by Siimon
2. November 2010 09:34
I believe one of the most powerful ways to succeed in any business is to always behave like you're a start up business.
Why?
Because founders of start up businesses usually have these characteristics:
1. They have white hot desire.
Their founders just don't want to build something, they are DESPERATE to build something great. That kind of desire makes things happen. Gets things done. Cuts through the red tape and bureaucratic inertia.
As Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter recently wrote, "When people have a true sense of urgency, they think that action on critical issues is needed NOW, not eventually, not when it fits into a schedule. Now means making real progress every single day."
2. They are scavengers with money.
As businesses get bigger, the purse strings loosen. So often, we stop watching the dollars as much. Start ups watch every penny. They don't hire unless they have to. They outsource. They bargain down suppliers and buy cheap furniture. They're cheapskates and damn proud of it.
3. They really value clients.
To a start up, every client matters. So they treat them like royalty, even when they ask for more than they should. They respond fast to problems and indeed look to solve potential issues before they occur.
They over service, even when it's not necessarily 'cost efficient' to do so.
4. They keep improving their systems.
Start ups know good enough isn't good enough. When your firm's survival is at stake, you just have to get better. Founders of start ups are always questioning their processes, living and breathing Kaizen, making constant incremental improvements. Doing the little things that often end up being big things.
5. They have a wildly huge vision for the business.
Start ups are powered by dreams. Big dreams. Few people set up a business to make a little more money. They are fuelled by grand ambitions to change their lives and change the world. Anything seems achievable in the first 6 months of opening a business. People who run start ups live on a higher plane of possibility.
So, has your business still got these characteristics?
Or have a few of them been lost as your company got larger and more established?
I believe that the longer you can maintain a start up culture the stronger your growth will be.
Act small and you'll grow big.