When starting and running a new company it is easy to focus on the present and quickly lose track of what may come in the future. This is not a bad thing - in fact the present is exactly where entrepreneurs should place most of their priorities and devote most of their energy. But as a company matures and strategic planning starts to concentrate more on the future, consideration should also be given to the future of the company’s administration, operations and financial structure and a succession planning process should be an important part of that. The word itself should provide some basic guidance; Merriam-Webster online defines “succession” as “the order in which or the conditions under which one person after another succeeds to a property, dignity, title, or throne.” Throne, you say?
While much of the literature on succession planning tends to be about long-term legal planning as well as the importance of valuation, buy/sell agreements, and tax and estate planning, my advice is that you first focus on what will happen tomorrow if you don’t have any plan already in place. The kind planning I want to discuss should be driven by a simple question: “If I get hit by a bus on the way to work today, what will happen?” Taking some time to ponder this simple question will lead you to some straightforward steps you can take to assure that your venture will continue on (triumphantly) during your days in the hospital. In other words, start planning for an emergency succession, then turn your focus to the longer term planning that should follow.
There are several immediately practical as well as the legal and financial questions that will arise immediately during your absence. On the practical/operational side, good succession planning should be designed to ensure that everything you are responsible for doing at your company will continue to get done – from paying the bills to maintaining the database and on down to taking out the trash. On the financial/legal side, this planning should be about making certain that the business can continue to operate effectively under its bylaws or operating agreement, that cash flow will will not be impacted by your absence, and that the resources are available to enable new hires or bring in outside assistance to make up for the loss of your personal capacity. Here is a list of 5 uncomplicated steps you can take this week to get things going.
1. Document. First and foremost take the time to make a list of the things you do every day that someone else will have to do in your absence. Are you responsible for payroll? Is there a marketing campaign underway that needs your daily attention? Are you the person who locks up at night and sets the alarm? Make sure that you carefully write down instructions for these things and that you know who will be the one to take these on. Simple cheat sheets can be incredibly helpful – just make sure that at least one other person knows where these reside and has access to them. Creating comprehensive written instructions is not so important for taking out the trash, but for more complex tasks such as accounting and finance functions, documentation is critical.
2. Insure. One way to make certain that you will have adequate cash to survive an emergency succession is to take out appropriate insurance policies. Many small businesses carry some type of “key person” policy which pays out in the event of the death to disability of a founder or CEO or other important employee. In the case of multiple founders running the company, matching policies can be set up to safeguard should something happen to any of these people. There are a number of factors that will drive the value of such a policy: business valuation, costs of hiring and training a replacement, and the lost revenue or business opportunities attributable to that person.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The video above is an 11 minute short about a 9 year old boy in East L.A. who built a very elaborate cardboard arcade inside his father’s used auto parts store. It’s a fascinating look at curiosity, drive, and flash mobs.
As college graduation weekends and summer business incubator announcements loom, I thought I would take a few minutes to consider the connection between the entrepreneurship and academia.
Entrepreneurs, by definition, take an idea or a concept and strive to make that idea into a operating business. To do this, we spend a great deal of time laying the groundwork: researching, modeling, testing, and (finally) executing to turn all of that work into a revenue-generating enterprise.
scientists, and pedagogues of all stripes – also explore ideas but in a theoretical structure. They use a rigorous and clearly articulated process of scholarly examination to explore concepts through investigation, experimentation, analysis, and interpretation to (finally) arrive at a conclusion or support a theory. Although the scholarly process itself is not necessarily about the actual creation of a concrete “something,“ it doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs can not learn from their erudite cousins in academia. Here is a list of 10 things that academics do that can provide valuable lessons for entrepreneurs:
1. Academics research throughly.
Academics leverage scholasticism to answer questions and to resolve conflicting theories and ideas; the scholarly process is the formal methodology used by academics around the world for validating ideas and theories. Through the use of a similarly rational, meticulous and methodical approach to their businesses, entrepreneurs can also solve problems, find answers, and support theories in their own industries, markets, or companies.
2. Academics believe in empirical data.
Through research and experimentation, academics collect data to produce or support a theory or to investigate causal relationships between actions and outcomes. Entrepreneurs should also collect and interpret accurate and appropriate data to support their business ideas and also to measure the actual outcomes of their strategies and tactics. We often hear the term “data-driven” used in the context of business decisions and the credible and careful collection of that data can lead to better decision making and a clearer understanding of the observed effects.
3. Academics are rational.
The research and experimentation that is conducted as part of the scholastic process is strictly logical, reasoned, and sensible; subjectivity should always play a negligible role in the approach researchers, scientists, and other academics take to their work. Entrepreneurs should also strive for the rational; the best decisions and the most successful strategies should be built on a foundation of data, historical fact, and cogent, well-reasoned theory.
4. Academics respect history.
By using the historical method and leveraging primary sources, scholars reconstruct facts, context, and derive meaning through past events. Entrepreneurs should always conduct their own historical research to better understand the context of their idea, the likelihood of the venture’s success, and to determine the value of a market or a business model. For instance, the use of comparable company data to make projections or imply valuation is one way entrepreneurs can leverage historical fact to help arrive at conclusions.
5. Academics review one another’s work.
The formal process of peer review allows for the credible evaluation of a scholar’s work. Peer review is most commonly associated with the publication of scholarly articles or papers, but extends to experiment design, grant proposals, and even software development. In business the concept of peer review is under-utilized; entrepreneurs can and should engage in this in an informal manner. Ross and I both speak often on the need to question your assumptions and to actively seek out disconfirming information; these ideas are analogous to the concept of peer research – bringing in other qualified individuals to harshly question your ideas, criticize your assumptions, or review your data is a powerful way to strengthen your approach.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The image above shows the amount of caffeine in various types of coffee and tea. More interesting facts about the health benefits (and risks) of tea and coffee in the Other section below.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The video above is the world premiere, of Woflgang Amadeus Mozart’s old piano, of a new composition found in a notebook in an attic, believed to have been composed by 10-year-old Mozart. The composition is called “Allegro Molto in C Major”. The composition is performed by Austrian musician Florian Birsak.
We write often about marketing strategies and tactics for small business and startups. These companies typically have limited budgets, thin resources, and strained capacity which combine to create a challenge for managers and owners: how to develop an effective marketing campaign using tactics that will work for their business.
Today I want to focus on tactics with a local flavor. A phrase we hear a great deal is “hyperlocal,” which Wikipedia defines as being “synonymous with the combined use of mobile applications and gps technology.” I would enlarge that scope beyond mobile applications and GPS, and explain hyperlocal marketing as a strategy for reaching a specific, targeted audience located in a very specific geographical location. In other words, hyperlocal is a way for marketers to deliver an effective marketing message to customers in a particular local community.
This is nothing new for marketers; a great example of hyperlocal marketing that has been with us for decades is the Yellow Pages. This still ubiquitous book of business listings, made of the cheapest paper stock available and found on shelves and in recycling bins everywhere, has historically been a great way for businesses to reach local customers – from “AAAA Auto Repair” all the way down to “ZZZZ Welding.” But the world of marketing has grown way more sophisticated, and in the age of GPS and QR codes, small business can leverage some sophisticated tactics to reach local audiences, build awareness neighborhood by neighborhood, and make the most of a limited marketing budget. Here are 5 ideas for hyperlocal marketing that you can consider for your own business:
1. Yellow pages.
If it still works and still fits your budget, why not experiment with this chestnut? For very small sums a business can target a very specific local audience (in many cases right down to the zip-code). If nothing else, using Yellow Page advertising guarantees that your business name is right there along with your competition’s and that you have an equally good chance of capturing the customer who is looking for you. Most of the Yellow Page publishers now include online listings along with the print version, which can also serve to enhance a business’s web presence and SEO efforts.
2. Daily deals. Groupon, Living Social, Woot, and the like are available in virtually every city in the US and many more cities overseas. For lots of businesses, particularly brick and mortar, these services offer a way to reach a very large audience of potential customers and pay only for those that actually show up to buy. The downside is that many of the folks who actually buy these deals are fickle and may never return once they have used their coupon with you. The upside is that this tactic can be a great way to build your customer base and to get your brand in front of millions of potential customers at a relatively modest cost.
3. Mobile.
Alright, here’s where that mobile and GPS thing comes in. Applications such as Foursquare, Yelp, and Urbanspoon allow businesses to build awareness and reputation online. I don’t know abut you, but when I travel Yelp is a go-to app for me; I need a good place for breakfast near my hotel and I log in and do a quick search. Restaurants near my location pop up complete with photos and reviews and before I know it, there I am sipping coffee and eating eggs with bacon. Yum yum yum and huge value delivered to that restaurant and to me the customer. Foursquare does that but also allows businesses to offer their own coupons and discounts available to anyone who stops by and checks in. Bacon and eggs taste even better when they come with a nice discount, no? In addition, social media platforms such as Facebook and Google+ allow local targeting of online ads. For the marketer, the cost of these tactics is small and the ability to track ROMI in real-time is powerful.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The photo to the left shows one of the strangest houses that one can find around the world. I hope they have an elevator! More strange houses in the Other section below.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The video above shows a mechanical device for opening and pouring a bottle of wine. It’s complicated, huge, loud and I love it!
How anyone can create a successful online business for next to nothing (Part III) – http://bit.ly/yyTI6X
What do Werner Herzog, the NBA, and The Dark Knight have in common? Well, besides being awesome: Milk & Media Studios!
The seeds for the film financing and production studio were planted when NBA star Elton Brand (yup, this guy) and film maker Harry Knapp worked together on a Werner Herzog movie, Rescue Dawn. If I’m to continue with this cheesy metaphor, the idea blossomed after they helped produce The Dark Knight with one another.
The two are self-professed web aficionados/addicts. Unlike many Hollywood media companies, Harry and Elton specifically aim to incorporate the web– as opposed to fighting it tooth and nail– into their business model. As of now, they are actively looking to invest in awesome web concepts. In fact, at one point, they even inquired about acquiring crowdSPRING.
Harry goes on to talk about breaking into the tough media business:
What made you use crowdSPRING?
As one of the first crowdSPRING users, we were intrigued by the crowdsourcing movement and instantly wanted to support it. In fact, we inquired with Ross about buying crowdSPRING at one point. Luckily we have enough Photoshop skills to articulate our vision and communicate with designers. However, even if you’re a total rookie, you will get plenty of great designs from crowdSPRING. It’s important to value your new venture against the award your offering. If you’re building a million dollar company, don’t offer $500 for a logo you will be using for the next 10 years.
What are some industry specific challenges you faced?
In the web business, one quickly learns that there are designers and there are programmers, most don’t do both well. Designer rarely think about algorithms and programmers rarely think about pretty things.
This is especially true if you plan to code your website overseas. Our experience has been mixed at best but one thing that seems universal is the disconnect on design. Users are interested in user experience; hire a designer who can articulate a vision and theory behind the work.
Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week!
The image to the left is a photo taken from inside a musical instrument. More interesting photos taken inside musical instruments in the Other section below.
crowdSPRING is the world's #1 marketplace for entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits and agencies who need custom logo design, web design, a new company name or other writing and design services. Over 115,000 designers and writers work on crowdSPRING. We are trusted by more than 29,000 happy clients around the world.
