Revzin Twins_E5: Trust the Automated Collaborator [5/11/2020]
Note: References with links are listed at the end of the show notes.
INTRO:
0:45 Introducing both twins and their work with School16, The Mentors podcast which they’ve co-hosted together in over 200 episodes.
1:00 Vadim answers the most positively impactful part of his work: creating experiences and helping individuals accomplish something. Highlights empowerment without fear of failure.
2:20 Sergei shared his love for venture — at both Venture for America, and working as a professor at NYU. Shares a passion for encouraging ideas without validation, not putting people into boxes. Shares how most investors tend to pass judgement on ideas, and thinks that testing ideas are more useful.
4:15 Breaks into collaboration and merits of working together as twins. All twins are different, but their unique credibility in their relationship is built through trust. Challenge are that their resumes are somewhat similar. Brings out personal commitment to work, to divide-and-conquer.
6:00 Collaboration is hampered by how to find the right person — e.g., CoFounder need for trust. They each have an “automated collaborator”, and encourage others to find these types of people for personal feedback.
SECTION1: Breaking Sh** Responsibly
8:30 On what makes a great mentor in a high growth environment. One that is willing to put their own time and network on the line to help. They need to be the one you can call, when something massive is on the line — e.g., legal problem, or high stress.
10:00 Mentors need to know that they are being helpful, and feel that way. For first time Founders, finding a mentor that has recently gone through the pain with empathy, is key.
11:30 Visiting A16z’s “strong opinions loosely held” (see Secrets of Sandhill Road) concept, exploring how Founders can become more coachable by awareness. They recommend coaching people who are starting a similar experience once learned, to realize how important coaching is.
13:30 Sergei discusses coach and “coachee” relationship, is implied by how experience or expertise gives authority. Credibility is key.
14:30 CB Insights report finding w/ 200+ startups citing “not the right team” as the #1 reason for their startup failure (see link below).
16:56 Discuss the nuances surround when to rely on Advisors, versus when to ramp up hires for specific full-time expertise.
18:00 Discuss key indicators for cultural problems internally: back channels, lack of transparency, and communication breakdown. Highlight a need for a “Chief People Officer” when communication breaks. Honesty is a tenant of partner relationship, and with employees. Discusses tradeoffs for need to be the “strong leader”, and balance transparency needs.
20:00 Shares insights around leadership setting the pace responsibly. Talks about how decisions made quickly with limited information. Remind your team “what is non-negotiable, no matter how quick we want to grow”. Discusses ethics in how stakeholders, and employees are communicated with. Shares experience with independent risk made by employees when non-negotiable components are not continually set.
SECTION2: Easing the Pain of Prospects
22:45 Internal and External Selling, and selling ethically. “Is the customer, always right?” Don’t do something to hurt the customer; if a mistake is made, own up to the customer.
24:30 Breaks into details regarding tiered support, and customers taking advantage and holding startups hostage to give more — a case where the customer isn’t right. Creating a brand that is brand worthy takes time, but losing the trust is easy. Negative impacts can be mitigated through intelligently communicating, and setting boundaries — avoiding detriment of other customers.
26:30 Discusses passion for the product, and how it can help significantly. Sales people can feign passion, and efficiently sell. But longevity isn’t guaranteed with passion for product.
28:00 Maintaining positive culture in the sales team via passion for product and customers.
28:44 Sergei shares role of expectation in proactively gearing the organization for accountability (in sales). Mostly individual contributors early in the business; not much time for accountability. The need for independently motivated people can help transition well through the early stages. Advocates hierarchy at scale, via setting expectations, and helping clarify each individual’s path. Founders set the pace. If pace changes, communicate clearly, and why the change!
31:30 What can sales people do to improve passion, when paid enough? Influence in the organization, is useful, and managing up is needed sometimes to give managers the tools to provide constructive feedback. Bring up ideas in meetings to motivate others in the team.
34:00 Ethics in sales to align with organization: have empathy for the customer. With negative incentivization, some will lie to customers just to close deals. Leadership has to incentivize sales by delivering value, and not growth only. This comes back to training early on.
36:40 Share experience with toxic work environments, and how commission check bias can encourage poor behavior. Also highlight how politics, talking trash about the company or leaders, and talk behind back can be mitigated by firing — it may be ingrained in who they are. Leadership needs to be difficult to cut the cord quick, if ethical actions are inappropriate.
38:45 Vadim talks about the importance of culture building early on, and how critical it is. Exceptions exist when an employee has a personal problem unidentified. A way to get ahead with people, is to create a safe place, and address early to avoid negative impacts in the org. Fear of judgement and being reprimanded builds trust and change.
SECTION3: Up-Skilling with School16
40:00 Shares explanation on Up-Skilling — marketable skills in the work place.
42:00 They are starting to help people defer loans, and bridge a gap they see in higher education. They want to provide an accessible pathway to a new career, by learning from direct practitioner.
44:00 Providing guidance from individuals from companies like Slack, Facebook, and Google.
45:00 Share aspects of individualized learning component, and how it will tie into mentorship model. Share vision around making our careers via an entrepreneurial mindset.
Thanks to the Revzin Twins!
SOURCES:
-Sergei Revzin
www.linkedin.com/in/sergeirevzin
-Vadim Revzin
- School16 www.school16.co
-The Mentors (weekly podcast with over 200 episodes)
-Fundraising 101 (The Mentors)
https://www.breaker.audio/the-mentors/e/55215980
-Sales for Founders 101 (The Mentors)
https://www.breaker.audio/the-mentors/e/51938984
-NYU Entrepreneurial Institute
-The Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail (CB Insights)
www.cbinsights.com/research/startup-failure-reasons-top
-Book: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (by Marshall Goldsmith)
www.amazon.com/dp/0739342231/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_-4hUEbMYNP2ZH
-Book: The Mom Test (by Rob Fitzpatrick) www.momtestbook.com
-Book: Secrets of Sand Hill Road (by Scott Kupor)
www.amazon.com/Secrets-Sand-Hill-Road-Venture/dp/059308358X
-Upskilling — Why It Might Be The Most Important Word In The Legal Lexicon (Forbes)
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Song Credit: The Croft — By Joakim Karud
[ No Copyright on Music and Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 ]
