Sir Robin Saxby
Sir Robin Saxby reveals what he wished he'd known when starting up his business.
It would be possible to fill a volume with all the things you should and shouldn't do when
you start a business, but these are just a few ideas that have served me well...
"A team is only as strong as the weakest link."
Skills
No one person knows it all, so where you don't have real business experience in sales, marketing, communication, HR, legal, global awareness or finance, make sure you have people with the skills
essential for your team. If you can't afford to hire full-time people, use the best part-time advisors until you can afford them. And remember, a team is only as strong as the weakest link. So identify the real strengths and weaknesses of every team member to ensure all the essential skill sets are covered, and then play to the strengths and opportunities you discover whilst developing new skills along the way. Make sure you also correct weaknesses and minimise the threats.
"Mistakes will happen; learn from them."
Plans and operations
Business plans are not just about raising finance. You need to build operational (short term), tactical (medium term) and strategic (longer term) plans, and then continually check progress, and, as you gather more experience and data, change, improve and iterate your plans. Do an assessment against all global competition that you can find out about. Read and inquire. Have a baseline plan, a fall-back plan and upside business plan, to help with employee head count planning and cost control. This way you can be prepared for whether things go really well, or really badly!
Run the business "mean and lean" and incentivise your employees to control cost too, but don’t forget to also reward them for long-term success. Mistakes will happen; learn from them.
Telling it as it is
Always under-promise and over-deliver; be realistic and honest about your product and
your capabilities. Be sensible about timescales, but set challenging and stretching goals.
It's never too early to evolve a global PR and marketing strategy. But keep the communication simple; charts, pictures and graphs speak a thousand words.
"Hard work and fun are essential ingredients of success."
Getting the thinking right
Hard work and fun are essential ingredients of success. Business is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. If you’re not prepared to work long hours and able to recover quickly from a fall, don’t get started.
Be really driven by how your device, product or idea can change the world; passion counts more than any concept of making a fast buck.
Remember business is much more about customer-pull than technology-push, so bring "the voice of the customer" into your organisation and talk to others who have done it before and seek their help.
Finally, think beyond the possible and back off to reality.
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