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STARTUP VICTORY & CELEBRATIONS: "Heads Up!" - Part 2 of a series

Heads Up!

Celebrating company and individual victories calls for respect of the emotional power such events have on humans because therein is a dark side. A Silicon Valley therapist friend of mine says “The end result can be grandiosity, narcissism and egocentrism.”

Victory celebration extremes have lead many founders and startup executives to trip and make bad out of something good. Balance is wiser, contributing to enjoyment of the moment and creating a fond memory. For founder CEOs, respect for maintaining balance when celebrating victories leads to leaving a positive legacy.

Going whole hog celebrating can push people over dangerous limits. Stars from Hollywood, music and sports know what that means, the tabloids thrive on those stories.

• I recall a revered techie shouting “Free at last!” after he declared to his founding team “I’m joining you and divorcing my wife!”
• I was in the neighborhood when an entrepreneur and president went celebrating his company’s IPO by roaring around in his Ferrari: he crashed and died.
• And I’ve the witnessed the abundant new wealth that led to foolish investment decisions that ended badly for early employees of startups that became famous. Some went into personal bankruptcy and never recovered.
• Family therapists warn about success leading to divorces of spouses and social groups. “Time to get that trophy wife and dump loser friends.”
• More than once I’ve listened to stories of celebrations followed by the purchases of mansions, yachts, exotic sports cars and personal jets. I watched locally as one co-founder drifted off to divorce and a life of loneliness, emailing and texting people to join him to fly on his jet to London for a week of fun.
• And I vividly recall a friend tell me about an acquaintance who cashed in his vast IPO winnings and decided to live the rest of his life on cocaine. Others headed for gambling and sex.

Yes, that’s there is a dark side to victory celebrations. But that does not have to be, there is a very positive outcome open to all.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

JOHN

STARTUP VICTORY & CELEBRATIONS: When & Where - Part 1 of a series

At last! We did it! Time to celebrate!

Victory is “an act of defeating an enemy or opponent in a battle, game, or other competition.”

Celebrate is to “mark something by festivities or other deviation from routine.”

Celebrating victories becomes an important part of the culture of startups lead by serial entrepreneurs. Their leaders know the emotional power generated by such events and use it to spur individuals and teams to tackle seemingly-impossible encounters along the startup trail.

From Small to Large to Really Large

Startup victories and related celebrations typically follow a sequence – they start small and build in size.

• Starts with celebrating spontaneously, congratulating the small group on a big task finished at last!
• Then begin the fun on Fridays.
• Add celebrating awards and promotions of individuals.
• Then when launching the first product.
• Sign first customer order.
• Sign first huge customer order.
• Complete first venture funding.
• … and so on goes the cascade of increasing victories with their attendant celebrations.
• The end of the startup trail has either a initial public offering or sale of the company celebration to remember forever.

When arriving at the completion of the startup trail the successful startup will realize it has become one of the top ranked companies in the new industry it has helped create. That’s dubbed gorilla status.

Shortly thereafter it will be time to “go IPO” or sell at a huge value to a huge corporation. Then a huge celebration will take place. Along the trail to those final moments are vast numbers of encounters that precipitate possibilities to celebrate, to boost spirits of hard-working employees and to encourage other stakeholders outside the startup. How you choose to celebrate will reflect your values and wisdom.

When and Where

Victories and celebrations in startups begin small. I’ve found that startup employees especially appreciate spontaneous moments of expressions of appreciation from fellow workers, especially the founder. The daily stresses occurring week after week typically push social chatter into lamenting troubles and mountains of work to be done. Thus a simple thank you acknowledgement from someone brings light into the darkness. The positive emotional power of those small moments was made famous in the all-time classic best seller, The One Minute Manager[i].

• The weekly staff meeting is an opportunity to celebrate progress, achievements and express “Thank you” to those gathered.
• The monthly all hands meeting is a venue to be positive, single out people who have done remarkable things.
• Yet both the weekly and monthly gatherings are also where a founder can address “the elephant in the room” to say that she and the company have learned from a bad outcome. Some call that celebrating failures. If all you say are positive things, your credibility will begin to diminish. You will be turned into someone no longer to be trusted, not worthy of being followed.
• The monthly board meeting can include celebratory events. There individuals can be asked to attend and present a challenging task that was successfully accomplished. It is a place of awe where outstanding individuals can be given awards and promotions in the presence of revered board members.

[i] The One Minute Manager, Ken Blanchard, 1982, William Morrow & Co.. New York, NY

BOTTOM LINE: Victories and their celebrations are important parts of the culture of a startup. Veterans incorporate them into the regular rhythm of their new enterprises. When you do the same, your people and you will greatly benefit.

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

JOHN 

YOUR PERSONAL IMPACT IN A STARTUP (2 of a series)

Results & Accountability

Results. Startup people have to deliver results. Accountability is the measure of results. When all the results are put together, that’s the outcome for the entire company. Thus, the entire company holds each person responsible for the results of individual goals. Thus the importance of The Big Goal for the company.

New enterprises must deliver what is agreed to. If not, the fledgling business will weaken and is likely to go out of existence. Each individual must achieve the goals for which they are accountable because the company’s life depends on that.

But the risk is high and thus startup goals are very difficult to achieve.

To accomplish the needed goals, significant creativity is required. That’s missing in big organizations. People content to be working in giant corporations and government jobs are personalities who can exist just working on mundane assignments, not troubled that startups can do the work in half the time with half the people and with amazing creativity. They look forward to Fridays.

Startup people do not cringe when facing a seemingly impossible goal, they respond with delight to be given significant goals and their new enterprises thrive. People are eager to get to work on Mondays. They consider badges of honor to be betting everything on accomplishing impossible goals and doing the inevitable all-nighters. At last they have a venue to demonstrate what they can do.

When the accountability system finally measures the outcome, the entire startup organization cheers. Failure at taking high risk is considered an honor, as well as achieving something no one thought could be done. Thus, goals and accountability open the doors to individuals eager to be highly creative. That’s central to what makes startups into great companies, ones that can become Disneys.

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things. Because we’re curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”– Walt E. Disney

I wish you The Best on your Adventure!

JOHN