Bootstrapping Your Dreams Show

Chris Voss is a former FBI hostage negotiator and currently CEO of the Black Swan Group which specializes in solving business communication problems using hostage negotiation solutions. Chris wrote the national best-seller — Never Split The Difference, which was named one of the seven best books on negotiation. 

Chris has used his extensive experience in international crises and high-stakes negotiations to create a one-of-a-kind program and team that applies these globally proven techniques to the business world. Chris assists businesses in securing and closing better deals, saving money, and resolving internal communication issues between senior management and employees.

Voss was also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and a lecturer at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business prior to founding his company in 2008.

He worked in the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit for 24 years and was the FBI's chief international hostage and kidnapping negotiator from 2003 to 2007. From 1986 through 2000, Chris was a part of the Joint Terrorist Task Force for New York City.

Christopher was the lead negotiator on the Jill Caroll case in Iraq and the Steve Centanni case in Gaza in 2006. Before retirement, he worked in more than 150 international hostage situations. Voss was honored with the Attorney General's Award for Law Enforcement Excellence as well as the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service.

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The only fear is fear itself for a startup founder and entrepreneur. 

Business is full of uncertainties but as business owners, we’ve to recognize one thing — business is all about taking calculated risks. 

Meaning you only risk your money, time and energy that you’re willing to lose, even if it doesn't work out. 

The experience of going through that journey will be enough to pay off. And the second thing is, the reward and the impact that you can make is so much bigger, that everything that you’ve risked is totally worth it.

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There are four types of communication. 

The first level is what I want to convey; 2nd is what comes out of my mouth; 3rd is what you hear in terms of words, and 4th is how it actually makes you feel inside your mind. 

These are all different and some people will be included in the audio while others in the video. 

All these combinations make you more effective with your employees, partners, or customers. The key here is to make sure your message is as clear as possible to as many people as possible.

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So I got pitched by a startup founder and here are a few things that I really liked about their approach

The founders shared their stories about their journey, life, and what have they achieved — which shows they are resilient, committed, and finish what they start. 

The next thing is — they really projected the value of what they are doing because I like to invest in projects that have a long-lasting impact on humanity. So they really projected how they're trying to solve a problem that is plaguing 10s of 1000s, if not millions of people around the globe. 

The last thing — they were really clear on where that money is going to be spent. 

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Startup founders have to make hundreds of decisions every day. So if we get into analysis paralysis, where we look at all the future outcomes — our decisions get slow, and that kills the momentum. 

So it's much better to make a decision, even if that decision is difficult or wrong in that timeframe. It's more important to keep moving and going with the flow. 

The worst-case scenario is you may end up realizing you made the wrong decision. And at that time, you can actually fix the decision and make a different decision. The idea is to keep the momentum going. 

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Bilsay serves as Regional CFO (TIP Region) and Board Member at DöhlerGroup. DohlerGroup operates in more than 130 countries across all continents and offers fully integrated food and beverage solutions from concept to reality.

Bilsay has over a decade of experience in M&A, Internal Auditing, Strategic Planning, Project Management, Business Development, Compliance Management, Process Reengineering and has a record of architecting financial strategies for maximizing growth & revenue backed by a CMA. 

Bilge is a highly analytical professional who assists international clients in the acquisition of other businesses. Create and implement systems to aid internal financial controls, as well as initiatives to improve financial operations.

Bilsay is exceptional in finance/accounting policies and procedures, and has proven expertise in delivering international projects within defined cost, scope & timelines and has exceptional overall business acumen. 

Prior to DöhlerGroup, Bilsay worked as a CFO at Bunge, CFOO at Solera, Inc, and EMEA East Controller, Turkey Finance and Accounting Manager at Monsanto. Bilsay graduated with a degree in business and administration from Istanbul University and earned a master's in leadership development from Esade.

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Did you call investors? Is the branding meeting scheduled yet or not? Did you make sure that all the salaries are right? 

This is a perfect example of micromanagement. Assign the task to your employees and get out of the way. Let them work on it and report back their results. 

Otherwise, you will never get anything done. You will stress your employees out and ultimately they will leave. 

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How do you know that the strategy you're working on is going to yield results and bring in the cash flow that you need for a healthy sustainable business? 

First of all, what is the demand for your product or service in the marketplace? Are people looking for this type of product? Because if that is the case — you have a fighting chance that people will actually find you and pay for your product/service. 

The next thing is how big the market is — is it niche or it’s a problem that is faced by millions of people? The bigger the market, the more likely you will find your first few buyers very, very quickly. 

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How do you recognize highly relevant offers or products that the market demands? Well, the very first thing is to focus on your area of expertise. 

If you're an expert in business, technology, marketing, or sales — try to observe the gaps in the marketplace and the problems people face — something that has a huge impact on the bottom line — either because of this problem, they are losing a lot of time, money, or they are not able to reach new opportunities where they can make more money. 

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In order to overcome the imposter syndrome, you should always look back at how far you have already come. 

If you just draw that trajectory on a graph… I haven’t seen any life journey which goes up and then all of a sudden crashes down. if you can read the pattern — it goes up. 

When you notice how far you’ve come, you can only project how far you're gonna have to go. But you can appreciate the winds along the way and your success to acknowledge it to get rid of the imposter syndrome. 

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