Startups and Downs

The Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs

Mona Bijoor

• Publisher: Indigo River Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781950906093
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Decision Making
• Index: Business

Entrepreneurship is a cycle of failures and recoveries-hopefully with more successes than not.This national bestseller is about resilience and navigating the process.How do the best entrepreneurs think about failure-as it's happening and in hindsight-and ultimately win? Today's media is replete with stories about major entrepreneurial successes, IPOs (initial public offerings), mergers, and acquisitions. Reporters and readers alike have also been captivated by the stories of entrepreneurial failures, downfalls, and massive exits (think Travis Kalanick, Elizabeth Holmes, and Doug Evans). However, entrepreneurship is rarely linear, and a lot happens between the headlines and reality. Entrepreneurship is a cycle of failures and recoveries—hopefully with more successes than not.Start-Ups and Downs: The Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs shares the wisdom of one entrepreneur who successfully disrupted an entire industry but felt as if she was never prepared for what came next. Mona Bijoor has created a guidebook for navigating the process, from pitching with power to coping with competition, with inspiring stories from respected entrepreneurs, including Nat Turner, cofounder and CEO of Flatiron Health; Courtney Nichols Gould, founder and co-CEO of SmartyPants Vitamins; and Stephen Kuhl, cofounder and CEO of Burrow, intended to lift up anyone determined to keep pushing forward.This book is about resilience. How do the best entrepreneurs think about failure—as it's happening and in hindsight—and ultimately win?

Four

Have a Go-To Market Strategy or Go Home

I talk with ten to fifteen entrepreneurs every month. I review their investor presentations, advise them on strategy, and determine whether I want to invest my own capital in their businesses. I always zone in on an entrepreneur’s go-to market strategy. This strategy entails how they plan to get customers to buy their product or service. What gets me every time is that the slides are almost always generic. Nine times out of ten I see bullets stating they will create ads on Facebook and Instagram stories, partner with influencers, get on billboards, place subway ads, and buy keywords for search engine optimization (SEO).

Most investor pitches are devoid of creative solutions for how to get into the hearts and minds of customers. When I press founders on their customer-adoption plan, they usually say the proceeds of a loan or equity raise will go toward hiring a chief marketing officer or a vice president of digital marketing. It’s disheartening. Many of the best CEOs would also make the best chief marketing officers at any company (think Lauren Hobart at Dick’s Sporting Goods or Jay Farner at Quicken Loans). As a business owner, your job is to figure out how to get your target customer to purchase your product or service with ease. If you cannot articulate how you’re going to conquer your share of the market, it sends a signal to investors that you are not prepared to rapidly scale. When founders expect someone else on the team to find the silver bullet, it’s a major red flag.

Having a solid grasp on the fundamental difference between basic tactics and a real marketing strategy is imperative for any entrepreneur. Relying on Facebook ads and Instagram stories is a tactic. Spending money on Facebook and influencers is a tactic. They are levers the company will pull to create, market, and sell their product. A strategy is a one- to two-year plan for how a business will get closer to its vision, win against competitors, and get closer to achieving its ten-year vision.

For example, if a software company’s goal is “to become the number-one productivity software provider in the world,” the tactics would be the levers the company will pull to create, market, and sell this type of software. The company strategy, meanwhile, might be “to create software that maximizes employee productivity,” such as developing programs that compete with Excel, email, and similar database applications.

Since hiring talent to figure out your business strategy for you is never the only answer, you need to spend time planning out your ten-year vision. Break down your vision into manageable pieces by first outlining three or four strategies that will help you reach your goal—each strategy should only take you one to two years to achieve. Then, come up with the tactics (levers you can pull) to help make it all happen.

Here’s an example of what I mean. It’s an example that applies to a direct-to-consumer business.

Vision (Your Destination or Dream)	Strategy (Goals to Your Vision)	Tactics (Your Actions)
Become the world’s leading natural producer of premium food products and best-in-class services that exceed our customers’ tastes and desires.	Year 1 to Year 3: Get known for having the best-in-breed products made at the best manufacturing facilities in North America.	Create a narrow line of products, and manufacture them at third-party facilities. Start selling products to build brand awareness at three major retailers. Research and design best-in-class production plants. Raise $50 million to build two manufacturing facilities. Spend $5 million on advertising (social, billboards).
	Year 4 to Year 7: Purchase farms to grow organic, pesticide-free ingredients, and expand product line to include three to four new categories.	Build manufacturing facilities. Raise $100 million to purchase two farms and necessary equipment. Hire team to support the addition of new categories, manufacturing plants, and farms. Spend $10 million on expanded advertising programs (social, radio, billboards, TV, podcasts).
	Year 7 to Year 10: Open own stores in twenty-five cities that exclusively sell our branded product.	Raise $200 million to open stores in key cities. Create unique shopping experience based on luxury and convenience. Hire best customer service team to service customers in store. Spend $20 million on advertising.

In this case, the long-term vision does not really change over time. It is this vision that gets you out of bed in the morning. Your vision needs to have the same effect on your team: it needs to motivate them to work as hard as you do. It is your business’s promise to the world.

When I work with an entrepreneur, I ask her to map out her strategies and brainstorm the tactics that will allow for success. I tell her to list out as many tactics as she can. Typically, I’ve found that after listing the first five or ten ideas, she thinks she’s found the answers and then stops. But I make her come up with forty to fifty more. When she’s finally done, I have her circle the five or ten she believes will most likely achieve her strategic objectives.

The tactics should be considered flexible. That’s why businesses that don’t measure anything rarely succeed. If key performance indicators are in place, then your metrics will tell you whether your tactics are getting you closer to achieving your strategic objectives. Changing your tactics is a natural—and important—part of business. It is the constant innovation of your tactics that stimulates team creativity and motivates employees to come up with their best ideas.

I’ve done this exercise with teams countless times, and the same thing happens. This is what I’ve learned is true:

1. The first five to ten tactics are generic—some tactics will work, and some will not because they are stale ideas.
2. Creativity really comes when you push yourself to come up with as many tactics as you can—to go beyond what is comfortable when brainstorming.
3. The Pareto Principle truly applies to this exercise: 20 percent of the tactics listed will allow you to achieve at least 80 percent of your strategic goal.

The need for resilience comes into play when your tactics ar...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• The Mind-set of an Entrepreneur
• Raising Capital Is Fun (Said No One Ever)
• No Means Not Right Now
• Have a Go-To Market Strategy or Go Home
• Tough-Loss Recovery: Losing Key Team Members
• Building Team Resilience
• Foundational Issues: There Is No Such Thing as a Shortcut
• Can’t Sleep at Night? Maybe It’s the Competition
• Losing Your Job: Wait, I’m the Founder!
• Sacrifice for What?
• Parting Thoughts
• About The Author