Solve your problem before it happens

I went out to breakfast with a mentor of mine. He was an iconic businessman who was very highly respected in the oil and gas industry.  He was one of those individuals that having a 15 minute conversation with him would be a blessing. There was always something to learn from, and it was so easy to admire his stature, accomplishments, and above all his humility. Here I'm sitting at the same table with one of the most respected businessman in industry, and he's taking the time to answer my piddly little questions as a young engineer. How cool was he?

Of the dozens of gems of wisdom he shared with me, one comment still resonates with me that I like to share often with others. He said "you make sure to build your bridge before you need it". Now, as much as this metaphor makes sense at face value, we also know we are usually still guilty of this. Whether it is looking for a job only after we've lost our current one, looking for financial solutions only when you're up to your neck in debt, or looking for a generator or water pump after there is a power outage or a one in 100 year rainfall flood.

However, having been through quite a few startup companies as a leader and co-leader, there are some predicaments that in hindsight were predictable and preventable. That's what I'm talking about.

Raising Capital

The companies that I meet have this paradigm that "all they need to do is reason million dollars and hire a really good sales guy". Unfortunately, this has become such a cliché of companies that are about to die because they have both things wrong. So as a side note on this:One, money will not solve their problem, and two if you need to bring an external sales person to sell your product or service, you don't have a viable business plan. I'll unpack this in another blog, but suffice it to say is that the founder is invariably the best seller in the company because the cell the liability of the company.

When raising capital, as I mentioned before in blogs, videos and meetings, the investor invest in a team and not the technology. They invest in the execution, not the equipment. They invest in the people, not the product. Use whatever coined phrase you like, but it simply comes down to execution. If the investor cannot trust the team to make the right decisions 90% of the time, it doesn't matter what is in their hands, they won't invest.

So what does this mean? That means you need to build that trust in advance. That means you need to build a relationships before you are raising the money. Introduce who you are, how do you think, your approach in your style. Then over the months you demonstrate with updates and results that you do what you say you're going to do. You build credibility and track record. You build trust.

Now, this doesn't guarantee the investors are in the bag when you go to raise money, but if you have invested in this, it ticks off a box that is often trivialized. Trust. You're not trying to be their friend, you're trying to demonstrate that you could be trusted with their money.  That means that you make good decisions.  It means you're responsible and careful with the money and that you execute on your plan. Obviously, if you pool feedback from dozens of venture capital investors they will vary in their preferred characteristics of a leader/founder but if I put my money down on a good bet, I'd say all of them would include if not lead it with "Trust"; Can I trust this person with my money?

Build your Team

Building a bridge is important other areas of your business. That usually means relationships. Relationships with supply chain, accounting, legal, distribution, marketing, branding, and of course business development and sales.  As a leader, your main roles include the responsibility to set the direction of the company. So, think about what the company will need in 6 months, 12 months and 18 months from now. Where is the company need to be? What kind of relationships and resources must you have in place to be there? Do you have those resources in relationships now? Don't ever forget to proactively pursue this because there will come a time where you unwittingly find yourself on the edge of that gorge without a bridge, forcing you to compromise with a ladder, rope, or pickaxe - you get the idea.

Build your bridge before you need it.

Thanks for reading and do well.