What makes a technology startup founder successful? It's a question that thousands of books, articles, podcasts, videos, coaches, and courses strive to answer. But here’s the rub. From the early stages of their startup, most technology founders report working anywhere from 60-80 hours per week – if not more. These intelligent, visionary builders are wearing multiple hats, finding traction, building a team, securing funding, and doing what it takes to keep the train on track.
The people who would benefit most from the countless leadership resources available are the ones who are most challenged to make the time to take advantage of them.
That is why, during the most recent BIP Ventures Private Market Symposium, we invited our portfolio founders to carve out a morning to focus on leadership. They had gathered in Atlanta as part of the firm’s most important annual event. It is a chance for founders to convene with the BIP Ventures team, other founders, and investors. Between the dinners, presentations, and networking events, these brilliant and hard-working innovators had a chance to take some time away from the rigor of their every day to learn from one of today’s leading voices in leadership training.
Doug Van Dyke is an entrepreneur in his own right, so he understands and can empathize with the perpetual struggle to balance time and opportunity. The founder and CEO of management consultancy Leadership Simplified, Doug has advised some of the biggest corporations and most ground-breaking startups in the world.
An author, Doug has published more than 160 articles on the topic of leadership. His book Leadership Simplified - The Field Guide for Savvy Leaders is well-known and respected by performance leaders across virtually every sector and company size.
With a sense of the most strategic challenges and opportunities these founders face, Doug crafted a session that delivered empirical knowledge, opportunities for self-assessment, and usable tools. Over a few dedicated morning hours, dozens of founders deepened seven core skills:
Doug was kind enough to follow up on the session to talk about why those core skills are so essential and to share some of the insights and resources he discussed.
BIP: Why is courage the first thing you discuss with founders and leaders?
DVD: To be a founder and CEO of a startup takes a lot of courage. These are talented, intelligent people who could take easier routes. They could work for someone else and not take on the risk and challenge of leadership. Their courage is inspirational.
BIP: Why is decisiveness necessary to be a courageous leader?
DVD: The ability to decide, act, and move a team forward is critical to a startup’s success. The leader has to be able to recognize errors, auto-correct, and move in different directions quickly. They must manage their calendars well. There is no room for procrastination. And that takes decisiveness.
BIP: Why is grit necessary to be a courageous leader?
DVD: Sometimes, leaders have to roll up their sleeves. Sometimes, they have to work shoulder-to-shoulder with their team. They have to know when to do the work and when they can accomplish more through delegation. And they have to be willing to do both those things.
BIP: Why is integrity necessary to be a courageous leader?
DVD: With integrity, you either have it or you don’t. When you are in integrity with others, it generates the outcomes you promised. When leaders fall out of integrity, they become unpredictable. A high-performing team needs to know and be able to predict how their leader would behave, even if they aren’t there.
BIP: How does a leader know they have the appropriate decisiveness, grit, integrity, and compassion to be a courageous leader?
DVD: As founders and CEOs create their business models, many of these qualities fall into play. A key ingredient to figuring out this mix is the value proposition. When founders create their business model, the value proposition (or value propositions) of their business come into focus. As that happens, it can bring the founder’s leadership style to the forefront. They may see that they need to be a driver or a visionary, for example. Regardless, they need to be intentional and courageous.
BIP: Why is it important for the founder or leader to set the level of standards?
DVD: CEOs and founders need standards. If they don’t have them and expect them, they won’t get them. They have to be pragmatic, but high standards win the day. This is a situation where leading by example is everything. When the leader has the courage to operate with high standards, their team members see and understand the expectations. People follow that.
Leaders get what they model.
BIP: What are some downstream effects if a startup has not set high enough standards?
DVD: They are likely to fail. The statistics show that 90% of startups fail in the first two years. Many times, founders are great technicians. They start their own business and find they are a great company and CEO, but not always. The classic example is the terrific mechanic who starts their own shop. They are under-capitalized, and the business doesn't run well. They can’t weather the hiccups.
BIP: How big an issue is delegation for startups?
DVD: It's easy for founders and new CEOs to fall into doing everything. They know what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. An acid test for a leader is if they are in the weeds and someone below their pay grade could do it, they are being ineffective. They could be using their time better. I challenge my clients to set aside 15 minutes each day to offload something that will be a force multiplier by freeing them up to higher-level tasks that only they can do. It develops other skills and ideas, frees them up, saves time, and prevents burnout.
Delegation is a huge deal that is easily taken for granted. Too many leaders are perfectionists – they don’t want to fail or to set anyone else up to fail. But over-protecting others is not practical for anyone.
BIP: Why do founders need to coach and develop other team members?
DVD: Coaching and developing are mission-critical. As leaders help others develop, they engage the most valuable retention tool they have. This process is another force multiplier. If you have hired the right people, they will take about an hour and turn it into 3x productivity. And then they will then coach and develop others. It works for organizational savvy, soft skills, and technical skills.
It’s helpful to keep in mind that there are times when the founder, CEO, or other top leader(s) must do the coaching and development and other times when they should hand off the process to someone else in the organization. As the business scales, the founder may need to give the responsibility to others below them to be hands-on.
The leader has to be savvy about organizational structure. It needs the right number of people reporting in and the right people to coach others. If you do this right, the organization will have levels of people who can step in as needed.
BIP: What happens if the people you are delegating the coaching process to are incapable of doing it?
DVD: It's important for a founder to evaluate that ability in people as they move them up the org chart and into leadership positions. As we coach and develop people, they learn from us. The savvy ones will get it. If you're a CEO, you need to be able to assess the talent and capability of each contributor as a leader and coach.
BIP: Why must leaders develop the ability to hold difficult conversations?
DVD: 70% of leadership is solving problems. We need to engage in difficult conversations. I have a step-by-step process for helping leaders prepare to do this task, but they must also be courageous problem solvers. And they should expect people to come to them with solutions.
BIP: The same question applies to conflict management. Why is it a necessary leadership skill?
DVD: For the same reason. There are times when we want to challenge team members to self-solve. At other times, we want to invite others in for a discussion. During those times, a founder or leader has to be able to co-address the challenge and conflict.
BIP: Last question. Why is it the founder’s responsibility to be able to deliver feedback to team members?
DVD: Founders and CEOs who can deliver effective feedback can improve productivity by as much as 35%. On the flip side, they can undermine productivity by delivering feedback that lacks clarity and consistency.
If you are a leader and you aren't sure if you’re delivering clear feedback, check your language. Clear language will use connection words like “and” instead of "but” or “when” instead of “if.” And you’ll know if feedback is working if it reinforces the right behaviors. If it doesn’t, tweak it to elevate the input and how you are delivering it.
Since 2007, BIP Ventures has come alongside founders to anticipate and support their evolving needs as they move through the startup journey. From capital to talent to business model formation to sales and marketing, our team works as closely as members of their team to spot and fill gaps and keep them on the road to sustainable success.
We are grateful to Doug for sharing his time and knowledge with our founders during Symposium and for this clear, helpful guidance. Connect with Doug on LinkedIn or learn more about Leadership Simplified here.
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