I have been exposed to entrepreneurialism throughout my working career. In 2000, I left university to join Espotting, which was the first paid for search placement player in Europe.
I was part of a hugely entrepreneurial and exceptional but small team of people, who together created a large and successful company that was to sell for millions of pounds. Being involved in this cycle of aggressive growth was hugely exhilarating and instilled in me the desire to build my own business.
In 2004 I founded Nixxie, which was the UK’s first contextual ad business. Subsequently in 2007 I co-founded AdJug – an online ad exchange which has since grown to a company of 70 people in three countries.
The key lessons for me from these experiences were as follows:
Learn to become good at more than one thing: When I left Espotting, I was confident in my abilities as a deal maker and salesperson. But building a company takes a much bigger and wider scale of skills than that. Most people don’t realise the support network a company gives them, such as accounts and HR, until they are left without it.
Marry your cash flow: It’s such a cliché, but very, very important. Getting the money going in and out correctly is more important than being profitable. I’m shocked by the number of people who don’t understand the difference between profitability and positive cash flow.
Don’t hire senior people too quickly: because they really do suffer in start-ups. When you take someone from a large corporate organisation, they are very keen to stretch their entrepreneurial muscle, but find it very hard to adapt to life outside the corporate environment. As an entrepreneur, I have learned to live with unpredictability and even enjoy it – this is not the case for most people.
Be detail oriented: The difference is always in the detail. While a product sounds great when you describe it in “general” terms, in order to build it you have to get down to the detail. Things that seem small and insignificant to you and me are not so simple technologically.
Build a brand: This doesn’t mean get a cool logo. A company, no matter how big or small, has got to deliver an experience. This experience is the brand that sticks in the hearts and minds of your customer. Getting that experience to be seamless and memorable is very important.
Enjoy the journey: There are only two outcomes – success or failure. Either is no reflection on me as an individual, as I have always given my business everything I can and what happens is a combination of timing, luck and hard work. Learning to live with the stress of uncertainty is a big part of being an entrepreneur.