Subbu Murugan
I am an Entrepreneur based out of Chennai, India. My startup, Ventuno.in, is working on building new media video solutions.
After my engineering degree in India, I took the usual route that many in my time did, went to the US to do my masters degree. After that I worked for couple of companies - Creatus Inc for 2 years and TIBCO Software Inc for 6 years - in the Bay Area before packing my bags and coming back home.
This blog is not aimed at anything in particular, but most probably would end up providing an insight in to what my world looks like.
Yesterday someone who knows what I am going through as a startup entrepreneur asked me a basic question. ‘You are taking all the risk, how do you make sure that the others are doing what they are supposed to do as they don’t have skin in the game’. Told him it’s a marathon; lots of people participate, few make the finish line and get recognized. Similarly as a company we constantly engage with lots of stakeholders; to survive, they have to contribute otherwise they get left behind.
If you break it down there are 3 things you should keep in mind.
1/ No one will care more than you will. Stop worrying about what others are screwing up on and make a transparent organization and clearly allocate roles and responsibilities. Continuously monitor and don’t step in into what they do. If they fail, let them know what they did wrong and make them acknowledge and correct the same. If it’s repeated, make it transparent to the group and, if still repeated, then other groups and stakeholders should become aware. This forces them to correct their ways or they drop of the system and move on.
2/ You are not going to get an ‘A’ player for all roles in your organization. Frankly you don’t need it either, so what if they take 4 hrs to do a 1 hr task. If you have a smart manager and have a ‘B’ player in a particular role, its okay as long as it does not affect output/revenue. Some scale up to become an ‘A’ player or as noted above will eventually drop of the system.
3/ Rewards match directly with Risk and performance. The earlier someone joins your team during the life of your company the more the risk they are taking. If these stakeholders continue to perform and grow with the organization they must be performing. If not they fall off the journey. So don’t dwell on what they are going away with, when they drop of the system - especially if they hold options - thank them for taking you to next level and focus on the finish line and what value you and other performers are creating; there is more reward for this group.
So, as Bobby McFerrin put it, Don’t Worry, Be Happy!
