Hi everyone, Happy Monday! It’s been long since I wrote, Sorry about that and thank you for not unsubscribing :)
Pam Kostka (@PamKostka) is the CEO of All Raise (a nonprofit that focuses on increasing diversity within venture capital, both from a decision-maker and a deal perspective.) She has a 24-year track record of operating excellence. Pam has been a CEO, a founder, a marketer, and a product manager. She has worn many hats at VC-backed startups like Bluebox Security, Loop, VirtuOz, Sabrix, and Extensity.
Pam epitomizes a lot about women in tech. She has delivered great results again and again but still isn’t a well-known name. I am sure it won’t be the case for long.
1 STORY FROM HER
What early experience shaped who you are?
When I was in elementary school, our choir made it to nationals. There was so much prep before the performance—we were practicing every day—and I didn’t really want to do it. But my mother said to me, “We’re not a family of quitters.” This was something I’d signed up for, and she told me I had an obligation to the other people in the choir, and to myself, to see it through. If I decided not to do it anymore after the event, that was fine, but I had to get on that stage.
That really stuck with me, and I think it’s so applicable to some of the challenges of startup life. When I was CEO of Bluebox, we had a moment where Apple made a contract change and our business virtually disappeared overnight. Your first reaction is, “We’re done for.” But then you steel yourself and realize there are still paths to explore. I went to my team and told them, “I know this feels like a dark time, but we do have options and we can move forward together.” I also said anyone who wanted out could let me know, and by all rights, I should have lost people during that process—but not a single one quit. And ultimately, we were able to leverage the assets we still had, reinvent the business, and keep going.
2 QUOTES FROM HER
“Before you take any advice, remember no one knows your business better than you. It’s your responsibility to figure out what to listen to and what to ignore.”
“Your best mentors and champions won’t give you the right answers. They’ll ask the right questions”
3 LEARNINGS FOR YOU
Set tangible goals
You can have the best vision, but if you don’t execute to it you’re dead! A lot of people fail to have operational excellence. Particularly when you are starting up your company, you need to set goals—tangible goals—and revisit them religiously for success and failure.
Pam is a big fan of setting strategic goals for the company and then having trickle-down operating goals for functions down to each individual. At a startup, there’s so much everyone can do, but goals keep everyone sharp and focused on the most important objectives for success. Plus, having strategic goals and aligning MBOs, gives the message from the CEO that “I’m trusting you, you’re my sales head, you’re my marketing head, you’re my finance head, etc., we are in violent agreement about what we want to achieve, now go make it happen.” You hire talented people and allow them to exercise that talent.
Prioritize when you are juggling a lot of hats
Pick what is going to be the most meaningful action towards moving you to your end goal and let the other stuff slip. For example, you can’t ignore your employee culture or HR problems, but if you don’t have product-market fit there are some HR issues that just aren’t going to matter anymore. So it’s all about balancing and prioritizing.
Don’t try to do everything
There are certain responsibilities that you can outsource, so find your trusted resources to help you execute better than you could alone. For example, I have someone in HR that I’ve worked with for 10 plus years now, she doesn’t work full-time for me, maybe 8-16 hours a week. But I know she’s got it covered and I trust her, so I don’t have to focus on that area as much and know she will escalate what’s needed to my attention. Some entrepreneurs try to do everything hoping that they are scrimping and saving in the right area, and they are really doing a disservice to the company. If non-core activities take too much of your time, then the real horsepower you need, the cleanness of mind and focus, and strategy will fall to the wayside.
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That’s it from me, until next time! Stay safe :)
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