Second of two. Other post: It's About Leadership: A Proposed Scorecard for Massachusetts
In 1988 six months after I started Avid Technology, Inc., I got a $500K first round investment from Bill Kaiser of Greylock Management. This began a long and successful business partnership between Bill and I. Recently we got together for a day at MIT to think about the local economy, and how to encourage new behaviors to increase success in the region.
This post is meant to be a starting point, and is the result of discussions with Bill Kaiser, Tom Hopcroft, Steve O'Leary, Colin Angle, Brad Feld, John Cullinane, Paul English, Don Dodge, Will Herman, Dharmesh Shah, Jeffrey Bussgang and Scott Kirsner.
Play Big Playbook
Version 0.2 January 25, 2010
So let's say we agree on the baseball scorecard, and that we agree on being tough on ourselves that "winning" by making a good return and becoming a division of a bigger company isn't good enough for our region to maintain and increase its leadership. But we all know that within each company, once the great deal is on the table, lots of factors take hold that will lead to a sale. So how do we operate well in advance of these "final" moments so the outcomes are different? How do we change our key behaviors?
I propose that we need a new playbook. The idea is to simply encapsulate the behaviors we want to encourage. Here goes. (your input is most welcome!)
Company Playbook
1. Start Small
- Playing big doesn't mean huge capital early on or huge teams.
- Make things that work and test them quickly.
- Be curious, try things.
2. Hire Tough
-too often we hire our friends, people we know.
-we have to be WAY tougher.
- Not to be confused with "demand amazing background and experience."
- Rather, hire those who are ready to rise to new heights. Demand that.
3. Lead Here
- Stay here and lead here.
- Build a global company from here.
- We can't build our ecosystem by being an outsource shop for distant companies.
4. Buy Smart
- Do acquisitions, but do them right.
- Avoid the big swinging "industry changing" acquisitions that usually go so wrong.
(and have hurt many of our local companies)
- Know how you'll integrate, and move fast and aggressively
(Add more here...this is just flavor of the plays in the playbook.)
Regional Playbook
1. Fund First Timers
- The great breakthroughs come from people doing it for the first time
- The great breakthroughs often come from those in their 20's
- Stop focusing so much on experience.
2. More Mixing
- Encourage job movement. It's good for the economy
- Move the talent around. Stealing talent is healthy. Changing jobs spreads the talent wealth.
- Voluntarily avoid non-competes. Create social pressure not to have non-competes.
3. Awesome Angels
- We must dramatically improve our angel environment.
- More angels that can do $25K-50K investments quickly
- Recruit some local "Super Angels" similar to Ron Conway and others from California.
4. New Blood
- We need new blood, new talent, to rebuild our region
- Aggressively recruit from outside, especially California.
5. Push Each Other
- Create pressure to Play Big, to avoid moves that diminish us locally.
- Expect higher performance from your peers, from your superiors, and from your team.
6. Execute, Execute
- Get tough with getting things done right.
- No company can become a global leader if its ideas are great, but it's execution is spotty
- We need to build our expertise in operations, in sales, and in marketing. (how?)
7. Spread Success
- Make sure people know what's working. Get the word out.
- Share real stories in small groups. Have the winners teach others how to win.
(Add more here...this is just flavor of the plays in the playbook.)
This post and the previous one boil down to having a common language and using it to let us push each other to greater heights. The baseball scoring approach gives us the simple idea of Home Runs and Grand Slams, and most importantly, the idea that we have Home Run Candidates and Grand Slam Candidates that we owe it to ourselves to nurture to greatness, from their inception to global domination.
The idea of a simply stated playbook gives us a common language on the individual plays that go into making a great company and a great region. It helps us push each other. For example, regarding hiring: When someone says "I worked with him at my previous company and he did a good job," perhaps the "Hire Tough" moniker will pop into the meeting, and someone will say "that's not good enough. We need someone who's going to amaze themselves and us. Lets look harder."
I believe that we indeed need to look harder. At new ways to measure success, and at new ways to spur success. The good news is, as our behaviors change, so will our fortunes.
Please add your Play Big Playbook additions, suggestions, and modifications as comments below. I'll pull them together into a new pass at the playbook.