Quietly Building Something Loud

WeWork is making a significant footprint in Utah. It comes by way of addition, yesterday announcing the acquisition of local startup, Teem. Born & built in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, the Teem team may not have been top-of-mind in Utah tech. And for good reason: they’ve been quietly building something loud.

For prospective and current startup founders, distinguishing success from recognition in the early days of startup can be confusing. Take public awards and social acknowledgment as two examples. My rough count is that this year we will give awards to nearly 700 local businesses through a combined 20 events. 700 awards. 20 events. That’s a lot of hardware and a lot of fancy dessert in The Grand America. And the award frenzy is amplified by not only the fact that many of those companies will be photographed and written up in local magazines, but further acknowledged through the increasing amplifier of social media. Pick your hashtag to publicly announce to the world that you are on the startup path: #entrepreneur, #startuplife, #inthegrind, #allhustle, you get the idea. A gutsy step. An often risky path. Certainly worth tipping one’s hat to. But there is a massive gap between recognition for your effort and ultimate success in your effort. Given the odds of startup success and the fact that every ounce of energy needs to be focused on creating value and then growing value, many startups risk loudly starting something that ends quietly.

And this is where my admiration for Teem hits a new level (because I already loved them as an early investor in the business). In the earliest days in startup Shaun, Zach and their team focused all their energy on hacking to find and create customer value, a loud internally focused effort, before eventually hacking to extend that value to as many as possible, an effort with louder external reach. That effort and discipline to the customer often eliminates one from certain early recognition and public praise. Not because those don’t feel good, but because in startup you never know what it will take to get to the bigger prize, only that you need to maximize the energy put into that path.

There is, of course, a time when all laud and praise are perfectly in order. And when the message will hit new decibels in the community. Go Teem! Here’s to another Utah startup success, another heavy hitter entering the state in WeWork, and to all the founders who don’t have the time to read this bit. Keep quietly building something loud.