10 Lessons (+1) From 10 Years as an Accidental Founder

?? Hey

We launched Scede 10 years ago this month. Could we have imagined that idea would be the start of us building a fully-fledged company? ?

Rewind a decade, I had a very young child, a month’s worth of bills money to my name, and a vague idea.

We had some strong opinions about the recruitment landscape at the time. Back then, we where determined that we could shape it into something better - something that showed the power of recruitment as a craft.??

Back then, “Embedded Talent” wasn’t a term. For us, it was essentially all the best parts of agency, in-house and RPO smooshed into one super accessible solution.??I had no idea this would soon become a well-loved and relied-upon category of the recruitment industry.?

I also had no idea we’d play such a part in the growth stories of some of the tech companies and games studios we’ve supported over the years. Too many to name, but scaling teams for the likes of Supercell, Graphcore, Rovio, Klarna … I still have to pinch myself.?

And I certainly had no idea that I would be lucky enough to be joined on this journey by a group of crazy talented and skilled recruiters along the way.

I’m not usually one to “mark” occasions. I tend to let them pass subtly. But it felt a shame not to recognise this one. A whole decade.?So I thought I’d share some of my biggest, personal learnings from building and scaling Scede.

Learnings from a self-confessed accidental Founder who - really - at the beginning had no idea.? These are my reflections - warts and all.

?? Move *****, Get Out The Way?

Scale yourself out of responsibilities as soon as you can afford to do so.?

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of being the cheapest resource in the house - doing a part-time (often poor) job in what should be several full-time positions led by experts in their field.?

You’ll get burned out, and let’s be honest, do a pretty naff job at the many roles you’re trying to occupy. There’ll also be a huge opportunity cost as you won’t be fully focusing on what you “should” be doing.?

P.S. It's also not easy to do if you are me. Our Leadership team will testify.

?? Do You See What I See

Ensure your senior leadership team has access to the same information as you.

Your company is your baby. You have unrestricted access to all information, reporting, historical context, and past experiences. So you likely have a 6th sense when it comes to what’s right and wrong for your business.?

But hoarding this - keeping it to yourself - won’t do you any good.?

If you can’t share and properly articulate what you see, as well as what you’re thinking and even why, you can’t really expect to effectively scale quality decision-making and impactful goal setting.?

Be transparent. Provide context. Let your leaders in. Then refer to point 1 - get out of the way ??

?? Honesty is the best policy?

Your integrity and how you communicate are two of the very few things in business that you are truly 100% in control of.?

Honesty, openness, respectful candour. There are many different versions of it.?

But I’ve learnt over time that whether it’s good news or bad news, comfortable or uncomfortable, easy to deliver or hard - the truth is the truth and it’ll always prevail.?

Being fully transparent as a leader, not overprotecting your team and shielding them is one of the hardest skills to develop. But your people - and your company - will thank you for it in the long run, even if not at the time.

?? Exceptional service leads to customer acquisition

Do exactly what you say you’re going to do - deliver on your promise, and then some. It’s really as simple as that.?

The concept of word-of-mouth marketing and the power of testimony is as old as sales itself I’m sure. I remember reading books on this stuff when I was just starting out - no idea - noting down that I should keep a binder of written recommendations.

I thought this might be too self-gratuitous.?But it’s true.

Having customers that are genuinely happy and will advocate the quality of your delivery in a crowded market should be a top priority for any services company.?

And on the flip side of this, do whatever you can not to f*ck it up. If you do, learn quickly, admit to any mistakes and get going again.?

?? Cash is king?

As a CEO one of your absolute priorities will be to keep the business afloat for today, tomorrow and hopefully, many many years to come.?

Your profitability will likely go through different phases. From loss-making to breakeven and healthy margins. As many companies - including us - have witnessed over the last year or so, there will be outside factors that can impact this.?

In my view, to weather the inevitable storms you’ll face, you need to make and bank a percentage of profits.?

When I started out, I was great at my craft - recruiting - but sh*t at accounting. And I’d hazard a guess that could be the case for other Founders out there. But knowing your numbers and building a consistent profit margin can often determine your survival as a business.??

?? Happy employees = happy customers?

Possibly one of the oldest cliches in the book, but a happy workforce really does deliver happy customers.?

Over the years we’ve tracked NPS both internally amongst our team, and externally with our customers. Within decimal points, these 2 metrics have consistently come in pretty much aligned.?

Knowing the motivations of your people, understanding that these can shift from individual to individual and being mindful of how this bakes into their experience as an employee is key.?

You might not always be able to give them what they want all the time, but at the very least you can have an open and honest conversation about it.

?? Metrics matter?

Define the specific success measures for every part of your company - not just your products.?

We tend to obsess over customer-facing data and often it’s an afterthought to measure the performance of your internal products and operations with the same level of emphasis.?

Being able to give your leaders ownership of numbers, enabling them identify and implement areas of improvement to move the needle is an essential part of scaling with quality.?

?? Building a hotel is different to running one

Founder and CEO often come together by way of job title. But really they have very different meanings.?

Founder is first in. Obsessive, hustling, building and balancing a million things across a broad set of problems.?

As CEO, you’re typically setting conditions and empowering others to solve them effectively.?

Now, anyone who’s worked with me knows my bias is the former. I just can’t help myself. From experience, transitioning to “CEO” isn’t as easy as it sounds - particularly as the company scales.

It wasn’t for me anyways - but I can say it’s a rewarding journey!!?

?? A hole is better than an a-hole

Hiring the right people into your company cannot be emphasized enough.?

We’ve all been there. Max capacity, missed revenue opportunities, stuff moving too slow to keep up pace.?

Must. Scale. Team. Quickly.

Next thing you know, you’re actively interviewing, the feedback for the finalist is good and deep down you know something isn’t right.?

I learned the phrase in this sections title from a previous customer and it really stuck with me.

Saying “no hire” and suffering the capacity issue until you make the right hire is 100% better than a cultural catastrophe - and I couldn’t agree more.?

?? Michael Phelps your competition

There’s a famous photo of swimmer Michael Phelps and his competitor Le Clos.?

Le Clos had trash-talked Michael Phelps in the past, to which Phelps gracefully responded “I’m going to let what I do in the pool do my talking”.?

Le Clos focused on Phelps. Phelps focused on his goal; the finish line.

Every business has competition. It can be tempting to say “X is already at 300 people” or “Y is launching in Brazil” and be swayed by their actions. But these aren’t conversations I entertain.?

Not out of arrogance or disrespect. I actually refer to our competitors as peers in our industry.?

But when it comes to competition, you have two choices - focus on them, or focus on delivering results for your company, your clients, and your people.?

The latter is what keeps me looking forwards, not sideways.?

?? It’s totally and utterly worth it

For all the ups and downs, sleepless nights and probably a few tears - it’s insanely rewarding. Stick with it folks!

As a father, I do see business as a bit like parenting. For the majority of the time you’re shattered, juggling naps, feeds, sacrificing time to yourself - then there’s that smile that makes it all worthwhile.?

Let’s be honest, you’re absolutely crazy for starting a company with all that is to be endured on the path to success. But it’s a hell of a ride and the highs certainly outweigh the lows.?

?? Bye for now

If any of this resonates, or you want to have a chat - feel free to drop me a DM here on Linkedin.

Always open to connecting with those going through a similar journey and helping however I can.?