Hole in the Whole

Lean and mean also requires thinking ahead of what happens once you scale. Yana and Tom talk to Alvin Jiang, VP of Engineering at TenX, about why best practice compliance consists of smart data collection, automated evaluation & robust defense. Learn how a world class crypto startup implements data driven practices most banks still dream of. And learn why the best compliance adds value to your customer experience.    

Show Notes:

• [01:16] Alvin is a head of Engineering for TenX, a FinTech startup with a mission to bring cryptocurrencies and programmable money to average people. Prior to this he  lead PayPal Innovation Lab in Singapore. Tech innovation included improving operations and people's lives and productivity at the company. 
• [01:58] PayPal needed to develop the right tools and systems to enable people to do their jobs. 
• [02:24] Alvin made it his mission to make sure that there were tools that enabled people to do their jobs at TenX.
• [02:46] He focused on customer support, compliance teams, and onboarding.
• [03:20] Having a better backend system that enables teams to do their jobs is super important for a startup. Employees need to be treated as customers and enabled to do their jobs effectively.
• [04:30] It's very crucial for customer service people to be able to search, scale, and work effectively.
• [05:03] It's a competitive advantage to look at compliance and customer support.
• [05:21] Sometimes startup founders will have push back on creating a robust backend, but it's a good idea to think about how you're going to scale before you scale.
• [06:18] Having tools that enable you to deliver to your customers is almost as important as having a product your customer wants.
• [06:24] There is a three step cycle to compliance tools. First we need the tools for onboarding and simplifying the data from customers. Then you need internal tools for using this data. The third step is being able to audit and defend all of your actions. 
• [09:01] Stage three works very closely with compliance. It also needs to be done right and identify the types of customers you want to have. 
• [10:42] The MVP needs to be at least a setup that you can defend. You will be able to do this by following certain principles and best practices. 
• [13:15] Candid conversations with the compliance team are required to really understand the desired outcome.
• [14:52] Data based feedback is also very valuable.
• [19:53] Compliance and usability aren't necessarily at odds with each other.
• [20:39] Onboarding compliance should demonstrate the trustworthiness of the business.
• [22:43] Human beings aren't able to think of all the variations that could present itself with a lot of data. The machine tests the possibilities the human compliance officer hasn't thought of.
• [25:52] There needs to be a process where all customer use is interpreted for risk. 
• [28:34] Human intuition can influence the decision process. 
• [30:03] How compliance is implemented can be heavily improved by lots of common sense and some additional technology.
• [30:43] Tools should play a more prominent role in how you interpret data. 
• [31:07] Startups looking to scale should look at compliance tools sooner rather than later.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't miss any episodes by subscribing to The Hole in the Whole.

Links and Resources:

• Alvin Jiang on LinkedIn
• TenX

Do I have what it takes? It's the universal question every (to be) entrepreneur asks before taking the big leap. As usual it's easy in hindsight. Yana and Tom discuss their own fears and thoughts, on which elements they judge, whether setting out on your entrepreneurial journey is a natural or even a natural decision. Hit us with your questions.  

Show Notes:

• [01:13] We talk about being an entrepreneur within the corporate world. It's a good idea from a cultural perspective, but workers are limited because of admin, budget, and policy. The corporate constraints make it difficult. Entrepreneurs need direct access to their results.
• [05:32] Yana uses an example from the diamond industry. Too many departments and committees make you feel like you don't own anything or have significant impact. You have to have lots of patience to be entrepreneurial within a big corporate setting. 
• [07:01] Tom shares how to test your idea by creating a spin-off and bringing it to the board or executives and see if they are willing to invest. 
• [08:10] We discuss whether everyone can really be an entrepreneur. 
• [09:46] Our world is more entrepreneurial because when people are willing to take risk and chase their dreams, they become more productive.
• [10:27] People can be so uncomfortable with risk or uncertainty. It's not a good experience if they can't become stronger out of it. 
• [11:19] Entrepreneurship should be defined as people willing to take risks and go for it.
• [12:09] When Yana worked at Amazon, she was supposed to think outside of the box, think big, and try things. Amazon innovates from within and has been able to create amazing results. 
• [13:25] Tom had a similar experience with UBS. They were supposed to formulate their BHAGs or big hairy audacious goals. 
• [14:33] As fear became more dominant, the need to avoid risk and not make mistakes became more dominant. 
• [15:11] The internal culture shifted in one to two years.
• [15:44] The idea of compliance does not mean avoiding risk. Compliance doesn't get any rewards when things go right, but they get blamed when things go wrong.
• [16:51] Agile should be used for risk management the same way it's used for software development. 
• [19:07] We should ban the word key risk indicator, because as long as it's only indicating risk it's not taking care of business. 
• [19:18] Being entrepreneurial within a big corporation is like learning to ride a bike with your training wheels. You'll be a lot more proud if you make it without the training wheels.
• [20:04] Yana doesn't believe that entrepreneurship and corporations can exist together.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't miss any episodes by subscribing to The Hole in the Whole.

Tom and Yana talk about FinTech pricing and price anchoring, popular pricing models, freemiums and the importance of niching-down - so that your company is able to charge premium prices. 

Show Notes:

• [01:24] Tom recently launched a SaaS product and wanted to have a very easy pricing strategy. They were going to charge 1 buck per employee, but as their customer base grew, the strategy became more complicated. 
• [02:08] With diverse clients, it's hard to have a one size fits all pricing strategy. 
• [03:25] Yana talks about how nice restaurants use the appetizer pricing as an anchor. Pricing is never an independent decision. 
• [04:07] What kind of value add would you give away for free to entice subscribers for your paid model?
• [05:36] With information businesses, people can find the information for free if they put in enough time and work. People who are willing to pay need to have a sense of urgency, and they need to believe that you have a strategy to bring them from point A to point B. 
• [06:59] People don't implement when advice is free. There is a correlation between paying and taking action. 
• [07:54] Tom thinks through the customer's economics as a business case. He shares pricing models that will benefit the user. People would rather have a turnkey price than a risk reward or commission model. 
• [10:43] You might have a perfectly fine agreement, but then businesses want to negotiate a better deal and additional conditions. 
• [13:36] Businesses need to focus on what is most important. Pricing needs to keep a business profitable. 
• [14:57] Giving away free products or services can help a business grow, but there needs to be a plan for incentives or the business won't get profitable.
• [15:27] The taking a loss strategy usually only works for the first to market. 
• [16:15] People don't mind paying for a service, but they want the price to be justified. 
• [17:32] Most firms understand what services would cost them in-house. Offer a reasonably priced entry product and then increase over time. 
• [18:54] Startups need to design pricing strategies that work like the upgrade model or subscription model. 
• [20:10] Free month trials attract a lot of tire kickers, but not buyers. 
• [21:01] Have an attract entry level and then start the upgrade. Once the integration is done, the upgrade decision is easy. 
• [22:30] B2B software startups need to really know their customers and their customer pain points. It's hard to nail down messaging when trying to sell to everyone. 
• [24:29] In the B2C space, everyone looks for influencers to promote their products. At the end of the day, both spaces are selling to people, so you need to make sure that your product or service is a perfect fit.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't miss any episodes by subscribing to The Hole in the Whole.

"Dare to lead great" is Teresa Kwon's tagline. Why leadership can be daring and challenging is obvious to most founders and entrepreneurs. Teresa shares her insights on finding first team members, transitioning from side hustling to employing people, bringing experts and eventually delegating. This concentrated wisdom can save you time, money and unnecessary headache. Start building your dream team today.   

Show Notes:

• [00:56] Creating teams and hiring talent is the single most impactful business decision you make.
• [01:32] Teresa Kwon is the founder of Daringly Great Leadership. She helps businesses scale by unlocking the power of team. 
• [02:31] Hiring is a skill that develops over time. Early objections can be finances. 
• [03:34] It's really about finding people who are willing to do it all. You want people as passionate as you. 
• [04:08] You want the get stuff done type person.
• [05:49] You want people who care about your values and the kind of company you are trying to build. 
• [07:14] If you want someone on board with you, they need money to pay their bills. 
• [08:27] Think of your super sharp people as pro athletes who get the best. You're investing in this person. Equity can be key, but do your homework and be realistic. Make sure that people you give equity to are people you want around for the long run. 
• [12:16] Having things on paper will protect the integrity of what you are creating and your friendships. 
• [14:05] Create a business entity or LLC that is not you.
• [15:48] You can hire advisers. Surround yourself with experts and mentors. Have a good lawyer and CPA. Have experts who can advise you on the ready. 
• [18:09] People who you want to bring on your team. You leave money on the table by elevating people who don't have the leadership experience you need. 
• [20:02] Think ahead. Find a team who can carry you and help you get funding needed to grow.
• [21:01] Your core culture of vision, mission, and values is critical with who you hire. 
• [23:48] To distinguish who the right person for your team is measure them against your culture core. 
• [25:29] Founder syndrome is where everyone is connected to the founder. As the business grows, hanging out with the founder lessons. The founder may be unwilling to grow with the organization. A divide can be created with the original team and the new managers. Founders need to be willing to let go of the day-to-day.
• [30:49] Trust team members to do the selection process for you. Founders need to let go and stop being the bottleneck. 
• [33:18] You will see incredible results when you let go and trust your team. 

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't miss any episodes by subscribing to The Hole in the Whole.

Links and Resources:

• Daringly Great Leadership
• Get a Free Discovery Call with Teresa
• Daringly Great Leadership on Facebook
• Teresa Kwon on LinkedIn
• This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Is everyone telling you how important it is to find and keep your focus? What does this mean anyway? Yana and Tom talk about what helps them stay focused, getting back after failures and having fun along the way.

Without a solid plan of attack, things aren't going to get done efficiently. We talk about everything that has to do with goals, priorities, planning, and getting things done if you are an entrepreneur. We even talk about when it's time to say no without  feeling guilty about dropping things that aren't serving your objectives.

Show Notes:

• [01:10] Once Yana has an idea of what she wants, she starts making a list. Tom plans his week and includes enough gaps in time, so that he can pivot if needed.
• [02:03] Tom is happy if by the end of the week, he can tick off his top three priorities. 
• [03:17] Yana likes that big picture planning can go beyond three ideas. She likes to know where things are, what's happening, and have a sense of control. 
• [03:53] Don't feel guilty about dropping things that don't work or not finishing books that are boring. 
• [04:36] It's okay to iterate and pivot. Financials will tell you when it's time to quit. 
• [07:21] Keeping it simple isn't cheating. You need to have things that are just in time. You can't prepare for all of the just in case instances. 
• [10:11] Focusing on priorities is only half of the puzzle. you also need review sessions. 
• [12:48] There is nothing wrong with trying shortcuts and finding smarter ways to do things. 
• [14:20] Tom looks at his long-term objectives once a month. He also has written action plans. If he doesn't work on it, he reconsiders whether it is important or not. 
• [16:54] Manage expectations when delegating. There are trade offs between quality and time. 
• [19:04] Tom shares a lesson learned from a cooking master class. We get better results from a team rather than from one expert. 
• [24:23] Tom and Yana discuss the theory of bar raisers in interview situations. 
• [25:58] Prioritize your list and be clear about what should be first. 

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't miss any episodes by subscribing to The Hole in the Whole.

To kick it off, Yana and Tom share their top entrepreneurial lessons from building own startups and coaching others. This introductory episode offers true unpolished opinions and unconventional best practices to set the foundation for integrating risk-taking with technology perspective. 

Today's Episode:

If you've found this show, you are passionate about doing great things. You are smart and ambitious, and your heart beats a little faster when you start talking about entrepreneurship and startups. We feel the same way. 

Today, Yana shares things that she has learned since she started her business in November of 2016. She specifically shares her top three if I knew back then what I know now topics. 

Tom also shares lessons that he has learned over the last 10 years of being a startup entrepreneur. Tom and Yana don't always agree perfectly, but their advice compliments each other and is useful for experienced entrepreneurs and those just starting out. 

Show Notes:

• [01:57] Focus on the important stuff and validate your ideas. Logos, contracts, etc. can come later. 
• [02:35] Know her your perfect customer is, what you want to do, how to charge, and how long things will take.
• [03:18] Use your first customers to test what boundaries you need to set up, how long things will take, what to charge, and anything else you may need. Find a way to help someone and in the process validate your ideas. Everything else will follow.
• [04:51] Tom almost agrees with Yana on whether formal things are that important at first.
• [05:17] You can use the period of time when you are setting up the formal matters to think about what you value and cherish as far as working conditions. 
• [06:12] Use the formal things to make it clear to yourself what you want your future working environment to entail. 
• [06:40] Think in eco systems instead of one-to-one relationships. 
• [07:46] Tom is an advocate of bootstrapping. 
• [08:38] Don't be greedy with your ideas. Clients pay for results not ideas. 
• [09:29] Yana shares the importance of talking to your ideal customer on social media. What are their questions and struggles? 
• [10:14] You can attract your perfect audience, and they will talk back to you. 
• [11:29] Doing it over, Yana would be more compassionate towards herself.
• [12:53] You are taking small steps and actions, while things are changing along the way. There is always a level of uncertainty. You have to get comfortable with trusting your instincts and the value of your offer. 
• [14:51] Freemium works better offline than online. Think about what you can do to get those freebies out and get proof of value. 
• [16:01] Be careful who defines your MVP. The core team needs to set the scope correctly and keep it minimum. 
• [17:36] Don't compromise on your team and key positions. Find your business soulmates. 

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't miss any episodes by subscribing to The Hole in the Whole.