Our business essentially focuses on leadership development because our view is that managers are actually doing the heavy lifting in terms of leadership within organisations, but they're not given the tools, recognition or the title of “leader” that goes with this until they’re very senior.
So, there's a sort of irony, whereby a lot of organisations only provide the resources and leadership training when you’ve already been doing the job for some time.
We therefore wanted to help managers refine these skills as early in their careers as possible; to help them understand the challenge of leadership and to acquire the skills and the confidence to excel in this through an affordable platform in order to have an impact globally.
So, we founded the business initially in 2020 and we’ve been commercially active since March 2021. In 2022 we raised a significant amount of angel investment and have continued to secure more since, so I’m really proud of our network of investors who are also actively advocating for improved leadership in their organisations and networks. It was this funding that then allowed us to start expanding the business beyond just the two of us as co-founders. Since then, we’ve grown the team to 12 people and have hired 9 people in the last 12 months alone!
As a business, we now have approximately 50 active clients and around 70% of our business comes from a repeat client base which we are also really proud of as it means that each year any new business that we secure likely stays on for the long run.
I think finding the right people is always a challenge when you have a start-up, as some people realise that working in this kind of business model isn’t suited to them, or might not quite grasp what’s needed. The start-up world is scrappy, and you really need to be able to roll up your sleeves, be tech-savvy and not think about where's the department that does this and that because it doesn't exist.
But we’re usually quick to recognise if someone isn’t a great fit, we’ve hired a lot of individuals since 2022 but have also amicably parted with many who decided on a different route. Personally, I don’t feel that there’s a big issue if somebody gives us their best for a short period of time, but then finds something else that they would prefer to be doing.
We've hired nine people this year alone and, while three of them have left, that’s still significant growth for us and we’re excited to keep expanding the team.
There are 130 million managers in the world and, apparently,80% of them have had no formal training. Our goal is to make a significant dent in that ocean and create a really powerful societal impact.
Untrained managers can really wreak havoc and spread misery in a workplace when they could be a fantastic gift to a team if they had the resources, so there's no limit to what we can achieve and the ripple effects that our service can provide. We’re moving fast and want to upskill as many managers as we can.
It's a funny one because sometimes, the more you talk toothers, the more you'll go around in circles. I think that speaking with others and looking in textbooks can be helpful, but potentially dangerous; no one's building the business you're building, right? So, that’s the main thing to remember: think about what kind of organisation you envision and back yourself to be unique in your approach and offering.
My advisor, who I value very highly, once said:
"Look,don't ever stop doing what you're really good at. It doesn't matter whether you're the CEO, the chair, or the founder. There's a sort of magic that youbring and that you need to keep at it for as long as you can.”
So, in light of that, my advice would be to ask yourself what is that secret weapon that you bring to the table? What's your magic? And wield that power for as long as possible.
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