A Conversation with Gina Bianchini, Founder & CEO of Mighty Networks
Serial entrepreneur Gina Bianchini discusses how to make time to set goals and thrive in a competitive market.
Gina Bianchini has led a storied career in Silicon Valley, building products and companies that have shifted the way people communicate and connect. Before starting Mighty Networks, Gina was CEO of Ning, an online platform for people and organizations to create custom social networks, which she co-founded with Marc Andreesen.
Omidyar Network partner Shripriya Mahesh recently sat down with Gina for Founder’s Corner, our podcast packed with impactful lessons for entrepreneurs from today’s premier founders. During their discussion, Gina shares valuable advice for startup founders. Gina’s insights may just change the way you approach your day and how you frame your business challenge. Read on or listen to the episode right here.
Manage your time like a CEO
As a founder and CEO, you’ll be pulled in a million different directions at once. Without a game plan for the day, quarter, or year ahead, you’re bound to be a slave to your inbox, the Slack chats, calls, coffees, and speaking opportunities you field on a daily basis. Gina says, “It’s incredibly important for a CEO to have the whole plan in her head which is very different than her to-do list.” Gina details her daily ritual, which could serve other CEOs and entrepreneurs very well: “I get up early so that I have at least an hour in the morning before I head into the office where I sit down with a blank set of paper and a pen and think every day. I write down what my goals are, both short term and long term. It’s not a to-do list. It’s writing down what I went to bed thinking about and what I woke up thinking about. Just being able to make it a consistent practice is my form of meditation. That’s what makes it powerful.”
Of course, things pop up during this time that might need action right away, and Gina gives herself both the headspace and the space on the page to jot them down separately as “things I need to do.” The important thing about the exercise is to write down whatever is on your mind. Gratitude also plays a part. Gina includes what she is grateful for in her writing because “it’s really easy to go into the day with a clearer picture of the world when you have your life more in balance.”
Gina boils this philosophy and practice down to one thing: valuing thinking. She explains, “For our team to be as effective as we want it to be, we have to work smarter. And you can’t work smarter if you’re just senselessly following a to-do list for whatever came at you for the day.” You might say that for any team to be effective and work smarter, they have to also be unwavering in prioritizing time for self-reflection and goal setting that goes above and beyond to-do lists.
Building a company in a competitive market
Gina has built companies in the social space for years, but it’s difficult to discuss online communities and social networking without considering the elephant in the room: Facebook. Even mega-powerhouse Google with its Google+ platform couldn’t compete. But maybe aiming to compete with an 800-pound gorilla is the problem itself. Gina and Mighty Networks have a unique approach — not to topple or go toe-to-toe with the industry leader but instead lead in their own lane, on their own terms, based on the needs of their customers.
When it comes to competition, Gina shares this advice for companies: “Number one, you have to build something different. And not just different in terms of ‘Well, we have these three features, and those three features are different than a platform that has 2 billion people on it.’ That’s not going to work. It has to be for a different use case, a different reason that you exist.” Gina discusses Mighty Networks’ distinct point of view, noting, “We believe that networks built around a shared interest are different than social media where you’re just consuming message after message and trying to build massive scale.”
Gina also explains that a successful business must occupy a different space than the sandbox the competition is playing in — “you cannot have the same business model as the monopoly in the space.” She continues, “Mighty Networks is not advertising based. We are a SaaS company. We are really focused on how to enable a host of a Mighty Network to bring together their thousand true fans and generate revenue from them in such a way that they can reinvest in the network and make it stronger and make it more meaningful to the members, and for members to then be able to bring in even more members. As a result, you actually build out from a strong core as opposed to lots and lots of big numbers that are very shallow in any engagement.”
Finally, Gina says, get real and know your place in the world. “You have to find the place where you don’t peak in terms of saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to create a Facebook killer’ — nobody’s going to create a Facebook killer at this point. That’s not the goal. The goal is to say as technology shifts, there are going to be new opportunities during that disruption and transformation.”
Gina’s focused, real-world approach to business is a practical lesson for founders looking to take their passion and build big, unique business opportunities. She emphasizes that you need to act on that opportunity for industry transformation and “create something that is different — not better — than the status quo and addresses why people do the things they do.” As Gina puts it, “In those different ways, you can compete effectively because you’re not actually competing; you’re building something new.” So take a hard look at your industry, market, and potential audience and start a new conversation. Don’t just try to jump into someone else’s.
Recruit from a career development standpoint
Amazing startups that aren’t named Google, Facebook, or Amazon can attract the right talent for the right reasons and build strong bonds with employees over the long haul. While big paychecks, amenities, and brand cache can often win over talented minds, Gina and her team bring a unique approach to the table that is all about career development. When it comes to taking a job, the best fit for a prospective employee is often the one that will provide the greatest opportunity for learning, growth, and personal and career development. Gina explains, “Mighty Networks can give a very specific kind of professional opportunity to someone. If there’s a fit with what they want to do, it’s magical. So understanding what that person wants to get out of their next chapter is the number one thing I pay attention to.” The next time you are in a hiring situation, try orienting the role to the individual — who they are and what they want out of life and work. This approach may very well be the difference between landing an A+ rock star or continuing to search for the mythical “right” person who perfectly fits a predetermined list of bullet points.
We were thrilled to have Gina join the show and share her approach to time management, competition, and recruiting with Omidyar Network partner Shripriya Mahesh. Connect with Gina on Twitter and learn more about Mighty Networks here. And be sure to subscribe to Founder’s Corner on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Overcast to hear even more lessons from leaders who have lived and learned from the startup journey to build amazing companies.
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