Playing the Long Game: Growing a Startup into a Household Name

Mar 4, 2025

51:50

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How does a long-term entrepreneur identify a good idea, scale it, and stay committed to that vision over 30 years?

In this episode, Rich sits down with Angie Hicks, Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer at Angi, formerly Angie’s list. They discuss building a business from the ground up, leading employees and external partners, and maintaining enthusiasm for a long-term goal.

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Key Quotes:

“ If you don't maintain the culture, it'll be a bad culture.”

“When I think about whether I like what I'm doing, I base it on two factors. One, do I like the people I'm working with? And two, am I learning new things?”

“Sometimes you have to force a learning function on the organization because it's important. Because the landscape shifts and you don't want to get caught flat-footed.”

“Find your unit that you're going to evaluate things on. What is it? What is that process? And then make sure you can always pull back the layers to make sure that element is working well.”

Practice Makes Profit: Solve challenges effectively and efficiently with solutional thinking.

League of Strategic Minds [listener question]: How can I help my team be more innovative

Winsights: Ideas for Advantage: Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay and HP Enterprises, said, “First, you need the right strategy. Less than perfect execution against the right strategy will probably work. 100 percent execution against the wrong strategy, won't.” Does your team have a strategy that you believe in and can help win in the market? If not, all the time you're spending on execution and tactics is being wasted. The motto is ready, aim, fire not just keep firing. Think first.

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Time stamps:

(00:41) Deep Dive Interview with Angie

(47:27) Practice Makes Profit

486:57) League of Strategic Minds

(50:11) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage

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Links:

Submit a question for Rich to the League of Strategic Minds: https://www.strategyskills.com/strategic-minds-podcast/

Angie Hicks on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-hicks-30566/

Angi: https://www.linkedin.com/company/angi/

Rich Horwath on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richhorwath/