In The Beginning

Almost everyone I know asked me how things went this week. They made big deals out of me being a C E O. Don’t get me wrong, I love and appreciate the support and love. But, in my head, I hadn’t thought too much about the title and what it means. 

I suppose it is kinda a big deal but the week was relatively uneventful. Very similar to starting a new leadership role at any startup. Questions, questions, questions. And, more questions. Lots to learn and get my head around. 

In startups we have a term, “it feels a bit like drinking from a fire hose”. But, I’ve realised that this is one of my favourite parts. Sadistic I know but for me, it’s all about learning. New experiences, new knowledge and new skills. Interesting for someone who hated school and uni. Maybe that talks to the structure of education vs learning. But, that’s another blog for another time.

The one big difference being the CEO coming into the business is I need to get my head around not just my one or two departments as I’ve done in the past. But, this time I need to get my head around the entire business. So that’s a little level up.

So where did I begin? Well, typical Type-A, ex-product manager that I am. I had to put some structure and discipline around my own onboarding.

My focus for week one.

• Put a draft 30/60/90 day plan together.

• Meet every person in the company.

• The initial draft for Vision, purpose and values.

• Set a basic structure for company meeting cadences.

I knew the founder and board would want to see a basic plan for how I would tackle my first 3 months at Wirely. Luckily for me (and them), I love a bit of project management.

I started by simplifying a high-level focus for each 30-day block.

30 days = learning.60 days = review and assess learnings,  plan changes.90 days - begin implementing changes.

I may need to do some implementation earlier than 90 days. And, I will continue learning the business way past the initial 30 days. But, this way means I would force myself to go slow and learn the business before pulling any triggers. It’s worked for me in the past.

The best way I found to structure my 3-month plan is to break it down into categories and departments. 

Below are the categories I used (They’re in priority order for me).

1. People

2. Systems

3. Cash

4. Strategy

The classifications above can then fit into each department of the business. E.g Sales, Retention, Marketing etc. An example of tasks for People are:

• What is the current culture?

• What is the current org structure?

• How are we hiring & onboarding?

It might be a little over the top and it may seem complicated but, in fact, it makes it much simpler to get my head around things. There will of course be some cross-over. For example, in Cash, I’ve put salary reviews. But, that could just as easily sit under People. This worked for me.

I spent at least an hour with every current employee. Getting to know them, their experience thus far and where they saw themselves in the company. I also gave them insight into my background and experience. I am aware that it must be daunting to get a new business leader in the company. I wanted to reduce any anxiety around that as soon as I could.

I implemented daily team stand-ups and weekly company all-hands. For young companies the better you pulse together the quicker you’ll grow together. It also sets a good foundation for me to learn more without spending 1:1 time with each department.

And, last but definitely not least, I started drafting some of the fluffy stuff - purpose and values. We are going to win with culture and people. I am a big believer that company values are key to both. It brings people together and helps us navigate some of the roads we’ll travel in the future. It will make sure we’re all more or less aligned on the important decisions. I will dig a little into these in another blog.

Week 1 closed with a board meeting which went well. I will also touch on these in later blogs. 

Bring on week 2.

Peace, love and muscles.

JarrenThe Beginner CEO

What I’m ReadingThe Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben HorowitzThere is nothing easy about building a business. Ben speaks about the hard times and hard decisions. And, how to get past them and grow very successful businesses. It’s been on my list for years. The timing seems right.

Podcast I Loved This WeekSleep Toolkit - Huberman LabIf you’ve read my newsletters before you’ll know I am obsessed with optimisation. Specifically around health and wellness. Sleep is an area I am particularly fascinated with. Huberman is a neuroscientist and in this episode, he gives some great tools to optimise sleep. Highly recommended.