Rick Chandler
Business Name: MobileInnovate
Website URL: http://mobile-innovate.com
Email Address: rick@mobile-innovate.com
Year Founded: 2013
Number of Employees: 2 but partnered with a 75 person company
What does your company do?: Mobile engagement and data analytics business development
Was there a specific turning point when you realized your business was moving to the next level?: Yes, I was thinking too small, looking at developing mobile apps for small events. Then I realized that consumer mobile engagement was a big business rising in tandem with the evolution of big data analytics (where does all of that data come from in order to analyze it in the first place?)Now I am dealing with major enterprise accounts, Google as a partner and Edutopia, George Lucas’s Education Foundation. Turns out, people are still just people regardless of their status at their company, big or small.
What is most rewarding about running your business?: Keeping my investor/backer involved, engaged and continuing to support the venture with cash and business relationships.
What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them?: Number one is partners/employees that flat out do not perform, but still want their paycheck and are indignant when you get rid of them. Entitlement!! They want the “job” when they find out that you have funding, but they are not generally keen about the risk, the dedication or the long-term view. I overcame them by running a (very) small shop and outsourcing virtually everything I could to my partners who have to deal with this issue 🙂
Lesson learned: never split the equity in the company equally when starting your venture, huge mistake. Take into consideration who had the original idea, who prepared the business plan, who has domain expertise, who has what responsibilities and who is making the commitment and their level of risk. It’s never 50-50 or 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.
If you were starting over today, what would you do differently?: Sell something before attempting to raise money
What advice do you have for other business owners?: Get ready for the highs and lows and power through them. It’s never as good as you think, but many times it’s not as bad as you think. And when you wake up in the morning, deal with the feeling of remembering that nothing is going to get done that day unless you do it yourself, so if you wait around, get ready for a long wait. You have to push partners, prospects, and clients because attention spans are really short, but don’t push too hard or you will alienate them, then you’re done. Some days you send out 50 emails but get none back, because people are not necessarily thinking about your business, they have other things to do.
Please list any favorite books, tools or resources (software, website, etc.) you would recommend for others: Anything written about cutting up the “Founders Pie”. Any quotes about entrepreneurship and it’s challenges, because although they are cliches, they are true. Any reading material about weathering the ups and downs. But in particular, any reading material about how successful people, really successful people, went through many failures before “hitting it big”, it’s tough to think about that when things are not going well, so keep getting back up again. Remember the 3 (maybe 4) steps to success:
1. Attempt
2. Observe
2.5 Build
3. Repeat
What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you?: I am really generous and nice and forgiving and complementary and understanding; until I’m not. And not even I know when that line is drawn until I finally lose patience with inept, lazy or devious people, then I’m accused of being an a**hole when I cut them, because “You were always so nice!”
