10 Key Thoughts
The practice of management and the business of business are far too complex to be reduced to a list of bullet points. Like any activity involving humans, there are contradictions. There are no “right” solutions for all time and all situations. Nonetheless, long practice, combined with many observations of things done well and of things done not so well, might be summarised in the following homespun thoughts:
Relax and enjoy the contradictions, that there is no “right” answer. It means that you are not going to be replaced by a piece of software any time soon.
Cash really is king. Try getting to the 3rd week of the month without money for the payroll if you don’t believe that. It is impossible to manage a business and a cash crisis.
Credibility comes a close second as a currency of value, especially for an early-stage business. Credibility comes from your marketing materials, and your business plan presentations. It comes from your management team. It comes from your product. Most of all it comes from customers.
What they taught us at Business School does have value. Strategic analysis of facts yields valuable insight. Rarely does it tell you what to do however.
A bias for action is required to avoid paralysis by analysis. There is always going to be a leap of faith. Analysis reduces the distance you have to jump but you are still going to have to be brave.
Iterate, iterate, iterate. Once you have tried something, analyse the results, revisit your plans and then act again. No-one gets it right first time.
Persistence overcomes resistance. Few people want to be first to do something. Few people will do what you want at the first time of asking. When they learn that you are going to keep asking, they calculate that they might as well do what you ask.
Running a business can be a very lonely place. Remember that people like to be asked to help. People like to be asked for something which helps you and which costs them little. People like to be associated with, and, in some small part, responsible for, success.
Almost every business decision has a rational and an emotional component. If you are trying to make a sale or to recruit someone, you have to win on both levels. It is not good enough to have the best product or offer the biggest package.
10.A senior manager or owner of an early stage, high technology Company should always be selling. (S)he might be selling himself or herself or his/her Company or decisions or product. (S)he might be selling to prospects, investors, channel partners or staff. (S)he is always selling.