Integrate Core Values Into a SaaS Business with David @ Grasshopper.com - Escape Velocity Show #5

What’s the first thing you need to do when starting a business? (A lot of entrepreneurs get this part wrong.)  Now, I know… everything starts with “there’s a problem that needs solving and I can solve it.”  Then, if things go right, you reach a point where you have 25+ people… and all of a sudden, they’re making decisions against the values your business stands behind – the core of the company.  Meaning, the first thing you should set in stone for your business are your core values… and I don’t mean putting them as a poster on the wall at your office with a picture of an iceberg behind them. How do you create an operating model that drives your teams decisions? Check out the latest Escape Velocity episode with Grasshopper.com founder David Hauser where we talk about the best ways to integrate the core values in your business and more.   During our video, we go through the following key topics every founder should think about: 1. How to market a bad product 2. Things that keep you up at night while growing FAST 3. What makes you hire a business coach 4. The meeting rhythm 5. How to integrate values in the company 6. The entrepreneurial roller coaster 7. Thoughts on capital funding (as a founder and investor) 8. How to know when you’re ready to sell 9. The post-exit emotion 10. SaaS marketing strategies for ecommerce

We go deep in each of these points that can save you LOTS of time while growing your business, but again… the whole journey starts with setting the core values. What’s the right time to introduce your values? It is obvious – you set them from the very start. You should make sure that from day one each individual stands by these values. So the right moment to start the inception is the recruitment phase. Actually, if the values are not already there it would be pretty hard to integrate these in somebody’s mindset. So, what do you do? You simply ask them a question they can’t fake in a way that will surely represent a real life story directly related to the core values of your company. Why to do that from the very beginning?  Because I have worked with people that implemented that on a later stage and then found themselves with a team in which more than 30% of the people did not represent their values.  Next thing you know, people are leaving. Tough one – how do we make things right? I can tell you straight away – it ain’t gonna be easy!  That’s why you should focus on this from the very beginning.  Go to minute 14 where Dave gives specific real-life example of how he integrated the core values of Grasshopper into the recruiting process.   Make sure your team stands behind your core values and never worry whether your business is moving in the right direction. If you set your core values right, you set the bar for office culture and work ethic in your absence. That’s when you can feel safe to start scaling. Watch the full interview and let me know your thoughts below on how you make sure that your core values are integrated in your business. -- Dan Martell has advised more startups than his hometown has people and teaches startup founders like you how to scale. He previously created, raised venture funding for and successfully exited two tech startups: Flowtown and Clarity.fm. You should follow him on twitter @danmartell for tweets that are actually awesome. + Instagram (behind the scenes): http://instagram.com/danmartell + Facebook (live trainings + Q&A): http://FB.com/DanMartell + Twitter (what I'm reading): http://twitter.com/danmartell