A d d u c e n t

I was online yesterday answering business questions from forum participants and had the following question asked by an entrepreneur who has started his first company, launched it and is doing business but doesn't believe he has the business management experience to build, operate and grow the company beyond the start-up phase:

"From an investors perspective, is it a good thing if an entrepreneur wants to bring in a professional CEO to run the company?"

On 04/23/09 11:41 AM, Dennis Lowery wrote:
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In general, it would be viewed as a positive sign. But there is one caveat:

There are people that make very good CEO's but lack the founder's vision and feel for the long-term plan for the company - that can lead to stagnation in a company. Vision and long-term planning are qualities as important as executive capability. A strong CEO can make investors feel more secure, which is always important but he or she has to have something of that "founding spirit" to see the path ahead clearly. So its somewhat of a balance that needs to be achieved.

Running a company most often comes down to common sense which will tell you "what you don't know" and what you need to get answered or help with. Having "self-doubts" about your management ability can keep you honest and not let ego run away with you (taking a good business idea with it) ... but also don't be too harsh on your self. Take it a step at a time and you can get honest help along the way to keep you straight and moving forward.

I've been a business owner for 26 years and as a consultant worked with a lot of entrepreneurs. Many of them, like you, did not have business experience but by leaning on and learning from those with experience in building their own businesses, they plowed forward and got things done, their businesses launched and rolling. The one's who seemed to be the happiest and to end up with the best sense of accomplishment (and reward) ... always followed that common sense path. The one's who got drawn down the wrong path by professional executive types, who have never started or built companies but merely worked at them ... sometimes found themselves at odds with their own company and things went downhill from there.

Climbing a corporate ladder is a lot different than coming up with the plan, going out and finding and buying the wood, buying the tools, learning how to use them, doing the work and building your own ladder to climb (and then making sure your ladder doesn't fall over, taking you with it).

It's two different worlds.  Stepping from the corporate world to the business owner's world is doable.  I know because I have been in both worlds and the most meaningful one to me (and the one that gave me the most knowledge and greatest experience), left me with blisters and splinters but also a heckuva lot more sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Stick with your gameplan to create value ... don't let anyone or anything short-circuit things to where your venture becames a commodity with little to set it apart from the competition.

Good luck with your business efforts; if you have any questions you think I might be able to help you with, feel free to run them by me.

Regards,
Dennis Lowery

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