Fifo Capital Q4 2018 NZ by Headway magazine

FIFO CAPITAL

Thinking ahead for success

QUARTER 4 I 2018

Kathryn Minshew: building a business about people Innovative businesses rely on strong cash flow management Jack Dorsey: taking social media to the next level Business growth depends on embracing change Take advantage of multiple generations in your workforce Catriona Wallace: reimagining customer experience

When expertise counts Not all business finance needs can be solved with vanilla solutions. When an expert sounding-board is needed, Fifo Capital can help: • One-on-one consultancy (complimentary) with a business finance specialist • Fast response and approval of finance (24 hours) to meet changing business needs • Consultancy in partnership with your financial advisers and with banking facilities • Solution-solvers for short term needs, and long term sustainability.

When your business finance needs demand expert thinking and purpose-fit solutions, call Fifo Capital on 0800 86 34 36

is a leading provider of business finance solutions, specialising in solving short term finance needs fast with purpose-fit solutions and one-on-one expert consultancy. With over ten years supporting clients across all industries, our specialists work with the unique complexities of business clients, to identify finance solutions that are appropriate for both short term needs and long term sustainability. Working alongside clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; financial professional advisers and in harmony with their existing banking facilities, our finance solutions are very often bespoke to each client and designed to fit their specific need at that point in time. Since launching in 2004, Fifo Capital has established more than 70 offices across New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada, and provided business owners $1 billion growth capital finance.

About

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Welcome

As the sun begins to set on 2018, I’ve been revisiting the year to identify any patterns that could provide interesting insights. The obvious place to look first is the balance sheet, but as a business leader I’m more interested in people and how we serve them. Whilst it’s been an incredibly eventful year, and we’ve written about many topics, the recurring theme I noticed was “empowerment”. This is not something that we’ve consciously set out to promote. Nonetheless, helping business owners become stronger and therefore more confident in their futures, is exactly what we do at Fifo Capital. We empower our clients with a combination of alternative and modern finance solutions including invoice finance, trade finance, supply chain finance and unsecured business loans. They are especially powerful when combined to create a financial toolbox that creates opportunities for growth. In 2018 we continued to observe other business leaders’ approaches, to help maintain motivation and inspire action toward the realisation of your ultimate goals. This edition of Headway illustrates how creating a great customer experience can be one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies you can implement. This can see customers become brand evangelists with word of mouth referrals that can help keep you cash flow positive.

We also look at maintaining focus and motivation – which in many ways is about controlling your stress levels; developing positive company cultures; promoting generational diversity to empower your team; embracing change and innovation to drive growth; and how you don’t have to create a disruptive product or business model to succeed – simply improve the status quo. Businesses are built by the people who work in them. The skills, attitude, culture, and engagement of a business’ team affects the quality of its products, its ability to innovate, and its ability to manage and adapt to change. Empower your people and watch your business grow. In 2019, the world outside your immediate environment will continue to spin. Global trade wars, more Brexit dramas, nationalism versus patriotism arguments, and something new everyday will attempt to capture your attention. Instead, focus on what you can change and never give up on your goals, because success beyond your imagination might be just around the corner. I hope this issue of Headway inspires you, and that you and your family enjoy a happy and safe holiday season. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas 2018. See you in 2019. Best regards, N igel Thomson Fifo Capital Founder and CEO

Kathryn Minshew: building a business about people Innovative businesses rely on strong cash flow management Business success means finding your motivation Innovative company cultures are built on communication Jack Dorsey: taking social media to the next level Great customer experiences are key for SME growth Business growth depends on embracing change Take advantage of multiple generations in your workforce Startup success relies on timing and time management Catriona Wallace: reimagining customer experience

Published by Fifo Capital International Ltd. Headway magazine is published four times a year. Copyright ÂŠ 2016 by Fifo Capital International Ltd. Email info@fifocapital.com. Visit www.fifocapital.com. All rights reserved.

Contents

Kathryn Minshew: building a business about people At the age of 33, and with an estimated net worth of $2.3 million USD, Kathryn Minshew, the founder and CEO of career portal The Muse, doesn’t fit the profile of big Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Rather, her career resonates with the experience of many young entrepreneurs today, and offers us unique insights that we can apply in our own businesses.

“Understanding your employee's perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.” 1

After losing her life savings in a failed entrepreneurial venture in 2010, Minshew launched The Muse with the help of her co-founders, Alexandra Cavoulacos and Melissa McCreery in 2011. She was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list the same year, and has been instrumental in shaping and growing the business, which has now helped over 50 million professionals find new jobs. While

her career as an entrepreneur had a rough start, her talents as a leader, and her attitude toward her employees ultimately ensured her success.

Early career Minshew originally aspired to work for the US State department as a foreign service officer, and interned at the US embassy in Cyprus. After experiencing a change of heart while working there, she founded her first business, Pretty Young Professionals (PYP), along with 3 co-founders. The business, which focused on providing career development and facilitating job searches for women, was built on Minshew’s own frustrations with finding a suitable position after returning to the US in 2009. She recalls making it to the final round of interviews, only to realise that she wasn’t comfortable with the business’ atmosphere and culture. PYP, and later The Muse, were conceived to address this issue much earlier in the application process.

Less than a year later, she and another co-founder were forced out of the business without any kind of compensation. This failed venture eventually led to the creation of her current and highly successful venture, The Muse, in 2011.

Harnessing the power of people While her former co-founders retained most of PYP’s assets, Minshew had the confidence of her team. After explaining the situation to the employees she had recruited for PYP, the entire team stayed with her and Cavoulacos to support them in their next venture, The Muse. Operating in the same industry as PYP, Minshew was able to make immediate use of her and her team’s existing experience to get the new business off the ground. This provided her with an important lesson, that businesses are built by the people who work in them.

Kathryn Minshew and The Muse co-founder, Alexandra Cavoulacos

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According to Minshew it’s best to simply try new things to find out whether they work. If not, it’s no big deal, they simply move on.

As a result of their work, The Muse was accepted into tech accelerator YCombinator in 2012, securing $1.2 million in seed funding in 2013. By 2016, the company managed to secure investments totalling nearly $29 million.

Creating a culture of innovation When looking at her company, it’s immediately obvious that Minshew believes in her employees first and foremost, and takes an active hand in developing the business’ company culture. Moreover, she embraces and prioritises experimentation and innovation in the workplace. On a structural level this is evident through the amount of latitude given to team leaders, and her hands-off attitude toward her subordinates. It’s also reflected in her openness to change and simply trying things out. Employees attend weekly “Things that suck” meetings, where tasks are nominated that will be distributed among an entire group in order to minimise the time any one person has to spend on particularly onerous work. Currently, they’re experimenting with allowing 3

done an excellent job of harnessing the talent that was available to her. The skills, attitude, culture, and engagement of a business’ team affects the quality of its products, its As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to focus primarily ability to innovate, and its ability to on investors and potentially disruptive ideas, manage and adapt while largely ignoring the issue of talent. to change. This is starkly visible when looking at Minshew’s story in employees to bring infants to work. regard to PYP. While her former coAccording to Minshew it’s best to founders walked away with all of the simply try new things to find out company’s assets, Minshew got the whether they work. If not, it’s no big team. Today, she is by far the most deal, they simply move on. successful of the four.

What we can learn

While certainly innovative, The Muse isn’t built on any particularly disruptive product, and while it’s wellfunded, it also doesn’t owe its success to lavish spending. Rather, it’s about supporting and depending on people. The mission of the business itself is to improve the way that people find jobs, and to give people the tools to do so. Beyond that, Minshew has

As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to focus primarily on investors and potentially disruptive ideas, while largely ignoring the issue of talent. This is a problem, because businesses are ultimately made up of the people who work in them. In order to attract the investment they need, to innovate, and to grow, businesses first need a team that’s up to the challenge.

We’re here to help. Business finance when you need it. • Solution-solvers for short term needs, and long term sustainability.

Working capital to support and grow your business We know that the working capital your business needs to support and grow can easily exceed what other financiers can approve. And that’s where we can help, with flexible financial options from $10,000 to $1 million. We understand, because we’re business owners like you When you talk to us, you’re talking to a business owner like you. We’re a privately held finance company, which means we can be innovative in our approach and work When with your our business finance needs demand closely customers. expert thinking and purpose-fit solutions, call Fifo Capital.

Contact Fifo Capital today 0800 86information. 34 36 fifocapital.co.nz for more 0800 86 34 36 fifocapital.co.nz

We’re all about keeping things simple – from a single point-of-contact who’s also the decision maker, to a 24-hours turnaround time… all with minimal paperwork. We don’t require long term contracts or property security – and it’s up to you when you choose to use our services and when to stop. All with no impact on your existing lending arrangements In fact, banks often recommend us as preferred short-term funding option. And because we work as a complementary service, there’s no need to refinance your current funding facilities.

Innovative businesses rely on

strong cash flow managem Entrepreneurs are inherently risk takers. They know that successfully creating a new business, standing out in a competitive industry, and eventually growing to prominence all depend on finding ways to stand out, and to provide new and innovative solutions to customers. It’s not a simple endeavour, of course, to leverage this knowledge to reach entrepreneurial success. Developing those solutions requires research, experimentation, and time.

Innovative businesses need innovative employees, expertise, and the resources to test and implement new ideas. All of these things cost money that many businesses don’t have to spare unless that investment produces returns within a reasonable timeframe. This is one important reason that businesses all over the world, cite a lack of financing as their primary impediment to growth. In order to develop innovative ideas, businesses first need funds, and the necessary cash flow solutions to manage the risk of potential setbacks.

Innovation is financially unpredictable A single great idea can disrupt an entire industry, but a bad idea that looked good on paper can cause serious financial problems for an unprepared business. Moreover, even good products don’t always sell as expected, leading to lost investments, or potentially damaging supply shortages. The most common issue, however, is the innovative process itself. Product and process development aren’t things that can be easily forced into a budget and a timeframe. Sooner or later, every business will eventually find itself over budget, and out of time.

In this situation, businesses, especially relatively small startups, often won’t have access to additional funds through investors or their primary lenders. Moreover, those who do likely wouldn’t have weeks or months to wait on a loan application. Instead, they need fast funding options that are specifically designed to help them deal with cash flow issues in real time.

Alternative finance provides the tools businesses need Unlike typical lending institutions, alternative finance institutions like Fifo Capital allow businesses to get the funding they need, when they need it. Rather than wading through complex loan applications and waiting for weeks, businesses can use these tools to deal with a cash flow issue in hours or days. Invoice finance Invoice finance is a way to give your business an advance on incoming revenues. Rather than borrowing money, businesses trade an outstanding invoice for a payment of most of its value. Because this doesn’t work like a loan, it doesn’t require time consuming credit checks, and doesn’t cost any interest. Instead, the fee is clearly set up front, and taken out of the client’s payment of the invoice, rather than

Innovative businesses need innovative employees, expertise,

ement

and the resources to test and implement new ideas. All of these things cost money that many businesses don’t have to spare unless that investment produces returns within a reasonable timeframe.

billed to the business to be paid later. The financial institution goes on to collect the outstanding client payment on your behalf, before paying out the remaining funds, less the predetermined fee.

Supply chain finance Where invoice financing helps businesses by boosting revenues, supply chain finance makes it possible to defer outgoing payments for a time. It works by allowing businesses to finance supplier payments through an investorsupplied credit fund with Fifo Capital, instead of paying out of pocket. The balance on that fund can then be paid off at a later date. This is designed to allow businesses to keep their suppliers well funded, and their supply chains stable, even when short term revenues aren’t meeting expectations. By deferring outgoing payments, businesses can spend more of their current working capital on more pressing issues, such as getting a new product released, or making up for a budget shortfall.

A good financial toolbox creates opportunities for growth Unlike traditional loans, these tools aren’t necessarily designed

to directly fund your business’ expansion. Rather, they’re meant to give businesses the power to manage their cash flow, so that their operations can’t be disrupted by any individual short-term cash flow issues. For a business that’s looking to disrupt its industry, that means being able to invest in your future much more safely. Specifically, projects that run behind schedule or over budget can be bolstered to ensure their success. In more serious circumstances, when an innovative idea doesn’t pay off, it allows businesses to consolidate funds in order to recover without suffering potential impacts on their operations. Businesses who don’t have this kind of financial security aren’t as able to manage risks, or to deal with cash flow interruptions. As a result, they have no choice but to limit their innovative activities. This conservative approach leaves them at a competitive disadvantage, and forces them to follow in the footsteps of others, trying to keep up instead of taking on a leading role. By educating themselves about the tools that are available, and putting them to use effectively, businesses can step out of this disadvantaged position, and set themselves up as industry trend setters, rather than followers.

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Business success means finding This motivation is surprisingly easy to lose, as indicated by an informal survey by MyBusiness, which found that 41% of 282 respondent Australian business owners could no longer name a personal reason for being self employed.

Founding and running a business is a taxing experience, both in the short and long term. Going on to transform a new startup into a successful and growing enterprise is a downright herculean task. The road to success is long, and can often be discouraging. Considering this, it’s understandable that a large majority or new businesses never make it past their first year, and many of those that do never grow to become significant names in their industry.

To consistently put in the time and effort that your business needs in order to distinguish itself and grow, entrepreneurs need powerful motivation, and the ability to stay motivated and focused even in difficult circumstances. This motivation is surprisingly easy to lose, as indicated by an informal survey by MyBusiness, which found that 41 percent of 282 respondent Australian business owners could no longer name a personal reason for being self employed. For their businesses to succeed, business owners need to find what motivates them, and put in the work to stay motivated in the long term.

Understand why you’re in business

Initial motivations for starting a business can vary widely. Some entrepreneurs are looking for wealth or prestige, while others want to solve a larger problem with their product or service. Still others just want to be their own boss, or enjoy the idea of creating something bigger than themselves. Whatever your personal reasons may be, it’s important to be consciously aware

of them. Identifying your primary motivations, and updating them as you and your circumstances change and evolve, defines what success means for your business both in the short and long term. With that knowledge, you can begin to focus on how to achieve success.

Set goals to create a path to success

Motivation isn’t just built on a purpose, but also on the expectation of success. Once the question of why you’re in business is settled, it’s time to address how your business will serve that purpose. That means setting goals, and developing strategies for how to achieve those goals. An entrepreneur seeking worldwide recognition and reach, for example, might set goals related to building international business relationships, courting international investment, and establishing a subsidiary in another country. This serves to break down monumentally large and somewhat vague grand purposes into smaller, concrete, and much more achievable goals.

your motivation

Staying motivated in the long term

Maintaining your motivation to achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself is, in many ways, about controlling your stress levels. High stress levels can cause anyone to lose track of their responsibilities, and to become easily overwhelmed by cash flow interruptions or other roadblocks. At that point, even smaller intermediary goals no longer seem achievable, and despair sets in. After that, it can be very difficult to recover. To avoid this type of situation in the first place, it’s very important to maintain control of how your business operates, and your own work life.

Establish financial solutions ahead of time

Business owners consistently cite cash flow problems as their biggest impediment to growth and success. Resolving this issue by preemptively establishing financing solutions can provide both the time and the peace of mind entrepreneurs need to deal with other stressors, and to get their business back on track. Depending

on the business, that might mean setting up a standby loan, opening an unsecured line of credit, or simply talking to a financial representative to learn about invoice financing or supply chain finance.

Maintain a routine

Many business owners work upwards of 60 hours per week. While long hours may be an issue for some on their own, the more important side effect is often that entrepreneurs don’t have regular routines. Setting up, and then following, a relatively rigid routine can seem like a difficult task, but it’s also been shown to significantly reduce stress levels. Routines provide a sense of normalcy, and frees up energy that would otherwise be used to mentally juggle a complex and irregular schedule. More importantly, it allows otherwise extremely busy people to maintain their health by enforcing regular meals, sleep, exercise, and time for relaxation.

Fight environmental stressors

the majority of their time at work, surrounded by employees, it’s important to create a healthy and positive work environment. That means taking steps to nurture a healthy company culture, as well as making your physical environment as livable as possible with simple amenities. Colourful decor, proper lighting, comfortable seating, and quality coffee might sound frivolous, but it has important psychological effects. A hospitable environment promotes friendlier interactions, and directly lowers the stress levels of everyone exposed to it. These steps allow business owners and their teams to cooperate and communicate better, and allow them to function with less friction, even at the end of a long day. While the challenges that business owners face vary widely, and the right way to become motivated and to maintain that motivation aren’t the same for everyone, business owners who follow these general guidelines are better able to visualise their goals, to define their path forward, and to maintain their focus in the long term.

For a business owner that spends

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Innovative company cultures are built on communication

BRIEFLY While many successful startups are built on a single disruptive innovation, it takes a consistently innovative company culture to grow into an industry leader. A single brilliant entrepreneur can almost never do the back-breaking work of running a business while also continuing to come up with transformative ideas. Rather, many of the longest-lived and familiar brands we know today rely on the innovative potential of their entire staff to drive them forward. According to the recent State of Employees report by Sideways6, 82 percent of employees claim to have ideas for how to improve their companies. Unfortunately, approximately a third of employees feel that their ideas are being ignored, while a further 20 percent never voice their thoughts at all. To access the innovative potential of your team, it’s important to create open lines of communication and to ensure that ideas receive the consideration that they’re due. Moreover, businesses also need to develop strong communication between employees to help them collaborate, discuss, and refine their ideas into workable solutions.

Anyone can be an innovator Most upper level managers indicate that they do feel comfortable voicing their opinions and pushing for change. However, innovation isn’t just a job for managers or research and development teams. Nobody understands a product or process as well as someone who is immersed in it all day, every day. Because of that, it’s important to listen to lower-level workers, especially when they offer feedback that’s directly relevant to their area of expertise. A business that has a track record of doing this very well is Toyota, which has built much of its success on exactly this model. For decades, the company has worked to build a trust relationship with their workers and incentivise them to bring their ideas forward. Even today, Toyota still

82% of employees claim to have ideas for how to improve their companies 1/3 of employees feel that their ideas are being ignored 20% never voice their thoughts at all

implements 9 improvements per year based on worker suggestions.

Businesses need to promote collaboration One issue that interferes with a general culture of innovation is a toxic level of individual competition. It’s common in many businesses for individuals to avoid sharing ideas for fear that a co-worker or manager might steal it and claim credit for themselves. In businesses where rewards for great ideas are significant and targeted at individuals, this is almost unavoidable. To manage this, it’s important to dismantle the incentives that drive this kind of toxic behavior. Toyota, again, does this by rewarding entire teams instead of single individuals. This way, it’s safe for any employee to discuss and improve on an idea within their team, knowing that their individual contribution isn’t as important as the success of the idea as a whole.

Innovative employees need to be treated with respect With the advent of “startup culture” and the rise of innovation as an important corporate concept, many businesses responded by simply creating a “suggestion” box where employees could submit ideas. These sound great in theory, since they don’t require a major time investment on the part of business leaders, but they also have some very serious shortcomings.

Leafing through a stack of suggestions at the end of a week or month divorces each suggestion from the context in which it was written. A top level manager is unlikely to understand exactly why an employee is making a certain suggestion, and might dismiss it simply because it sounds boring, irrelevant, or too confusing. Instead, decision makers need to take the time to sit down with employees who want to suggest a change. Not only does a face-to-face give a potentially profitable idea the attention it needs, it also shows employees the respect they deserve. An employee who doesn’t feel listened to is unlikely to go to the effort of developing, improving, and presenting an idea. Conversely, people who feel that they are taken seriously will come back with new, well thought out ideas again and again, even if earlier ones are never implemented.

Set clear goals to provide direction For some businesses it might be enough to simply encourage employees to innovate to make their jobs easier and the business more effective. In most cases, however, individual employees won’t know exactly what your business needs. An employee that comes forward with a great new product idea won’t be well received at a time when the company is actually looking to cut operating costs. By communicating your current goals to your team, you can provide employees with the direction they need to come up with ideas that are relevant to your situation. Building excellent communication helps to fight toxic attitudes toward innovation in your business, and lays the groundwork for a culture that produces workable and relevant ideas. By taking these steps, you can make sure that your employees understand your needs, and feel more comfortable working together to improve your business.

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Jack Dorsey: taking social media to the next level Throughout his career, Jack Dorsey has operated with a laser focus on the power of fast, simple, and effective communication. Reaching well beyond his work in founding and serving as Twitter’s first CEO, Dorsey has applied his passion for good communication to his other business ventures, as well as his personal management philosophy.

“Twitter was around communication and visualizing what was happening in the world in real-time. Square was allowing everyone to accept the form of payment people have in their pocket today, which is a credit card.”

In the past two decades, he’s taken full advantage of the potential of technology for sharing and coordinating knowledge and data, and has founded a number of successful companies while building his personal wealth to a net worth approaching $7 billion. His career, starting as a teenager, reflects a considerable technical talent that made this possible, while the

management skills he’s developed in the past decade largely continue to drive his ongoing success today.

Early entrepreneurship While he’s best known for founding Twitter, Dorsey began his journey as a professional programmer when he was in high school. Fascinated by the complexity of coordinating vehicles in real time in an ever changing traffic environment, he built a program to help businesses track and manage taxis and delivery vans. The software, now over 25 years old, is still being used by some taxi companies today.

Dorsey’s complicated rise as an entrepreneur While Dorsey’s personal success is undeniable, his career at Twitter

is rather controversial. Acting as Twitter’s first CEO and cofounder, he oversaw its initial rise, and rightfully deserves credit for his hand in its success. In 2008, however, he was ousted from his position and given a position as a passive chairman with a silent board seat. This was, according to sources at the time, largely due to his poor relationships with investors. During his exile from Twitter, Dorsey moved on to found Square, an online payment management company that allows businesses and individuals to accept cashless payments with a minimum of tedium. Square quickly became successful and grew, giving Dorsey the opportunity to develop and further define his management skills, while avoiding many of the issues that plagued his time at Twitter. Buoyed

by his success, Dorsey returned to Twitter as executive chairman in 2015, where he has remained since. Today, he is a well recognised entrepreneurial figure that strongly evokes the image of Steve Jobs, who mirrors his own journey to a notable degree.

Leading with employees in mind Unlike many of the founder-CEOs we’ve discussed, Dorsey does not believe in tightly controlling information, or micromanaging the decisions of employees. Rather, his approach is significantly more handsoff, focusing more on delegating important decisions to the proper experts, and ensuring that employees have the information they need to make good decisions.

JACK DORSEY Starts a company to dispatch couriers, taxis and emergency services

Launches Twitter as chief executive (CEO); sends the first tweet

Steps down as Twitter CEO and becomes chairman

Launches Square with cofounder Jim McKelvey: first service allows small firms to take card payments using small, square card reader

Twitter lists on the New Yourk Stock Exchange

Square Capital starts offering loans to small businesses, paid back from their card receipts

Becomes Twitter CEO once more

Square lists in New York, so he is now CEO of two public companies

Square launches its card payment service in the UK

2000

2006

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2010

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Unlike more traditional CEOs, Dorsey also seems to prioritise the development of company culture and internal ideology over the interests of investors. This has led to an unemotional and risk-averse approach to change management, which caused significant bad press for Dorsey in 2015 and 2016, after his return as CEO failed to turn the company around in any spectacular fashion. Despite this, the approach appears to be working, as Twitter announced its very first profits on 8 February 2018. A likely reason for this success is that, as a part of Dorsey’s management strategy, employees are strongly encouraged to think and act independently, and to take responsibility for their decisions. In a similar situation, CEOs like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs might have simply changed the direction of their company by personally taking over the jobs of their employees and restructuring the business under their own power. Dorsey, on the other hand, relied on Twitter employees

to do the work. As a result, Twitter boasts a workforce that is meticulous, responsible, and creative where other teams rely heavily on top-down direction.

What we can learn For business owners, Dorsey’s journey is educational in a number of ways. His personal technical skills and vision ultimately made him a great entrepreneur, while his management style lends itself to long term success, even as it might slow short term growth. Conversely, his relationship to investors constitute a clear blind spot that has plagued him throughout his career. How not to treat investors Not respecting his investors ultimately cost Dorsey his initial position as Twitter’s CEO. Worse, it has continued to adversely affect the growth of his companies. By neglecting to prioritise short term investor returns, Dorsey made a number of enemies out of people who should have been his allies. These, in turn, dragged his and his companies’ names through the mud, which likely depressed share prices further. Despite his relationships with investors, Dorsey’s entrepreneurial success is undeniable. Dorsey’s approach to management promotes the growth of a strong team that isn’t reliant on a single charismatic leader. That depth makes it more resilient, and protects the future of the business beyond Dorsey’s tenure there. Beyond that, it’s important that both Twitter and Square have reported profits this year. This profitability lends both companies greater resilience, and somewhat helps to reduce their reliance on investors going forward. While controversial, Jack Dorsey’s career is a success story that provides a lot of ideas for entrepreneurs to think about, and to incorporate into their own businesses.

Trust Fifo Capital to sort your seasonal cash flows A standby working capital facility ready to access when you need it most.

Simple preapproved facility sitting alongside existing finance arrangements. • Pay only if you use it • Fast and simple to activate • Peace of mind for unexpected cash flow interruptions • Small and large exposures • Treated on a case by case basis, and tailored to your needs

Contact Fifo Capital today for more information. 0800 86 34 36

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ask@fifocapital.co.nz

Great customer experiences are key for SME growth When we discuss growing a business, the conversation typically focuses on financing, innovation, personnel management, and cost management. Another key factor that’s often under-emphasised is customer service. In a way, the way that businesses interact with customers is a part of the product, and optimising this can often benefit a business as much as any other form of product development. The way that improving customer service benefits a business’ growth, interestingly enough, parallels the way that a product improvement works. Specifically, it encourages better customer retention, and helps to attract new customers. For SMEs that are already investing directly in their growth, sales and marketing budgets tend to be razor thin, and finding low cost ways to increase revenues is critical. For them, great customer service is an essential part of maintaining and growing their customer base.

Customer service is especially important for SMEs When we look at some of the biggest and most successful companies on the market, we often don’t think of amazing customer service. Rather, big businesses tend to focus on what might be best described as simple professionalism. This doesn’t mean that a focus on customer experience isn’t important for smaller and newer businesses. These big businesses already have well established reputations, and need to work to avoid bad press more than they need

to prove themselves to customers. Moreover, in order to expand into a new market, these larger businesses can simply invest in marketing and advertising to help them attract new customers. Unlike them, SMEs need to mobilise their existing customer base to help them grow, and to keep existing customers from leaving them for better established competitors. Great products effectively sell themselves because they make customers happy enough to become brand evangelists,

and great customer service works exactly the same way. By providing people a great customer experience, it works to shape their attitude about your brand, and the way they will represent it to the people around them.

Improving customer service at your business Great customer service might look slightly different depending on the industry that a business is in. For example, the interactions

between a restaurant and a patron won’t obviously resemble those of a software development firm and its client. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t working from the same customer service skill set. Different kinds of customers have different needs, and great customer interactions are about understanding and meeting those needs. Understanding customer needs In order to provide great service, team members need to understand the purpose of the business is, and

The way that improving customer service benefits a business’ growth, interestingly enough, parallels the way that a product improvement works. Specifically, it encourages better customer retention, and helps to attract new customers.

what the needs of their customers are. That means grasping that a restaurant, for example, sells more than just food, but also a dining experience and a pleasant social venue. On the level of the individual customer, though, it also means that seeing that a single person sitting at a table for one on a friday night will need to be approached differently than a group of 5 if both are meant to have the best possible experience. Provide a human face Identifying these needs, and responding to them appropriately is difficult, and often requires a significant amount of training. More than anything else, however, it’s a matter of interacting with customers as a person, rather than just as a business. Team members often intuitively understand the needs of their customers if they take the time to see and communicate with them on a personal level. Because of this, it’s a good idea to encourage customer facing employees not to stick to memorized scripts, but rather to simply talk to clients normally, and help them as best they can. Teach troubleshooting skills Businesses inevitably run into customer service difficulties, whether

it’s a product shortage, a mistake, shipping problems, or just a long line at the register. In situations like these, it’s critical for team members to understand what to do. Most often, an untrained person might try to either take or avoid responsibility on behalf of the business. While just taking responsibility might sound like a good thing to do, it won’t actually help the customer, or improve their experience. Instead, this interaction, like any other, should be leveraged to make the client feel valued, and to help build a stronger relationship. A good way to do this is to offer an apology along with doing something to resolve the problem, or, if that isn’t possible, to improve their experience another way. Training employees and working to improve your business’ customer interactions can have a major impact. While the low cost involved makes it ideal for growing SMEs, large companies like Zappos have shown that a focus on great customer service can make a big difference at any level. By making the effort to optimise your business’ approach to customer service, you can accelerate your business’ growth while spending virtually no additional funds.

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Business growth depends on embracing change Entrepreneurs invest an enormous amount of time, effort, and resources in building their startups into stable, profitable enterprises. Considering these major sacrifices, it’s no surprise that many business owners become very cautious about making major changes once they do achieve that stability and profitability. Unfortunately, those instincts can get in the way of their business’ continued growth and longer term success. Making a business grow, and ensuring that it remains competitive over time, requires constant innovation and progress. To do that, business owners need to learn to pursue innovation, while letting go of clients, procedures, and roles that no longer serve the interests of their business.

Driving innovation in your industry The ideas and products that built your startup’s initial success will only carry it so far. The more competitive an industry is, the more rapidly a business’ current way of doing things will become obsolete. In order to grow, your business needs to not only adapt to this, but rather to lead that change through innovation. Investing in change Simply keeping up with a changing industry requires businesses to track developing trends, purchase new equipment and software, and to train their employees regularly. Leading that change, though, also means investing in the development of new ideas, and taking the risks associated with experimenting with those new ideas.

To manage the risk of a setback directly, businesses need cash flow management tools like invoice financing and supply chain finance. These allow them to distribute the financial impacts of a setback over a longer time period, giving them the freedom to act. Moreover, businesses need to ensure that they can invest in themselves. That means streamlining their operations as much as possible as they grow, and getting rid of inefficiencies as they develop.

Out with the old As the needs of a business change, the way it operates needs to adapt if it means to maximise its profit, growth, and overall effectiveness. Most often, this means letting go of familiar and safe aspects of your operation to make room for bold, strategic, and growthfocused decisions. Let old clients go Early on, startups often rely on just a few important clients to keep them afloat. Over time, they develop a close relationship, and a sense of loyalty to each other. Those first clients often represent a strange anachronism within these businesses, tying up the most experienced employees, enjoying special privileges, and paying disproportionately low prices. Unfortunately, this can get in the way of your business’ success. As businesses grow they need to switch gears, raising prices, optimising services, and switching to larger, more profitable clients that offer more growth potential. Don’t promote based on familiarity The first manager a business ever

hires might be an excellent team leader, working directly with the business owner as their secondin-command. This doesn’t mean, however, that this person would also be effective in a high level executive position when the business grows. As your startup becomes a more mature business and larger hierarchies are implemented, current employees need to be placed in positions where they’ll be most effective, while new talent needs to be brought in to meet the new demands of your business. For business owners, that often means surrounding yourself with new faces, while keeping more familiar employees in the roles where they’re most effective. Get out of the way of progress The job of a business’ leaders changes as it matures and becomes more complex. While an entrepreneur is often directly involved in every aspect of their business, chief executives of established firms need to have a much limited scope if they hope to be effective administrators. Great entrepreneurs, who tend to view their business very possessively, often don’t make great CEOs. Because of this, business owners need to be mindful of the difference between founding a business, and running a larger enterprise. If they want to continue to run their business in the long term, they need to acquire the specific skills that being an effective CEO requires. That often means getting formal training, delegating some core responsibilities to more experienced professionals, and being willing to listen and implement the advice of investors and seasoned employees.

Growing a business isn’t just a matter of acquiring more clients and producing more. Instead, it’s a transformative process that requires every aspect of your business to evolve. By embracing this, and deliberately leading that change, you can turn your startup into an industryleading enterprise. Fifo Capital Headway

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Take advantage of multiple generations in your workforce

As startups become larger, their workforces tend to also become more diverse. Business owners, unfortunately, often donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recognise this as the opportunity that it is. While businesses usually do pursue policies to avoid discrimination, they often donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t adequately consider how to benefit from their diversity. One of the most important, and universally applicable of these is generational diversity. To reap the benefits of having a workforce that includes workers from multiple generations, businesses need to understand what different age groups bring to the table, and how these can benefit their team. Specifically, businesses need to build their teams in such a way that different generations can work together seamlessly, and bring their differences to bear in the most productive way possible. In doing this, they can learn to leverage different generations to empower their coworkers, leaders, and their bottom line.

Use different generations to empower each other Traditional well-established businesses often operate with an unintentionally rigid hierarchy that places older, more experienced employees at the top, and leaves younger employees to slowly work their way up over the course of decades. This effectively creates an environment where different generations of workers don’t operate in the same spheres, and can’t exchange ideas very well. Businesses that purposely hire younger, entrylevel workers for lower-rung positions to control labour costs exacerbate this issue even more. While these choices appear to make sense in terms of controlling costs and ensuring that leaders are experienced, they also slow employee development and make businesses less flexible.

Developing young employees Older coworkers are an invaluable resource to young, entry-level employees as mentors. Training new employees costs a lot of time and resources, and often a number of expensive mistakes. Having team members with decades of experience around to passively or actively aid in employee development can save your business a lot of money, while also making those younger employees more effective. On a cultural level, baby boomers and generation X are also more loyal to their employers, and more conservative in their approach to business in general. This can help to provide a sense of stability to your company’s culture, and helps to moderate younger employees.

Driving innovation Millennials and the new, incoming Generation Z, provide unique value to their employers as well. As digital natives, they can easily and intuitively find ways to apply new technologies to their jobs and to your

business. To older professionals, typically those in charge, these changes can seem bothersome, but they are essential. Businesses who keep track of, and evaluate the potential of these small, individual innovations stand to make significant leaps in efficiency In a more general sense, younger generations have the drive and fresh perspectives that a business needs to reinvent products and rethink inefficient processes that older generations are so used to that they’ve forgotten about them.

Put fresh blood into leadership positions Large corporations often suffer from overly rigid, fossilised hierarchies in which leadership is overwhelmingly represented by the oldest working generation. This seems to make sense, because decision makers need experience to avoid potentially disastrous mistakes. It’s important, however, not to overemphasise this need. Not only do businesses need to make sure that younger leadership talent is being appropriately developed in-house, they also need to ensure that current leaders have the broad perspectives available to them that they need to make the best decisions for their companies.

won’t work. People of different generations are very generally shaped by their shared formative experiences and cultural context, but that stereotype doesn’t necessarily describe the individual. To get the benefit of diversity, business leaders need to go out of their way to build their team from individuals that actually exhibit the diverse traits that they need. The critical point for businesses is to be aware of, and ready to take advantage of, the potential benefits of a multigenerational workforce. By facilitating and managing the exchange of ideas between workers of different generations and at different positions of influence, it’s possible for businesses to leverage this diversity in driving innovation, developing employees, and building flexible and insightful leadership teams.

Older business leaders are unlikely to fully grasp the priorities and the consumer demands of upcoming generations. Despite their experience, their phase of life, generational cultural background, and economic position can leave them disconnected from the needs of their employees and their own customers. They need the support of younger partners to keep up with their customers, and to remain competitive in their industry.

Focus on real diversity In pursuit of these benefits of generational diversity, it’s important to keep in mind that the emphasis is specifically on diversity. Simply judging people blindly by their age

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Startup success relies on

timing and time management In their first few years of operation, small businesses are in a very precarious position. Not only do entrepreneurs need to go through the bureaucratic, strategic, and mundane work of getting their business running, they also need to satisfy startup investors and lending institutions, and attract new investment. Those who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t often rely on personal savings and investments by friends and family members to launch their businesses, which places them under even more personal pressure. Launching a business that has something to offer to its target market and its industry is a tough job regardless of the circumstances. Becoming profitable in a competitive economic environment before your startup funds run out is another issue entirely. The critical element is time,

both in terms of timing and time management. Entrepreneurs have a very limited amount of time, and they need to determine exactly how to spend it most efficiently if they hope to make the cut.

Make time for growth

Startups in their initial stages can almost never turn a profit. In order to become profitable, they need to scale up their operations and become more efficient. In light of this, new business owners need to invest their time in planning and driving their businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; growth. Unfortunately, this critical goal often falls by the wayside under the weight of more immediate concerns. Business owners juggling late client payments, equipment breakdowns, interpersonal workplace drama, and managing customers often simply forget. To avoid this fate,

entrepreneurs need to outsource unnecessary tasks to make time for those that require their attention. Use financing to manage working capital The typical Australian business owner spends 8 hours per week chasing down late payments. On top of that, business owners need to come up with funds and juggle other financial obligations in order to make ends meet to handle the resulting cash flow interruptions. Fortunately, this lost time can be recovered entirely by using the proper financing tools. Financial institutions like Fifo Capital offer invoice financing, supply chain finance, and unsecured business loans that, depending on your particular situation, can be used to quickly manage financial shortages. In the case of late payments, invoice financing not only allows businesses to immediately get paid

for their outstanding invoices, it also outsources the task of collecting payment to the financial institution. This gives entrepreneurs the time they need to strategise and pursue growth for their business without worrying as much about their bottom line.

2 Don’t wait to start marketing One unavoidable aspect of every growth strategy is marketing. A business that no one is aware of won’t be able to grow quickly. Unfortunately, many business owners wait until after their business is up and running before they begin to worry about marketing. This is a big mistake, and often results in otherwise viable businesses going bankrupt before they even have a real chance to assert themselves. It takes months or years to develop brand recognition, to build connections with other businesses, and to build an online presence that meaningfully generates leads. Getting the attention your business needs to not only survive, but to grow, is incredibly difficult to do with a time limit. Successful startups start marketing as soon as possible,

and budget strategically to ensure that their marketing campaign can be sustained long enough to begin generating enough leads to pay for itself.

Start innovating early

It can be tempting to wait until your new business is established and profitable before devoting time and funds to innovation and experimentation. Unfortunately, doing so can rob a startup of an important advantage. Innovation and novelty is the lifeblood of all startups, and entrepreneurs need to lean into it if they hope to disrupt their industries. Because they’re still small, they can rapidly experiment with new ideas and adapt to new situations in unique ways that larger competitors can’t. While larger businesses can afford research and development teams, their efforts will largely be focused on optimising existing tools and methods. Changing too significantly, or too quickly, means accepting the loss of any sunk costs, and losing any returns on those investments. New businesses, on the other hand, can make sweeping and transformative changes without suffering any such costs, or being forced to manage conservative-minded investors or board members.

Poor timing can leave an otherwise viable business bankrupt, while excellent timing and time management turn even anaemic and underfunded startups into successes.

Successful entrepreneurs aren’t just abstractly aware of what it takes to run a business. To establish something new, to grow, and to become competitive, they need to be masters of time management. Critical tasks don’t just need attention and resources, they need these in the right proportion at the right time in order to produce results. Poor timing can leave an otherwise viable business bankrupt, while excellent timing and time management turn even anaemic and underfunded startups into successes.

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Catriona Wallace: reimagining customer experience

"Stick to the things in life that you sense most deeply are important. Above and beyond anything at all, relationships and human interaction are the determinant of success. And this coming from me who is building robots to replace humans. It is all about the humans."

Looking at the biggest names in tech entrepreneurship, one could be excused for imagining that disruptive AI innovation was largely limited to Silicon Valley in the US. Of course this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t actually the case. While Facebook, Google, and Elon Musk have dominated headlines on their development of artificial intelligence, Dr. Catriona Wallace has been putting it into practice in Australia. While big names are concerning themselves with attention-grabbing super AI, Wallace is working at the cutting edge of AI technology to develop practical applications and create real value for businesses and their customers. Her company, Flamingo AI, provides cognitive virtual assistants to financial services businesses to guide customers through their services in order to improve customer satisfaction and conversion rates.

Identifying a problem in need of a solution Today, Wallace is widely regarded as one of the world’s most respected figures in the field of customer experience. She’s the recipient of Advance Australia’s top prize for Technology & Innovation for Australians working abroad, has won Telstra Business Awards and was awarded a Pearcey Foundation award for tech entrepreneurs. In large part, this success comes directly as a result of her ability to analyse data and identify specific problems, giving her the knowledge she needs to develop novel solutions. Wallace holds a PhD in organisational behaviour, and combined this education with her extensive professional experience before focusing directly on the development of AI. Before launching Flamingo AI, she also founded two other businesses, a market research firm and later a customer experience design firm. There she worked to

help businesses improve their sales processes and conversion rates, before ultimately determining that a software platform could potentially perform better in providing customised customer experiences than traditional approaches.

Finding and tapping available resources Wallace doesn’t attempt to do

everything from scratch, but rather mobilises the resources in her environment to achieve her goals. She talks at length about her efforts to build a top quality, high performing team, and heavily credits the people around her with facilitating her success. Her talents in this regard, however, go well beyond human resources. In a 2017 interview, Wallace lauded the changing investment landscape for AI entrepreneurs in Australia. At that time, Flamingo AI had just raised over $5 million in less than 12 minutes via a share placement to investors. She credited this success to the growing conversation about the potential of AI in Australia, and an increasing awareness of it among investors. This allowed her and Flamingo AI to access investment at a time when competition for those funds was relatively low. Building on this initial success, Flamingo AI is now working to scale in US financial markets and to begin to establish itself as a global company. Wallace, however, isn’t just focused

on growth and short term success.

Giving back Like many business owners, Wallace looked for ways to give back to her community as soon as she was in a position to do so. Unlike many entrepreneurs, she has embraced this role to the fullest. Most of her public interviews focus less on her work, and more on the communities

she is working to empower. Her non-profit work focuses on professional mentoring and support for women and girls, including women in indigenous communities in Australia. Additionally, she works as an adjunct at the Australian Graduate School of Management in an attempt to pass on her insights and experiences to younger generations of businesspeople. Wallace is passionate about empowering women entrepreneurs, and directly mentors women despite her busy schedule.

What we can learn There is a lot that entrepreneurs can take away from Wallace’s example. Her passion for advancing the place of women in business leadership is fierce, and it has helped to bring her ideas to a larger audience. Her authenticity in this regard has empowered her business in terms of the press that it receives, and serves as a reminder that social causes can be nearly as important to a business’ success as its operations. It’s also important to note that Wallace doesn’t operate like other serial entrepreneurs, who often try out a number of different industries. While she has founded several different businesses, Wallace is a specialist. Each new business evolved to solve a problem that she was led to by her previous venture in her pursuit of perfecting the customer experience. She’s a world-famous authority in her specific field, and has established herself ever more thoroughly as the innovative go-to expert for optimising customer experience. As a result, she’s the most natural authority to look to when looking at ways to introduce emerging technologies into her industry. This shows us that trying out different industries and roles in hopes of finding that ideal niche isn’t always the best choice for entrepreneurs. Rather, a more specialised serial entrepreneur can be just as successful by building on the industry insights gained by each previous project to create something new.

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