What I Learned Managing 1800% Growth
1
This is for you
If…
You have a fast growing company.
You want a fast growing company.
The Idea
About TakeLessons
About TakeLessons
1,257,000 lessons
About TakeLessons
Raised $20,000,000
In Venture Capital
Giant Expansive Market Opportunity
New Verticals, Online Delivery, International Expansion increases market size
2015 and beyond:
$200 Billion+ Fitness, Sports, Advice,
International
2014:
$100 Billion Tutoring, Languages, On-Demand,
Hobbies
2013
$6 Billion Music, Performing Arts (Local &
Online)
2008-2012:
Music
$2 Billion
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Disrupting the Lessons Market
Airbnb, Uber, and OpenTable revolutionized
their respective industries by making it easy to
find, manage, and pay for services
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Disrupting the Lessons Market
Airbnb, Uber, and OpenTable revolutionized
their respective industries by making it easy to
find, manage, and pay for services
TakeLessons is transforming the $100
billion lessons industry in the same way
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2010
Today 11
I gained 22 pounds.
Constant back pain.
Panic attacks.
I lost my relationship.
What You’ll Learn Today
The concepts that allow you
to manage rapidly scaling
your company…
While staying calm.
Less
More…
Less of this
More of this
Why?
Jordan’s Law
“As a company doubles
in size, the fundamental
business systems that
were responsible for the
growth will break and will
no longer be valid.”
What got us to
where we are,
will not get us to
where we’re going
Systems Break Points
800%
700%
600%
500%
Total Growth
15% growth
400%
25% growth
50% growth
300%
200%
100%
0%
Yr 0 Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5
Systems Break Points
800%
700%
600%
500%
Total Growth
400%
50% growth
300%
200%
100%
0%
Yr 0 Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5
Systems Break Points
800%
700%
600%
500%
Total Growth
400%
50% growth
300%
200%
100%
0%
Yr 0 Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5
About the Company
The Processes That Will Break
Internal Facing
– Financial reporting and audit
– Forecasting & Operational planning
– OKR’s
– IT/Technology
– HR / Hiring
– Internal team communication
External Facing
– Marketing automation
– Sales automation
– Customer support
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You don’t need to be
an expert…
You need to be great at
hiring expertise.
Six Words
Easy, Easy, Easy
and
Automate, Automate, Automate
Venture Capital Raising
• Start early
• Get as much as you can
• Dumb money vs. smart money
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My incredible team
just magically happened!
Said no one.
Ever.
1. Hiring Systems
The Hiring System
Hiring Process must be well-planned and deliberate.
– Is your job description attracting the right candidates?
– Consistent evaluation process.
– Documented onboarding process.
Employees doing interviews must be crystal-clear on:
– What is expected in the job over the next 6-12 months
– Necessary soft and hard skills
– What is meant by “cultural fit”
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2. Scaling People
Systems Break Points
800%
700%
600%
500%
Total Growth
400% Different
skill-set
300%
200%
100%
0%
Yr 0 Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5
Scaling People
• Not all early employees will scale.
• Teach people early that it’s ok for people to go.
• New mid-management –> chance of early
employee disengagement.
• Your Key Job
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Your Key Job
Consistently evaluate the team.
Identify when people hit their ceilings.
Then
train them up
or
move them out.
It’s painful
Especially when
you’re evaluating
yourself
3. Culture Matters
TakeLessons Culture
Think Smart
Why Do We Care?
It gives us the best chance
of continued success,
and it helps make work
REWARDING &
FULFILLING.
Why Do We Care?
The culture we set now will
shape the company future
forever.
Think Smart
Our Reason for Being
We are here to make a
positive, lasting impact
on each person we come
in contact with.
Think Smart
4 Components of Moving Forward
1. The Mission
2. Our Envisioned Future
3. BHAG’s
4. Our Guiding Principles
Our Mission:
What we’re working to accomplish.
To be the top online
marketplace where
consumers find, vet, and buy
learning services from
quality providers.
4 Components of Moving Forward
1. The Mission
2. Our Envisioned Future
3. BHAG’s
4. Our Guiding Principles
TakeLessons
Daily Guiding Delight
Principles the
Customer
Focus
on C.O.R.E.
Communication
Impact
Be Open Make Own the
& Good Outcome
Collaborative Decisions
Be Curious
Congruent Enjoy &
Stay
Words & work and Experiment
Flexible Actions laugh!
Think Smart
Think Smart We’re not a family
We’re a team
9 Traits We Admire in Teammates
Think Smart
Results-Driven High Integrity Collaborative Team Player
You are focused on the outcome. You are honest, with a strong moral You have your teammates’ best interest at
compass. heart and help them win.
You focus on first things first and have a bias
for speed and action. You make a promise and keep it. You are transparent and never hide
information that can help others.
You get important results and put up great You earn your trust by being trustworthy.
numbers. You seek the right answer, even if it’s not
You are humble and modest, despite being your own.
so awesome.
You don’t talk behind teammates back.
Good Judgment Personally Accountable Hungry
You are intelligent and make wise decisions. You hold yourself responsible for both You have a strong work ethic.
positive and negative outcomes.
You balance gut feel with hard data to make You are internally driven to get better, work
sensible conclusions. You have written goals and execute on them. harder, and win.
You think and act strategically and can see You are self motivated. You care deeply. You’re passionate about
the big picture. what you do.
You spend the company’s money as if it were
You are able to make hard decisions. your own. You are bold and take calculated risks.
CORE Communication Flexible Resilient
You are Candid and communicate the bad
with the good without covering up the bad. You have the ability to embrace change and You bounce back from the inevitable and
quickly react to new information. occasional disappointments.
You are OPEN towards your intent and speak
your mind, while listening to others. You welcome change as a way to constantly You are persistent and see things through to
learn and grow. the end.
You are RESPECTFUL and seek the right
answer. You are willing to keep trying new things and You find a way to get things done.
ideas.
You are EFFECTIVE in getting the right
answer.
We Want to Work with People Who Embody These Nine Values 64
Think Smart
Appointed Culture Ambassadors
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Let’s Stay in Touch!
@steven_cox
StevenCox.com
@mstevencox
/in/stevencox
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