Originally published in Feb 2020
Last year marked 10 years in business for We Make Websites. And for me, that’s 10 years of being a ‘founder’.
'Founder' is a loaded word. It’s acquired a reverence that is undeserved. It basically means you’re a dissatisfied person that works hard and has something to prove. And have the backing or background to mean failure isn’t catastrophic.
Since there’s already so much advice around getting a business off the ground and, let’s face it, a lot’s down to luck, I’d rather talk about what it’s like growing a business as a founder.
A few caveats:
...We’re a b2b business, and personally, I prefer that to b2c.
...We never raised money, so I have no advice on this, or managing a board.
...I have a wonderful co-founder, who complements my skills and has made the journey way more fun.
...We don’t want to change the world, ours is a more prosaic goal: to be the best Shopify agency in the world.
...This is what I think works for me, it doesn’t mean I’ve isolated the right factors and it doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. This goes for any business advice!
1. Your business needs an unfair advantage
An unfair advantage, also known as a 'moat', is normally some sort of patent, regulatory position, community, network effect, lock-in, or, in some cases, brand.
It’s something that’s extremely difficult for the competition to emulate.
Shopify's moat is its partner community. It's extremely hard to replicate, contains network effects, and amplifies their growth. Over the years, it's been successfully grown so that, today, thousands of businesses are actively pushing the platform.
When we started out as a Shopify agency, we quickly became the leader due to our combined skillset. We had the biggest brands in the UK, so we’d call ourselves the ‘number 1 Shopify agency in the UK’. We could defend it. No-one could emulate our brand portfolio. Now, many Shopify agencies say they, too, are number 1. It’s ridiculous. We apologize for starting this madness!
Now, our unfair advantage is 7 years of knowledge and experience on how to “do international” on Shopify. We're the Shopify Plus agency for International Brands.
No one can catch us on that.
During your pitch, you need to highlight what it is that nobody else can say. And you need to be able to back this up.
2. Systemize
Work on the business, rather than in it. Get used to seeing it as a smoothly oiled machine that you’re running around finessing, rather than something that you’re inside, every day, fighting fires. Naturally, you have to do both. But keep your eye on building structures and processes—that last.
You need a relentless focus on keeping things simple.
You also need to automate where possible.
And you need to master the internal communication of how your business does things.
Cautionary note: don’t overdo it on the processes. Processes should be clear and simple enough to be a checklist that’s universal for your core process (marketing, operations, finance), but not so cumbersome as to slow you down. They should ensure that the things that should happen, happen.
3. Measure
"Can't manage what you can't measure"
As valuable as it is, a profit and loss statement is a trailing indicator. You must know where you are today, and that means building a dashboard. It also means building a data competency, keeping in mind how and where you track all elements of your business.
At any moment, I can tell you how profitable we are, which projects are within and over estimate, what our client retention is, our employee retention, our client NPS, our employee NPS, and where our most profitable clients came from and so on.
This is the dashboard from which you make informed decisions.
Once you get over 30 people, it’s very hard to know what’s going on everywhere. With an accurate dashboard, you can be sure where you are and can monitor if your strategies are working. It also alleviates that anxiety of not quite knowing intuitively if things are working—you can check your metrics and see.
In addition: data needs to drive decisions. Don’t let teams go off on tangents about possible issues and causes without ensuring that data is at the heart of such conversations.
Over time, you’ll need to work harder to keep data ‘clean’, in one place and up-to-date.
4. Find something you’re interested in
You have to be doing something you genuinely enjoy. How people build these businesses that are about something they have no interest in... I have no idea. You have to live and breathe it. I’ve spent countless evenings, weekends, vacations on We Make Websites. And I'm not bored.
I like building things. And I get to build my business. You need to have a borderline obsession with it.
This one isn’t a lesson so much as a prerequisite. Neither is the next.
5. Be productive
Engage brain
Don't be afraid to do things 'differently', it's often better
Find a schedule for you (e.g., I get a boost from gym at lunch, because I hate tired afternoons)
Google things to learn how they work/get them done, most things can be googled
Keep a to-do list. Yes, I also keep the bad habit of using tabs and my inbox as a to-do list, but keep a proper one too
Use short meetings/calls rather than writing lengthy emails
Extreme computer literacy will help
Switch your Google inbox to 'important and unread' first, get it to cut out the rubbish
Use specialist systems that make you do things the 'right' way (e.g., accounting (Xero), HR (Justworks, Lattice)
Watch your alcohol intake
Group your schedule into long periods for hard tasks that require concentration (writing, designing, programming) and short blasts of tasks like email, Slack, discussions, meetings, etc. (google 'maker vs manager schedule')
Evernote! For notes, to-dos, articles to read offline, etc. etc.
Turn off ALL notifications, on phone and computer, including Slack, Whatsapp, email, etc. I keep my phone on 'do not disturb'. Taking 'live' phone calls at work is a thing of the past; only recruiters still seem to want to do this. Also, having email notifications on I will never understand, it's masochistic.
6. Be a generalist
Unless you’ve raised a load of money and can employ an army of experts in each function, you’re going to be doing a lot yourself. In fact, even if you do have the team, you still need to know enough to manage it properly.
In order of skills, assuming you understand the operational side of your business:
Sales - pitching, defining selling points; you won't get anywhere without this
Marketing - defining a niche offering, how and where to promote it, building a funnel
Management - how to build a culture that you’re proud of and keep a productive team
HR - recruitment, onboarding, offboarding...
Finance - enough to be compliant and to find inefficiencies
Legal - this is how the world is bound together, so it pays to know enough to be dangerous
As a founder, you will always be involved in Sales, Management and HR to some degree. Accept it.
7. Manage your perfectionism
I think a lot of founders are obsessively passionate about getting things right. Doing work that is ‘up to scratch’ should be a given competency, so I’m not going to talk about that. But most things don’t warrant the amount of effort you put in to get them perfect.
Don’t perfectly word emails or spend forever on presentations that are going to be heard once.
There’s not enough time in the day.
“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”
Use the 80/20 rule and tolerate imperfection (80% of outcomes stem from 20% of causes).
8. It’s all about people
This isn’t meant to be a platitude. What it means, is, if you have the right people doing the right roles and in the right culture, you won’t have to worry about day-to-day operations. If you really get it right, you won’t even have to worry about management decisions made by your team.
Hiring well is the first step. This means finding people that are smart, conscientious and likable. You will make mistakes and this will take time.
You also need to make sure the role is right for them, that they can do the job and fit the culture. Ideally, you judge this during recruitment, but the reality is you never know. Make sure you decide fast.
It’s your responsibility to ensure that everybody in your company understands your vision, values, strategy and your business model. Repeat it, write it in your wiki, include it within employee onboarding materials. If in doubt, use my adage, “when you're sick of saying it, people are starting to listen”.
For me, a wonderful culture is one that is hard-working, but also easy-going and civilized. Don’t forget that your real company culture is what happens when you leave the room, and if you haven’t built something real, it will fall apart quickly.
9. Never stop learning
You can avoid learning the hard way by reading what other business owners have to say. In particular, I can tell you from running a 60+ person company for a while now that the book ‘Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business’ has a process called 'EOS' that will save you much time.
Take business advice with a pinch of salt as most of it suffers from selection bias. Most common business lessons have been boiled down to over simplistic rules, with the main purpose being to sell books for the author.
The reality is, you’re often going to learn from your own mistakes. And that’s fine—just don’t make them twice!
10. Find balance
My philosophy is that running a successful business that employs people at a bloody lovely place is a nice job to have.
This means I can work to my own schedule, take holidays and (finally) have weekends. Granted - it wasn’t always like that, and many days off were lost in front of a laptop. But now it’s getting easier because Piers and I have built something that.... seems to be working... most days...
Relationships are what count. Spending time with those who make you feel good about yourself.
And know, you will never be satisfied. But you can often be happy, with moments of satisfaction. It's a fleeting feeling that you get when you put yourself in healthy situations.
Find a way of 'switching off' that isn't drinking 5 pints on a Friday (though that does work). Find a hobby or learn a foreign language. Get a therapist.
Also, you'll never regret taking a vacation. Sometimes, if you're busy, it's hard. But try to squeeze in a weekend away. It makes a world of difference.
So, there you go. They’re the first 10 that come to mind. Ask me tomorrow, they might well be different.