1

Managing the Start-up

Estonia 2009

Rémi Walbaum

www.venturelab.ch - une initiative de l'Agence pour la promotion de l'innovation CTI

- Slide 2

Remi Walbaum

2

- Slide 3

Remi Walbaum

 Passion

 Independent

 Risk

- Slide 4

Remi Walbaum 5 T’s

 Experience sharing

 Cokin: Travel autonomy

 De Vere: Timing is critical

 Axe: Talk the customer language

 Le shop Try not to educate

 Fleur de Pains Turn upside down

3

- Slide 5

Plan

 Management ?  Finance  Timing  Information  Organization  Team  Finance  Crisis  Management Tools

- Slide 6

Management

 Control Vs Out of Control

4

- Slide 7

Management Key Words

 Anticipate

  Prepare

  Care for People

- Slide 8

What is your role ?

 Fulfill the Mission

  Stick to the Objectives

  Jump barriers

5

- Slide 9

What is your role ?

  Put people in movement

  Including yourself…

- Slide 10

Finance

 Secure Finance

 Burn Rate

 Cash Flow

 Payrolls first

 Sales Funnel

6

- Slide 11

Timing

 Milestones

 Monitor Market Movements

- Slide 12

Information

 Essentials infos to run the Business

 Communication channel  Internal External  Formal Informal  Frequency

7

- Slide 13

Organization: Corporate governance  Organization

 Communication

 Rules

 Be flexible, plan for change

 Professional as of day 1

 Say what you have in mind

 Design the model that suits your business

Board

CEO

R&D Test and production

Marketing and sales

Admin & HR

- Slide 14

Team: Plan

 Assess needs

 Competing for people

 Internal versus external resources

 Build a team

8

- Slide 15

Team: Asess Needs

 Role of the Founder's)

 What other skills are key to the business

 When do you need those skills?

 When can you afford them ?

- Slide 16

Team : Competing for people

 Reward risk takers

 Fight for the good Resources

 Efficient people operational tommorrow

9

- Slide 17

Team: Internal vs External resources

Advantages of external resources

Drawbacks of external resources

Case by Case

•  Variable cost •  Focused expertise •  Fast / available •  Committment level

•  High unit cost •  Loss of internal expertise •  Relative Priority •  Committment level

Legal

Accounting Planning Logistics

Technical Dev

Sales

Marketing

Specific cases

Research

- Slide 18

Team: the Process

Identify Required Profiles

Induction Motivation

Performance Review,

Promotion Resignation

Recruitment

Legal and contractual

Compensation Dismissal

10

- Slide 19

Team. When it works

Inattention to

Results Avoidance of

Accountability

Lack of

Commitment

Fear of

Conflict

Absence of

Trust

From

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

” by Patrick Lencioni, Copyright 2002 by Patrick Lencioni Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

- Slide 20

Crisis Management

 Handle it

 Look after yourself as well

 Analyze with others

 Decide

 Apply

11

- Slide 21

Crisis Management

 Never attempt a turnaround with a team of people you do not know.

 Get reliable information  Cash, Cash, Cash  Focus on customers and prospects.  Communicate, all the time.  When you cut back, make sure you cut enough

 Make a list of what is critical to survival and what's just "nice to have".

 Don't leave any skeletons in the closet.

- Slide 22

Company“DNA” is made by its team

  The entrepreneur is the cornerstone of the company’s culture   Give the tone and spirit of the company   Communicate   Know that everything you do does communicate

  Team interaction models to culture

12

- Slide 23

People

 Eg: Fleur de Pains Votre Responsable

23

Management Tools

13

- Slide 25

What are management tools ?

  The key information you and your team needs to

  Invest time in defining early   What information ?   When you need ?

  The key to anticipation

  Figures   What you can’t measure, you can’t manage

- Slide 26

The Management cockpit

Strategy should not be revised often Decisions are 200 times per day

  The entrepreneur @ the heart of this process

  Show the way

14

- Slide 27

The Management cockpit

A must…like in a plane. ;-)

  All necessary indicators to make a decision and follow them up.

  That relates and reminds you, your strategy.

  Requires constant discipline

- Slide 28

The Management cockpit

Output

  Decision process

  Differentiate intuition from facts

  Sharing information or not

15

- Slide 29

The Cockpit infrastructure

  Identify flows of information   Information flows vary according to the company’s size   Build the necessary IT infrastructure

Personnal management

The Cockpit

Finance

Marketing and Sales

Human Ressources

Production Project

Management

Others

  Consolidation area   For the Pilot only

- Slide 30

The Management cockpit

  Design your own management cockpit and KPI, based on the same general concept

  Set time apart to do it regularly

  Keep the strategy visible   Control the info flow

  Then Decide …   Action   Communication

  Tools   Dr George’s book   Excell sheet   Netsuite.com   …

16

- Slide 31

Personal management

  Use the personal effectiveness tools   Prioritize the issues (Urgent –

Important matrix)

  Monitor yourself like you monitor your staff

  Check your own efficiency   Integrate your own situation

(conditions, week cycle)   Health evaluation

  Build and Maintain the NETWORK !

  Tools

  Mind maps   Free:

mmpersonal30-2e.exe   Commercial: Mindjet (+

Gyronix for projects)   To do lists

  Act – Outlook   Plaxo   Online (Xing,, …)

- Slide 32

Time Management Matrix

Not urgent Urgent

Leadership Planning Empowering Visioning

Reactive Crises Deadlines meetings

Important

Waste Trivia Junk mail Busy work

Deception Interruptions Email Phone calls

Not important

17

- Slide 33

Seven habits of highly effective people

1.  Be proactive - act or be acted upon 2.  Begin with the end in mind- lead yourself to your

personal vision 3.  Put first things first – organize and execute around

priorities 4.  Think win/win – always seek mutual benefit 5.  Seek first to understand, then to be understood –

empathetic listening and deep understanding 6.  Synergize – discover creative alternatives in

collaboration with others 7.  Renew yourself – physical, mental, social, and

spiritual nature

- Slide 34

Finance

  Monthly P&L

  Indicators   Cost of good sold   Burn Rate   Cash flow   Debt ratio

  Results YTD (Year to Date)

  History of business

  Tools   Accounting software

  External accountant

18

- Slide 35

Marketing and sales

  Pipeline   Quality and quantity

  Conversion rate   Retention rate   Process time for contact to

cash in   Start your Customer

Relationship Management (CRM) from day 1   5 top customers !

  Business Intelligence   Competitors   Market

  Tools   Excel table   CRM solutions   Salesforce.com,

eCRM.com, …

- Slide 36

Human Ressources

  HR Administration (salary, …)

  Headcount   Missing / opportunities   Training   Competences – skills

  Productivity ratio   Quality ratio   Personality assessment

  Climax scale

  Tools   Chamber of commerce /

Insurances / Accounting firms offer HR management for salary,

  Insight discovery Personality test

  Strength finder team (education.gallup.com > Strengthfinder !)

19

- Slide 37

Production

  Production level   KPI per business

  Project management   Ressources   Deadline   Budget

  Identify and share knowledge

  Tools   Intranet   Groove (P2P intranet)   Egroupware.com   Alextra.com,

Companyintranet.com, …

- Slide 38

Others

  IP issues

  Innovation process

  … Any relevant issue for your business   R&D Rate   Risk Evaluation   Number of contacts made   …

20

- Slide 39

The trivial many situations or problems (80% of the time expended) produce 20% of the results

The critical few situations or problems(20% of the time expended) produce 80% of the results

Plan your time to concentrate on the most productive activities

The PARETO time principle

- Slide 40

  Make sure you enjoy what you are doing

  If not the others will notice and adapt

 Have Fun doing it…

21

- Slide 41

Thank you for your attention