Of Failures and Learnings

Seven years ago, I started my first business, Se?ores, a creative company based in S?o Paulo, which I ran for nearly five years after being more than eleven years in the advertising and marketing industry. Damn! How terrific those years were! I met a lot of incredible people, learned a ton, and had numerous accomplishments – we were even lucky enough to have a little article about us on Ad Age, check it out at the end of this article. I won't lie, it was a hell of a rollercoaster, and it was a lot of fun.

But here’s the dark side. Towards the final weeks of Se?ores’ life, around mid-2016, I was spending more time pondering what to do with the business than actually working. My head felt like a busy crossing in a chaotic big city, with lots of thoughts going in different directions with no apparent order. Trust me, you don’t want to be there. Finally, I came to a resolution: it was time to pull the plug. For months after that, the instant answer to justify the decision was that the business environment in Brazil at the time was just not favorable. The fact is, when you’re running a business, you get so obsessed about certain things that you let others go unnoticed right under your nose. Sadly, that was me, and my answer as to why Se?ores needed to be killed was a lazy one. A business does not go down because of one single mistake. And this is what this article is about. I want to enumerate the probable reasons for Se?ores death hoping it will serve as a lesson for anyone out there running a company. 

On the bright side, there was something deep inside me that was saying, “Hey man, this is a just a pause. The game isn’t over yet.” Fast forward to 2019, New York City, and my intuition was precisely right. Friends, I’m back in the game.

But before you move on, please note that all that follows is the product of my own experience and observations. You can think it’s all obvious or even a bunch of clichés. You can also think I’m a complete fool. All good, I’ll take it. However, you should not underestimate the power of the practice. The power of learning by doing and not by theories in books. This experience has made me more skilled and definitely will help me build much stronger foundations for my next company.

So now, without further ado, here’s what you’re here for.

Lesson #1 – Think big, start small.

This comes from my mother, my greatest inspiration when it comes to entrepreneurship and to most of the other things in life. To me, it translates like this: have a vision, know your shit and execute step by step, day by day. Think of a hiker climbing a ten thousand feet mountain. You rarely look up, you just keep going, one foot after the other. Perfect your vision along the way, adjust, place small bets here and there and see what the outcomes are.

Sometimes I was thinking big and acting big as if I had a giant 400-people company around me. Wrong. Love you, Mom.

 Lesson #2 – Believe

Believe in yourself. Believe in your vision. Firmly believe in it. I remember having a chat with Jose Molla, founder and creative director of The Community, during a One Show Creative Retreat, and asking him for tips about how to run a creative business. All he said was "Believe, man." Thanks, Jose. Now I get it. 

Lesson #3 – Clients first

Business is not rocket science, although Elon Musk might say otherwise. It’s a simple equation: you deliver a service or a product for a client who needs it for a certain compensation in exchange. Here's the bottom line: the client comes first. Everything else – branding, office space, etc. – comes later. If there’s no client in need of something, there’s no business. Write this on a piece of paper and stick it to your bedroom wall so every time you wake up, you’ll remember it. I sometimes didn’t. I was so worried about getting a beautiful office, spending shit tons of hours on branding, that I forgot to concentrate on validating my business model as quickly as possible.

Lesson #4 – Build trust

This is a positive story, rather than a failure. We had a very successful tech company as one of our clients. During one of our first meetings with them, I felt the urge to mention that there were fundamental issues with their branding strategy. Even their name needed to be addressed before anything. Everyone but the founder froze at the moment, but I knew I was on the right track and my honesty would pay off. The company recently sold to a major global private equity group for a nine-digit sum, and I know for a fact that the branding work we delivered had a substantial contribution to the transaction. It turned out I’ve built a great relationship with the founder and have become one of his trusted advisors.

 Lesson #5 – Stop looking for the perfect person

You have a mental model of the people you need for your company. Truth is, they don’t exist. In other words, nobody is perfect. Whenever you’re looking for someone to join the company, or if you’re providing feedback to an employee, amplify the qualities and work to improve the weaknesses.

Lesson #6 – Get a partner vs. Don’t get a partner

I recommend reading chapter 3 of The Founder’s Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman. Let me know your thoughts. I needed a partner at the time but perhaps wasn’t quick enough to realize it. I would think that for most first-time entrepreneurs starting with a partner, or co-founder in start-up jargon, is a wise decision. I’m starting a new business by myself, yet I have a group of incredible collaborators and advisors that, for now, are making up for a partner. Lesson learned.

Lesson #7 – Be f****** good at one thing

I’ll be honest here. I mean, more honest than in all other parts of this article. I was too distracted, trying to do too many things. We first decided to do branded content and digital products, at the same time. Obviously two entirely different beasts. Yes, call me insane. Then, as a matter of fate, branding briefs started to come our way. I have to say we had relatively successful case studies for clients, but had I found earlier what really excited us, we would be ten times more profitable and twenty times happier. So the lesson here is: follow what excites you and laser focus on it. 

 Lesson #8 – Take risks

Running a business is about taking risks, and probably the very reason you decided to start or run one in the first place. It’s also about self-confidence and being a good salesperson. That will lead to a second lesson which is: don’t hire a salesperson. If you’ve started a business, you should go out there and sell whatever you have. Do not delegate that to someone else. Don’t be shy. 

Lesson #9 – Trust your intuition

Listen to others but know when to shut the noise up and to trust your intuition. That little voice inside your head is right more often than not. I believe in it, but that’s something very personal. Find yours by yourself. My way of perceiving it has to do with something bigger than you. Almost transcendental. It has to do with us being part of something bigger. Again, it’s personal, and I don’t want to leave you with this thinking I’m a trippy weirdo. Simply put, trust your gut feelings and put your heart in everything you do. Don’t overthink or be too rational. 

Lesson #10 – Try harder

I can’t overstate this enough: If you jumped on the business rollercoaster, resilience should become your surname. Sometimes we can call it pivoting. Perhaps I wasn’t resilient enough when I decided to pull the plug on Se?ores. Maybe I should have pivoted it into something else. Once again, I don’t know. There are so many factors – financial, emotional, and even physical – involved in that kind of decision that only those who go through it know what I’m talking about. All I can say now is that it takes a long, long time to establish a sustainable business. You’ve probably heard of How I Built this, Guy Raz’s podcast at NPR. I want you to go there and point me out one single story of overnight success. I dare you to find it. And you know what, I’ve learned the lesson, and here I go again. Let’s do this! The Force is in da house. 

If you have an unsolvable problem and need an epic solution really quick (in 6 days to be more precise!), give a shout and let’s chat. If you’re tired of your 9-to-5 with endless and unproductive meetings, toxic politics, etc., shoot me an email. I can promise you we do things very very differently here. Let’s do this together. 

Big things happen when we all connect.

*As promised, here’s the link to the Ad Age article about Se?ores.

Oh, and before you go, here's The Force.