What numbers do you look for to gauge success in business? What is the hardest thing you have ever done in business? Define the biggest piece of red tape that holds your business back?
Co-CEO, Steve Flavell, candidly answered these questions and more in a recent interview with startups.co.uk. You might be surprised by some of the answers, for instance:
What technology has made the biggest difference to your business?
“We have been very careful to only introduce technology that genuinely solves real problems experienced by the mainstream majority of frequent conference callers.
We avoid technology for technology’s sake as we believe this would harm the usability of our product and be off-putting to our users when they’re in the hot seat hosting a live remote meeting. This is a very risk averse use case and people want to feel comfortable and in control.”
What was your biggest business mistake?
“Following our funding round in 2007, we made what we thought was a sensible step – quickly hiring strong, experienced sales people from the conferencing world. We hired around 25 people.
Unfortunately, we realised we’d made a big mistake in pressing ahead so quickly as this rapidly-formed and experienced team were too set in their ways. They were too used to selling products that had created an industry in need of disruption, rather than selling a disruptive product to that industry.
Our saving grace was that we changed things just as quickly. We built a new team – more progressively – around graduates whom we trained ourselves.”
What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to a less experienced entrepreneur?
To find out, read the full piece, here.
