What's your secret sauce for building a great team?
Having a details/never-ending focus on our team culture. Although this sounds basic; as a remote team, we’ve put significant effort towards building and strengthening a positive, motivating culture where we enjoy coming to work each day. Specific approaches to this include promoting trust and flexibility as we work remotely, emphasizing a healthy work/life balance by encouraging time off, and bringing the team together in ongoing ways like teambuilding exercises and activities. This has resulted in a team that works together well, motivated by our common goals and positive attitude, and knows they’re trusted while being able to have a flexible work/life balance.
What’s an important belief / a guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
“Listen to our users”! This has been such an important facet of our business, and has helped us not only build a product that is truly oriented towards helping our users, but also brought our team together as a motivator as we’ve learned to always treat user feedback with respect and curiosity. This has translated into better support as we make sure to put ourselves in our user’s shoes; better sales as we ask our users better and better questions; and even better marketing as we strive to better understand our users.
What motivates you to work as a leader / entrepreneur?
As I’ve continued to grow as an entrepreneur, I’ve found that I’ve appreciated how the concepts of problem-solving and rapid decision making have been a part of my day to day work. I think this has motivated me, as I attempt to grow and learn from solving problems/struggles on an ongoing basis and making quick but informed decisions, then moving forward.
What quote or saying has stuck with you?
I’ve always loved Richard Branson’s quote: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat (and compensate) them well enough so they don't want to”. This has driven a large part of how we’ve built our team…with a significant focus on sharing knowledge among the whole team and “constantly learning” together. Just as importantly, I’ve kept an emphasis on crafting the team culture/compensation to keep the team “sticky”..not wanting to leave.
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Here’s More, From Other Founders Around the World
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
Your own time and energy is the most precious resource you have. Use it wisely, and learn what gives you energy, and what saps you. In the early years of building something, you need to throw a huge amount of time at it - and do many things you perhaps don’t like doing. But as you scale, it’s vital to take a step back and build a business that can grow rapidly beyond the time you put into it.
What shift in perspective has allowed you to see things differently?
It may sound simple, but realizing and truly understanding that we are all different and driven by different things has made a significant impact on me. This insight has changed the way I approach relationships and leadership.
What’s a guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
One of our core values at Cozero is radical candor. It is the idea that the willingness to repeatedly enter uncomfortable situations to speak the truth benefits everyone in the long run. We believe that in order to grow and improve as an organization, we need to create an environment where our team is not afraid to challenge processes and decisions. Making this a core value guides us in difficult situations when it’s not clear which road to take.
What's a mistake that you're happy you've made?
I'm happy I chose a highly regulated market, even though it was tough. It taught me a lot about patience, attention to detail, and the importance of doing things right. These lessons have made me better at what I do.