Founder / Promoter
Multiple Start Up Comanies
These years were the most educating years of my professional life. During this time I was a part of four different start-ups which gave me a crash course in parts of business I did not have prior experience working in. While the Sales & Marketing side came naturally due to the background, the immediate learning was the big focus on cash-flow not just order bookings. Subsequent to which pipeline management and forecasting to provide means to manage cash flow, whether by external factors (banks, private investors, VC firms) or internal factors. Team Motivation & Retention: Its hard as it is to keep a team motivated in a start-up, even when the cash flow is stable, when things get tight the situation gets more complicated. I quickly learnt that the risks of entrepreneurship should not be thrust upon the employees, the risk and responsibility is yours, unless ofcourse explicitly discussed. Try not take it personally when people leave.Finance & Legal: Made the sale, kept the team to deliver it, got the cashflow working, even made it profitable. Unless you've thought the legal and finance side of it you may not get to keep any of it. Learnt not to leave loose ends, do the paperwork, read every line of every agreement as boring as it might be. As difficult as it might be to negotiate on certain liability clauses or jurisdiction, try to minimize the risk and if you can't, at-least identify it. Once the initial cashflow is established, a financial controller is a must.Risk Management: There will be risks, more then accounted for. Delays from stock ordering to delivery/payments to resources falling sick or even resigning in the middle of project, customer changing scope of work, customer going bust, if identified it you're a little more prepared to handle it.My biggest learning, if you find good people you can trust, don't lose them. And finally, it's all worth it, I'd do it again.