Leadership in a growth startup

Post on 07-May-2015

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What leadership values and beliefs we use in Tradeshift to drive growth and alignment

Transcript of Leadership in a growth startup

Global Leader Camp

We want to build a company that matters, that have a meaningful impact on the world

We want to democratize business

Create transparency, growth and new jobs

We want to be able to IPO that company in 3 years

Here is what we need to

§ The world's largest b2b network measured in active users

§ Realize USD XXXm in revenue in 2016

§ Build the world’s largest platform for networked business apps

It’s not really possible

Here is where we were three years ago

Today we are a 150 people, with offices in San Francisco, Copenhagen, London, Suzhou and

Paris with more than $100m in funding and double digit revenues and plenty of Fortune

500 Customers

That’s not really possible either

Leadership in a startup is the job of making the impossible reality

What do that mean in Tradeshift?

Leadership is shaped by your personal values, courage to act on your beliefs and

your ability to execute

A leaders ability to execute depends on the personal beliefs, the courage to act and the ability to execute of anyone who follows him

What leadership feels like in a startup

You

My personal beliefs

Start-ups are factories of make-believe

We only fly because everyone closes their eyes and believe we can

Flying requires bold and visionary ambition

Nobody want to take a leap on faith on something that is not meaningful

Vision without execution is just hallucination (it feels good, but don’t do shit)

The difference between being a liar or a visionary is

razor thin, execution is the difference

Lead from the front

Be the first to shovel shit, and carry your weight

Fight for your vision, always

Quitting is for pussies

Challenge conventional wisdom

If most people agree, they are probably wrong – selection bias is deadly

Be the the first to change direction when needed

The past is only context, not direction (history don’t repeat itself)

Radical Trust

Trust everyone, absolutely and if they fuck-up, help them and keep trusting them

Vulnerability is a strength not a weakness

I’m an insecure overachiever

Empathy

Don’t be an asshole

This is what I believe, but what I believe won’t matter unless those who lead and follow with

me don’t share the vision, the beliefs and have the courage to act

At the end of the day it will not be about what I believe or do, it will be about what we believe

and do

As a Tradeshift Global Leader I expect you to be out there every day, leading from the front, using your own personal beliefs and courage

to create the results we all need.

Making the impossible reality