Robert De Niro and
Anne Hathaway, through their movie, The Intern released in 2015, gave a very
interesting lesson to Startups and Entrepreneurs all over the world.
The message was very
simple - Experience Never Gets Old.
A majority of
Startups all over the world are founded by young men and women in their
twenties and possibly in their early thirties. While the ideas are excellent
and their energy levels are great, most startups start to falter within a
couple of years because of poor / inadequate control systems, over aggressive
scaling up, weak financial planning, insufficient focus on people management
etc.
At the same time,
thousands of senior managers are retiring from the corporate world at the young
age of between 60 – 65 years after spending almost four decades in specialized
and general management positions in major and smaller corporations yet, at this
stage of their lives they clearly have at least another decade of work inside
them. This aging and retirement of senior managers is happening in all parts of
the world. These people know what it is like to run businesses and tackle the
challenges of building businesses. They have functional expertise in finance
and accounts, budgeting, packaging, branding, sales, human resources,
governance, legal matters and general management.
There is a huge
opportunity to bring together the vision of the Startup Entrepreneur and the
experience of the older manager in an unobtrusive and non-threatening manner.
Not every senior manager has the energy or the risk taking capability to start
off on their own. The older managers, in the twilight of their careers, are not
yet ready to hang up their gloves. They are looking to stay occupied, earn some
money (which could be in the form an equity option as well) and give back their
life’s learnings. Further, these senior citizens will be much more stable for a
startup – they will not resign and walk away in a hurry because they did not
like the way they may have been spoken to or because another exciting
opportunity has come up.
In addition to watching
the back of the startup entrepreneur and guiding them when the ship hits
troubled waters, such individuals will also bring in strong subject matter
knowledge, from the domains these senior citizens would have spent decades
working in, they will also bring to the table their knowledge gained through
several years of experience in some of the areas outlined below.
1. Good Governance Practices
– All Startups should normally be started with the objective of building a
strong and stable business which can mature into an institution. A strong
senior partner will ensure that the entrepreneur will build good governance and
transparent practices in the organisation. Even something as mundane as
ensuring board meetings are held on time and minutes are properly recorded is
an area where startups have been known to slip up. This comment would not apply
to those entrepreneurs who are looking to create a valuation and then flip the
company to someone else.
2.
Fund Raising
– While most startups are looking for funding from Angel Investors and Private
Equity Investors, there is a large domain of raising funds from banks though
debt and working capital financing. A good finance senior citizen will bring in
much needed contacts and experience to reach out to the banking system.
3.
External Relations
– Most businesses, irrespective of the sector they are addressing, need a
strong connect with the external world. These connections could be with
bureaucrats, politicians, environmental activists or the local councilor. A
strong and experienced senior citizen will have the patience to handle these
external challenges. This could also include developing a strong public
relations contact programme with the print and visual media –while another
group of people would handle the social media contact base.
4.
Legal Processes
– In addition to hiring legal help during formation and fund raising, most
businesses are faced with a lot of legal challenges. Once again, an older and
more experienced manager will bring wisdom in handling such matters – which
cases to pursue and which ones to drop is a critical decision to save valuable
managerial time, resources and of course, money.
5.
Playbook / Standard Operating Procedures
– In the hurry to get started, very often standard operating procedures get
lost in the detail. These need to put in place very early in the game so that
mistakes are not repeated. An experienced manager tasked with this will be able
to put in place such a manual / playbook that would serve the company well into
the long term.
Having mentored
several startup entrepreneurs, I have seen the value a person who has “been
there done that” can provide to a startup entrepreneur. For the entrepreneur,
it is a very lonely job and there are very few people he can trust (other than
a co-founder). Most young entrepreneurs need a sounding board in a
non-threatening manner with someone who has no agenda with the individual or
the business.
I have often said
that the combination of young energetic legs with grey hair would be a win-win
combination for all Startups. To draw a parallel from hockey or football, the
entrepreneur is the centre forward rushing to shoot goals and win while the
older manager is the goal keeper who will protect the companies turf and ensure
that self-goals are not scored!
What is important for
both the parties is to mutually select the right set of individuals. What is
important is to develop mutual trust and confidence between the two individuals
to build a win-win combination for the success of the business.
*******************
The author is the founder Chairman of Guardian Pharmacies
and the author of the best-selling books, Reboot. Reinvent. Rewire: Managing
Retirement in the 21st Century; The Corner Office; An Eye for an Eye and The
Buck Stops Here - Learnings of a #Startup Entrepreneur.
Twitter: @gargashutosh
Instagram: ashutoshgarg56
Blog: ashutoshgargin.wordpress.com |
ashutoshgarg56.blogspot.com
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