4th June 2019 It should have been one of the happiest days of my life.
At 11:30 a press release arrived announcing that the cybersecurity company I had built for more than eight years had been acquired by a bigger cybersecurity player.
What's not to love about a successful exit? I would be financially set, the investors who gave us $ 70 million would earn, and the technology we created would gain new legs in an organization with wider reach and resources.
However, I had no regrets. For one thing, I didn't initially want to sell. (More on that later.) For another, I was haunted by the feeling that our company wasn't living up to its true potential and that it was me - specifically, several rookie mistakes I made as an entrepreneur for first time.
I don't dwell on those errors anymore. In fact, I believe my mistakes at my first startup will help define my career from here on out. That's why, as I grow my next company, I think not only about the things I want to do but also about the things I would never do again.
Here are five.
I'm trying to do too much on my own
In terms of management theory, I was a "precursor". I would be the first to participate in any project or activity, execute it as quickly as possible and expect everyone else to keep up. I thought this was how a startup leader behaved: super helpful and disconnected.
But it came at a great price: loss of team power. I was amassing not only control - no one felt they personally owned anything - but also the institutional knowledge that needs to be disseminated as a company grows. I became a human GPS: people could follow my directions, but they struggled to find their way on their own. Independent thinking has suffered.
I became a human GPS: people could follow my directions, but they struggled to find their way on their own. Independent thinking has suffered.
After a few years, I had the frustrating feeling that I had all the answers and no one else had them. Well, no wonder.
Now I leave the pace to NASCAR and marathons.
Thinking that people can read my mind
I thought all I had to do was say something once and everyone would understand it. I got irritated when it didn't happen. "We talked about it three months ago," I barked. The intimidated team members said to each other: "Yes, but in reality we only received 50%".