What kind of CEO are you (or could be)? In this video, I interview Mike McDerment, the CEO at Freshbooks, about the inevitable steps CEOs have to take in order to grow their business.
---
Listen to the audio version on...
+ Spotify: Apple Podcasts: connect on...
+ Instagram (behind the scenes):
+ Facebook (live trainings + Q&A):
+ Twitter (what I'm reading):
Join my exclusive Scaling SaaS Founders Facebook Group:
---
When I launched my company Clarity.fm in 2010, I gave a live demo to an audience showing how the service works.
It was my Steve Jobs moment.
From stage, I demonstrated how Clarity enabled me to call high-profile, successful entrepreneurs and get business advice from them over the phone instantly.
For the live demo, I had to call someone notable… someone the audience couldn’t reach.
I called Mike McDerment, the CEO of FreshBooks, a super successful accounting SaaS.
Mike was my example of a successful CEO.
He’s smart, committed to growth, and has scaled FreshBooks from humble beginnings in his parent’s basement back in 2004…
...to a team of over 300+ employees, raising over $75M in funding and earning over $50M+ annual recurring revenue.
Now it’s a pleasure to hand him the microphone once again by inviting him on the Escape Velocity podcast to share his infinite wisdom about leadership and growth in the SaaS space.
If you’ve ever wondered what kind of a CEO you are (or could be), then you need to hear this interview.
In this episode, we’re discussing:
- The 3 types of CEOs (which one are you?)
- The 3 core functions of a CEO
- The 3 stages of leadership growth in a scaling SaaS
- Why Mike hired an external COO with shared responsibilities
- Dealing with inevitable growth
- Scaling a remarkable culture
- How a CEO’s gut instinct is your best weapon… if you train it!
- Building an executive board
- Why Freshbooks resisted VC investors for over 10 years
- How to train and sharpen your CEO mind
- Pattern recognition as a method of business intuition
- Why he thinks Freshbooks, at 16 years old, is still in its infancy
Even now, there is still glorification of the struggling startup.
“Dude, I’m launching a startup, then I’ll be my own boss and escape the 9-to-5!”
But as any business achieves the success it sets out for, many founders struggle to morph into the person they need to be to lead a growing business at scale.
That’s why I think it’s incredibly important that you hear the experiences of CEOs like Mike and the inevitable steps that they had to take as their companies grew.
It’s better to learn this in advance before you back your business into a corner.
So I encourage you: put your earphones in and fire up the episode. It’s eye-opening.
Dan “CEO coach” Martell
Don't forget to share this entrepreneurial advice with your friends, so they can learn too: DAN MARTELL
=====================
“You can only keep what you give away.” That’s the mantra that’s shaped Dan Martell from a struggling 20-something business owner in the Canadian Maritimes (which is way out east) to a successful startup founder who’s raised more than $3 million in venture funding and exited not one... not two... but three tech businesses: Clarity.fm, Spheric, and Flowtown.
You can only keep what you give away. That philosophy has led Dan to invest in 33+ early stage startups such as Udemy, Intercom, Unbounce, and Foodspotting. It’s also helped him shape the future of Hootsuite as an advisor to the social media tour de force.
An activator, a tech geek, an adrenaline seeker and, yes, a romantic (ask his wife Renee), Dan has recently turned his attention to teaching startups a fundamental, little-discussed lesson that directly impacts their growth: how to scale. You’ll find not only incredible insights in every moment of every talk Dan gives - but also highly actionable takeaways that will propel your business forward. Because Dan gives freely of all that he knows. After all, you can only keep what you give away.
Recommended Reading >> bit.ly/32kRpzw
Comments
Post a Comment