Trevor Kincy
Strategy · Innovation · Operations
At (t)rifecta® Studio, we specialize in crafting high-performance websites that not only look great but also deliver measurable results.
I’ve been involved with startups and consulting for over fifteen years now, assuming various hats as Founder, CEO, COO, COS, CPO, CMO and more, mostly out of need. I’ve been involved industries such as Defense, Music, Change Management, and Leisure/Attractions. There’s a lot of unnecessary pain I went through learning the things I did, so wanted to share 20 things I’ve learned which might help you be just a little bit better.
So here’s a very incomplete list and in no particular order:
1. No, you’re not getting an investment when you’re 26, and your pitch deck is 45 pages long for your little SaaS idea (without financials, market data, or a clear way to explain what you’re doing). You can be frustrated. Don’t be. Go learn from people smarter than yourself.
2. Every founder should know how to do (or understand how to read) some level of P&L work. Let the finance gurus clean it up sure, but understand what’s in there and how they’re getting those numbers. (See 8)
3. Don’t get with companies who can’t explain their P&L’s as to why number X is the number that it is. And if you don’t know, find out and come back with an answer which makes sense. If it doesn’t make sense, you may need to fire someone.
4. Engage strategic, financial, commercial, and technical partners early and often. Their support will go a long way in saving you a tremendous amount of what I call “fast pain.”
5. Mentors. Mentors. Mentors.
6. Don’t hold overly strong opinions on most things (outside of basic morals etc.)and admit when you’re wrong.
7. Working of 5 and 6: be coachable. Check your ego and your arrogance before opening your mouth or typing that message/post/email.
8. Always trust, but verify.
9. Get help before you think you need it. Talk to your investors, they want to help you, because letting you lose doesn’t help anyone.
10. Don’t keep secrets. Unless you’re building the next generation of stealth bombers, 95% of what you’re doing doesn’t need to be a secret to anyone. Protect IP when it’s prudent, naturally, but don’t treat your business like you’re running the CIA/MI6.
11. As with number 10, be transparent with your staff. Unless there is a clear legal reason why you cannot tell them something, always talk to your staff.
12. For the love of God, remember you have humans working for you with lives. Let your employees take time for themselves. The amount of times as a manager I would cover for my team so they could take care of life and come back fresh has always paid out dividends to teams, and the company. The work will always be there when they get back, and 95% of you don’t work in industries and situations which require a turn around time of minutes. It’s business. Chill ever so slightly.
13. Don’t let your company be someone’s 13th reason. Ever. And if you find yourself working for a company like this, run. There are better things to do with your life, and after you’ve moved on, you’ll be upset with yourself for having not done it sooner. As a founder, executive, board member or even manager, you have a duty of care towards people, and if you’re failing them to the point it’s affecting your employees’ health, drop everything until this is solved for.
14. Not a single person outside of yourself is going to read that wall of text on slide 6, you better put in a pretty picture and walk that back to about 3 sentences your nephew can read.
15. Speaking of your nephew, if you can’t explain what you do and how your thing works to an 8 year old, you don’t understand it enough yourself.
16. Not a single person I know from the “Hustle and Grind” culture, have anything to show for it other than substance abuse problems and a rash of failed startups in their wake. Have a measured, healthy, and balanced approach to getting things done effectively. It’s about agile and dynamic endurance, not sprinting to exhaustion. (Sprints are for your engineers!)
17. Never be afraid to be ambitious. Go for that moonshot idea!
18. But have an organized, structured and vetted plan on how you’re going to get there with facts to back it up.
19. Be nice. Chances are your industry isn’t big enough for you to hang around being evil. It’s not worth the effort to be insufferable and life is far too short to live, let alone do business, angrily. People remember kindness just as much as they remember (and will want to forget) how terrible you were to them. Be memorable, in a good way. (See 13)
20. If you’re good at something, don’t do it for free for others, and don’t discount it either. Never work for someone else for free, period. That’s called volunteering, and there’s a time and a place for that.
There’s way more than this, but I hope at least one of these points can prevent someone from making the litany of “character building” mistakes I’ve made in the last 16+ years; granted I’ve translated them into experience and by some miracle a pinch of wisdom — But avoid “fast pain” where it can be avoided!
