Roan Lavery - How to Stay Motivated When You're In It For The Long Haul (Turing Fest 2022)

Founders want to build a business that lasts, but how this feels and your personal motivation will change as the business scales. In this talk, Roan will share what he has learned about personal growth, development, and learning in a 15-year entrepreneurial journey that has gone from three co-founders who initially didn't want to build a big company, to being the CEO of a 270 people organisation today

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Transcript

1. How to stay motivated when you’re in it for the long haul Roan Lavery, co-founder & CEO FreeAgent
2. An existential crisis
4. START UP BINGO!! FOUNDED 2007 BOOTSTRAPPED ANGEL FUNDING VC FUNDING DEBT FUNDING CROWD FUNDING IPO ACQUISITION 2018
5. Search “keyword terms” for interesting articles & resources Photograph this slide for future reference THE FIELD GUIDE N
6. Individual Team Company Society Individual Layers of motivation Selfish Altruistic Team Team purpose Colleagues & Manager Company Mission Culture Society Purpose Impact
7. Individual (founder) motivation • Ownership • Financial freedom aka money • Status & sense of identity • What you do & your role • Accomplishment • Personal growth • Scratching an itch • Making a dent in the universe • Improving society • Building a great company Selfish Altruistic
8. It’s your baby! SMALL BUSINESS
9. It’s your baby! SMALL BUSINESS Until it isn’t
10. Personal growth Needs of the business Your ability • Challenged • Stressed • Imposter syndrome • Poor performance • Comfortable • Complacent • Stagnating growth
11. Motivating the company Inspiration, purpose & goals
12. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
13. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
14. Mind your language “Infinite games by Simon Sinek” Finite games Known players Fixed rules Clear endpoint Obvious winners & losers Infinite games Players change No time limit No fixed rules No endpoint “Achieve goals”, “Hitting targets”, “Beating the competition”
15. Goals Can be very motivating Create focus and alignment Foster accountability + + Demotivating if incorrectly set Can create short-term thinking Encourage negative behaviours Can feel like a hamster wheel _ + _ _ _
16. A new car that would be ‘under 2000 pounds and under $2,000’ and would be available for purchase in 1970. Goal “Goals gone wild”
17. “Tom Toro” Finding your purpose
18. “Profit is not the purpose of a business, but rather the test of its validity.” Peter Drucker
19. Finding your purpose Your mission Who are you helping? How are you helping them? What impact do you want to have? Is this pitched at the right level? Does it inspire people? Company Personal motivation Where do you find meaning? What are you most proud of? Has this changed over time? Personally
21. Thanks! roan@freeagent.com @roanlavery