Fargo Monthly March 2014

Page 41

are branching out across the nation they have to reformat the way things are done at Myriad, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “You have to keep changing who you are to get to the next level,” Raguse said. “A $1 million company thinks differently than a $10 million company and a $10 million company thinks differently than a $100 million company… You have to be able to identify ‘How am I going to do things differently? How am I going to be a better leader?’” The business partners must have found a process that works as they have worked with Fortune 500 companies like Bobcat, Crystal Sugar and Microsoft. Raguse and Joraanstad ­aren’t forgetting where they came from, though. They have seen the startup community grow in Fargo and they have helped contribute to it. Maintaining that entrepreneurial spirit is very important to them. “It’s fun for us because in the startup community, we’re the big dogs in a way…” Joraanstad said. “That just gives us as much opportunity to help as we can… Everybody in the company is involved, in one way or another, helping other startups… That’s fun that we can do all that and contribute and grow the community.”

“Because we’re niched, focused and aggressive in our sales strategy, that’s why we’re winning.” - Jake Joraanstad

Jake & Ryan’s

FIVE TIPS

Myriad’s “Winter Survival Kit” app was their first app to receive national exposure. Myriad also develops apps for businesses such as the one pictured above that was made for Bobcat.

TO A SUCCESSFUL STARTUP

1. Know the difference between

4. Invest your life in your

most of your time doing the tactical work. That’s what will actually start paying the bills. Strategy can only enhance the company; tactical work will actually create it.

hours is out. If you still want to work traditional hours then you probably still view this as a job and need to find something else that you are passionate enough to take on wholeheartedly.

strategy and tactical work: Spend

2. Keep overhead low: When

inexperienced people start a company, they think the first thing they need is a fancy office and great letterhead; do these last. Any money should go straight to product development and/or into direct costs.

3. Blow peoples' minds: When new,

you probably have no marketing budget and nobody knows about you. Focus on doing things that blow peoples’ minds or gets people talking in a big way. Do something big.

business: Working traditional

5. Ideas are useless without

execution: Forget about how great your idea is and focus on building a team to execute greatly on that idea.

myriadmobile.com facebook.com/ myriadmobile linkedin.com/ company/myriaddevices-llc

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