly, I think for me, one of the most important personality traits or aspects of somebody who is gonna be a good founder, is to some extent, humility. You have to collect and gain as much information as possible and not be dismissive of anything. Even though the books written about famous entrepreneurs seem to imply that they have this never changing vision of where they want to go. They say “Haters gonna hate” and they ignore people. That’s not how it really works. In reality, it’s constant mini course corrections based on information and just the desire to learn everything. Realise what you don’t know and either find it out yourself or build a team around you that can help fill those gaps. It’s a combination of confidence and fire but also humility. Also, the ability to work as a team is really important.
In reality, it’s constant mini course corrections based on information and just the desire to learn everything.
What are the most common mistakes founders make?
In the early stages, it’s not testing assumptions. Making assumptions and acting on them way too quickly. And going down a path where you haven’t stress tested your idea or taken it to market to see wether or not there is an appetite for it. You sometimes get an idea of what’s the most important thing in your business, and you hang on to it, and it turns out that it’s not the important thing you should be focussed on. I think a constant reappraisal and reevaluation of the direction you are heading in is really important. A lot of people don’t do that. One of my favourite phrases is: In order to succeed as a startup, you need to focus on what’s important and not focus on what’s not important. A lot of people try to do the first, but almost everyone ends up also focussing on what’s not important. All the time. Another way of thinking about it: What is going to kill my business in the next 3 months? That’s what I should be focussing on.
In order to succeed as a startup, you need to focus on what’s important and not focus on what’s not important.
I loved your blog post about mental health. Why do you think it’s important to talk about this?
It’s a weird sort of perfect storm of elements in the world of startups and being a startup founder that I think can lead people to some serious mental health issues. It’s the ridiculous high-pressure nature of the environment and the fact that it’s almost intrinsically tied to your personality. It’s your baby and everyone knows it’s yours. It’s this in combination with outside investment that a lot of people who haven’t been in this game just don’t really understand the pressure of. It’s basically spending other people’s money on your dream. Sure, they buy into it and they know the risk but it’s also an immense amount of emotional pressure that you as a founder find yourself under. I just know this so well from speaking to peers and things like that over a beer. They are just like: “My god, things are shit and I wish I could tell someone.” You get into this big conversation about it and you just feel the weight lifting off them. The idea of “crushing it” and always being on it is something that is very damaging. We know that depression is so much more prevalent in the startup-founder-world than it is in the general community. We have to take steps to correct that because these are often some of the brightest most awesome people that we have. They are being crushed by anxiety or depression or other mental health issues. We need to be talking about it openly. The earlier in people’s careers or their journey, the better. Still, it’s one thing for an ex-board-member from Microsoft who’s sat on an island with millions to turn up at a conference and say: “Oh, I was anxious all those years.” If you are a 23-year-old first-time founder, who is desperately trying to raise 350K to pursue your dream: How the hell are you going to talk about having anxiety whenever you go into a board meeting or pitch? That will damage your chances of getting investment. There is a big gap that I’d love to see addressed. It’s great to see the likes of George try and at least bring a feeling of authenticity to this kind of insane world that we are part of.
We know that depression is so much more prevalent in the startup-founder-world than it is in the general community. We have to take steps to correct that because these are often some of the brightest most awesome people that we have.
Best piece of advice you have ever received?
Do or do not — There is no try. That’s a good one from Yoda. No, but there is so many. I think it’s probably true that you are the product of the five people that you spend the most time with. That’s kind of helped me focus where I spend time in my friendships. I very much buy into the idea that wellbeing and happiness are more important than the money, despite being an entrepreneur. I definitely think that ultimately it’s the things people regret not focussing enough on. I know lots of people that are different, though.
And this is a bit of startup advice. There is a good parable I call “Good news, bad news, just the same”.
A farmer finds a horse in the middle of the field. His neighbour says: “That’s amazing.” He shrugs and says: “Good news, bad news, just the same.”
The horse soon runs away. A neighbour says, “That’s bad news.” The farmer replies, “Good news, bad news, just the same.”
The horse comes back and brings another horse with him. Good news, bad news, just the same.
The farmer gives the second horse to his son, who rides it, then is thrown and badly breaks his leg.
“So sorry for your bad news,” says the concerned neighbor. “Good news, bad news, just the same.” the farmer replies.
In a week or so, the army comes and take every healthy young man to fight in a war. The farmer’s son is spared.
I think this helps you realise the insane rollercoaster of emotions, that you go through in a start-up. Yes, it is important to celebrate the highs but you know damn sure that there are going to be lows just around the corner. Don’t get too drawn into any of them. Don’t get too sad or don’t get too ecstatic.
Why Ignite?
I have known about Ignite for quite a long time. When we were first looking into launching Formisimo we were looking into accelerators. At the time there were literally zero in Manchester. In the process of researching them, we found out about Seedcamp, Techstars and Ignite. We heard about Paul Smith. We ended up meeting him and obviously, he’s a fantastic guy. I think it’s that kind of ethos, that way of doing things. Meeting you, meeting Flossie, meeting Tristan and meeting George were all kind of in the same mood of: “We’re friendly, we’re open, we’re transparent and nice but we’re also not going to let you ruin everything or take us for a ride.” Ultimately, your hearts are in a good place. I like the style with which you have always approached coaching and mentoring people.
Do you have any big role models?
I’m not a huge fan of business role models in general. There is a mistake in trying to copy people. You tend not to try to learn lessons from their life but you tend to emulate exactly what they did. Perfect example of that is Elizabeth Holmes from Theranos. She literally emulated Steve Jobs to the extent that she wore a black turtleneck. For her, he was a role model and an idol. I like particular aspects of certain famous people. I love Steve Job’s obsession with product. Genius! Rest of the time he’s a complete dickhead. I love Elon Musk. I love the fact that he believes that the future is happening anyway. We don’t need to protect it. I know he’s also very douchy in certain regards. Richard Branson. He’s built a brilliant personal brand but he’s probably a bit sharkier than his PR team make him out to be. Apart from that: My mum. She’s a single mum and an incredibly strong and beautiful woman. I think there are aspects of people’s personality... I know what kind of person I want to be. I know certain things that other people have been really brilliant at that I’d like to be a bit better at. But not one person can capture the kind of human being I want to be exactly. It’s more about influencers but not role models.
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