The Mark Haney Podcast

When is the right time to scale and how the heck do I do it?

Have you ever seen a company that is scaling rapidly? It looks like they are killin’ it, nothing can stop them, and then all of a sudden they go out of business…

It makes me wonder, were they growing too fast? Did they try to go to market too early, or too late? Did they not push fast and hard enough to get over the hump?

To help me shed some light on the practice and pitfalls of scaling companies,  I reached out to two gentlemen from TeleMed2U, a Sacramento med-tech company poised for rapid growth. Javeed, the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, has been in the trenches for 9 years building the company’s foundation. AJ Patel, the new CEO, was recently recruited because of his success in scaling Walgreens. 

In this episode we will learn what it took to build a foundation that can sustain rapid growth, the most important lessons learned from building that foundation, what makes them ready to scale, and how they are going to do it. 

Before throwing fuel on the fire, make sure you have built a foundation that will support rapid growth. Don’t be one of those companies that shines bright and burns out quickly. 

What you will learn in this episode:
Javeed shares the problem that they are solving at TeleMed2U and how that specific problem has helped them build a strong foundation. (3:59)
AJ shares the foundational components needed in order to scale rapidly the right way. (8:02)
Javeed shares the lessons they learned from 9 years of building a foundation to rapidly scale. (13:05)
Why TeleMed2U is ready to scale rapidly and how they are going to do it. (17:05)
AJ explains that by having their foundational cost structure set, every opportunity that provides incremental margin won’t require more costs. (19:32)
AJ shares how TeleMed2U will scale, when they will build and when they will buy. (24:47)
What AJ did as the CEO in order to prepare himself and his team to start scaling. (33:17)
The sales culture that it took to build the foundation that the sales culture that will need to be implemented in order to scaling up a business rapidly. (38:19)
AJ shares what the most important thing to TeleMed2U is when they start scaling. (40:44)
Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT and REPOST to help more entrepreneurs overcome the obstacles in their way and unleash their full potential.

How a local utility company is driving global innovation and fueling entrepreneurs…

SMUD, the 6th largest community owned utility company in the country, like other large corporations at some point in their life cycle, are facing the innovator's dilemma. Their industry is in the process of being disrupted and if they do nothing they could find themselves out of business. Sound familiar? Think Blockbuster, Radio Shack, Circuit City and many other companies that refused to change with the times. 

Arlen Orchard, the CEO of SMUD, recognizes they are in the process of being disrupted and is taking action to make this an opportunity for SMUD, entrepreneurs, and the entire Sacramento Region. SMUD is leading the drive, with the help of countless partners, for the creation of the California Mobility Center. 

Arlen Orchard, SMUD's CEO, joined me on the podcast to talk about how this initiative was born, why it matters for this region, and why SMUD, a large, community owned organization is investing so heavily in leading and funding this effort.

What energized me the most about our discussion is how the California Mobility Center has put entrepreneurs at the center of their effort – with plans to foster innovation through assets like prototyping facilities, a trained workforce, and an investment fund.

Entrepreneurs are the answer…they solve the world’s biggest problems like the future of mobility and clean transportation…and with the region’s key resources so significantly aligning to attract, support and amplify entrepreneurial efforts, I believe anything is possible!

What you will learn listening to this episode:

Utility companies are being disrupted. They are becoming two sides of the same coin and will be the fuel provider for the future of transportation (2:54)

Arlen shares shares how SMUD is leading the charge on the public/private consortium California Mobility Center and the fund that will stand alongside it. (6:41)

Arlen talks about the future of transportation and e mobility future and how the California Mobility Center will be a part of that future. (7:55)

The California Mobility Center is meant to speed of the commercialization of e-Mobility technology. (10:38)

Arlen shares the entrepreneurial opportunities that will arise from the California Mobility Center. (20:59)

Arlen talks ecosystem building and how sacramento can be the international hub of innovation that funds and commercializes new future mobility technologies. (25:57)

Arlen walks us through the journey of a cohort company that will go through the California Mobility Center. (35:21) 

What the next two years looks like for the California Mobility Center and what that means for sacramento california. (38:12)

Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT and REPOST to help more entrepreneurs overcome the obstacles in their way and unleash their full potential.

Why do 95% of us run out of gas, air, and time?

As entrepreneurs it is way too easy to focus 100% of our time on our business. Who has time to worry about nutrition, fitness, and social connections when we are trying to do everything possible to stay in business, or build something that will change the world? 

My good friend Jack Crawford, the Founding General Partner of Impact Venture Capital, shares why he believes these things are extremely important. Jack found himself at a point in life when he was spread way too thin, was putting off family time to put out “fires,” and was not making the impact in his business he knew he was capable of. 

So, Jack decided to take action and has been researching, testing, and building tools/techniques in order to create the life and business he wants. He calls it his “strategic plan for life.” His strategic plan for life has helped him become laser focused on what’s most important in life and as a result, he is now taking massive steps to achieving his big hairy audacious goals. 

In this episode Jack shares all of the research he has gathered, the tools/techniques he uses regularly, and how he actually implemented all of this into his and his family’s lives. 

Taking the time to focus on the most important pieces of your life outside your business will help you become more successful than you think, and it’s a lot more fun!

Show Notes:

Jack explains that blue zones are areas in which people live the most happy/fulfilled lives and what makes up a blue zone. (12:40) 
Where does your brain look for achievement? Focus on your goals and ignore the rest. Train your brain to look for achievement that is meaningful to you. (19:40)
Jack shares his morning routine and why it is so important in order to achieve your goals and work and life balance. (24:10)
Jack shares why he believes 95% of entrepreneurs run out of gas, run out of air, and run out of time. (28:45)
People who experience tragedy usually have an enhanced perspective on life. Jack has been able to manufacture and maintain an enhanced perspective on life by implementing his strategic plan for life. (34:15)
Stop trying to do everything. Focus on your goals not others and clean up your to do list by asking what you can defer and what you can delegate. Work life balance tips. (40:15)
Jack shares how to accomplish work life balance by leveraging your time (49:45)
The tools that Jack uses to build his strategic plan for life to focus on your goals and maintain work life balance. (58:15)
Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT and REPOST to help more entrepreneurs overcome the obstacles in their way and unleash their full potential.

Are you building an ivory tower kind of culture, or a culture where everyone matters?

Nobody builds a truly great company alone, especially entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world. So, in order to achieve our big hairy audacious goals we need to surround ourselves with the people that will run through a brick wall with us.

In order to attract and retain these rock stars we have to build a strong company culture that our team members will go ALL IN on! The question is, what does that winning culture look like and how do we create one?

In order to answer this question I brought on a man that created one of the best company cultures in the Sacramento area, Dale Carlsen. Dale is the founder of Sleep Train Mattress Center. Dale built up Sleep Train to over 1600 employees, over $500 Million in revenue, gave his employees 25% of the company through an ESOP, and eventually sold to Mattress Firm which was a $117 Million payoff for his employees. 

Dale’s father gave him advice that he has lived by and that he attributes to the success of Sleep Train: surround yourself with great people, treat them well, and make everybody successful. And that is exactly what Dale did. 

Dale shares how he was able to build a strong culture following his father’s advice - What you will learn on this episode; 

(14:25) Why creating a company culture where everyone matters helps make big strategic decisions is important.(16:35) How much transparency a company should have to build organizational culture.(17:45) How he created a culture of ownership and eventually made his employees owners - which led to an 800% growth over 5 years.(19:30) How creating a corporate culture that gave back to their community brought in more customers and more importantly it increased employee retention.(34:05) Be careful of building an ivory tower culture. Create a work culture where everyone is the same and no one is more important.(37:55) Nobody buys into top down culture. Creating the mission/vision/values from the ground up with your team is step number 1 to development strong company culture.(40:25) Creating an organizational culture and leadership that celebrates successes allows the CEO and executive team to get to know their employees even better and strengthen their relationships.  

Dale shares how he DID all of the above throughout our conversation. I could not be more excited to share his wisdom with all of you on how to build a strong company culture. 

Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT and REPOST to help more entrepreneurs overcome the obstacles in their way and unleash their full potential.

Raising Capital? Are you prepared for another full time job? 

Entrepreneurs, especially those who are raising capital for the first time, often underestimate the time, energy, and commitment required.  In reality, raising money is a second full time job and can be a big distraction to running/growing the business. 

In addition to daily operations, you will need to make the time to: create your pitch deck, craft your pitch, research potential investors, build relationships with potential investors, pitch to investors, refine your pitch/pitch deck, follow up with investors, attend networking events to meet more investors…

It can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years to raise a round of funding and during this time investors still want to see growth. How can you do all of this while still moving the needle with your company?

To help me answer that question I sat down with Jared Story, the CEO of Parse Pay, and Anthony Romano, the CEO of eScreen Logic. These two entrepreneurs have been successful in raising capital while continuing to grow their businesses in the process. 

They share with us what it is really like to be in the trenches running their company while simultaneously raising capital. In this episode you will learn; how much time is actually spent fundraising vs leading their team, the emotions that are felt during this process, the systems/processes they implemented, and the most important pieces needed to be successful.

So, before you start raising money to fund that idea that will change the world, make sure you are fully prepared and know what to really expect.
Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT and REPOST to help more entrepreneurs overcome the obstacles in their way and unleash their full potential.

How do you know that your clients will pay for the product you’re developing?

Entrepreneurs are some of the most ambitious people on the planet. When we have an idea that we think will change the world, or solve a problem for a niche market, it can be easy to press full speed ahead and build what WE think the market needs. But, how do we know that the market will actually pay for what we are building?

Too many times I see entrepreneurs building what they believe is the “perfect” product that will “fly” off the shelves without ever talking to their customers. The only way to truly know what your customers want and more importantly, what they will pay for, is to ask them. There is no better time to do this than when you are developing your product. 

Kyle Cobb, CFO of Advanced Farm Technologies and his team are a fantastic example of how to do this the right way.  As a result, they are the first company to bring a robotic strawberry picker to the market. 

Kyle and his team have spent countless hours building relationships with their customers – farmers – spending time in the trenches to truly understand their biggest pain points and concerns with robots picking strawberries. 

Before they even thought about building a robot that rolled down the fields, they had to solve the farmer’s biggest concern, a gripper that wouldn’t ruin the strawberries. They went through 50 iterations of a gripper before they developed one that picked strawberries as well, if not better, than humans. 

After solving one problem at a time, getting feedback from their customers the whole way, they are on the verge of deploying the first ever commercial fleet of robotic strawberry pickers.

Listen to our conversation to learn how Kyle and his team made sure they had the right product market fit, how they made strategic partnerships to help them develop their product, and how they properly used the capital they raised. 

So, before you fully develop the “perfect” product that will solve all your customers problems, get in the trenches with them.

Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT and REPOST to help more entrepreneurs overcome the obstacles in their way and unleash their full potential.

How do investors value companies?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get from entrepreneurs and also one of the toughest. It can be especially challenging for earlier stage companies that do not have a financial history they can use to back up the story they are telling investors.

For me, the number one thing I look at when I invest into early stage companies is the CEO. Is the CEO a rock star? Can the CEO make the molecules move and rally people behind their vision? Does the CEO the top three qualities I look for: commitment, humility, and authenticity. If they check these boxes, then I take a look at their company to see if will be a worthy investment. 

To help me better answer this question I brought in two of my buddies who happen to be experts on this topic: Curt Rocca, the founding partner at DCA Capital, and Lokesh Sikaria, the founding partner of Moneta Ventures. They have incredible track records as investors and we are going to find out how they value companies and pick the winners. 

On this episode you will learn investors methodologies for valuing a company, the different factors that affect the valuation of your company, and an inside look at what investors think when they look at potential investments. 

Valuation is extremely important to get right if you want to get an investment. Learn from two guys that look at hundreds of deals every year.

Put Your Money Where Your Town Is!

62% of all new job creation is because of small businesses/entrepreneurs. It’s safe to say that entrepreneurs are catalysts driving economic growth and transforming the communities we live in. So, why aren’t more people looking to invest into the entrepreneurs in their hometown?

Local small businesses sponsor our kids little league teams, create jobs, pay taxes and often contribute in other ways to make our community a better place for everyone. I love my hometown and I want it to be the best possible place for my grandkids to grow up. This is why I only invest in companies that are based in the Sacramento region. 

I invited my VP of Investments, Ian DeWeerdt to talk about our local investment work. Ian recently joined the HaneyBiz team to apply his expertise to investing in and supporting Sacramento entrepreneurs.

On this episode you will learn more about what we are doing here at HaneyBiz. We talk about the types of companies we are looking to invest into, how we are helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams, and how we are looking to concentrate wealth for entrepreneurs.

Do you love your hometown and want to invest in its future? Watch this episode about how investing in your local entrepreneurs can do that!

There has never been a better time to build a business selling online courses.

Scaling a traditional service-based business can be extremely difficult - you trade time for money and can only serve a finite number of clients. Matt Aitchison, 7 figure real estate investor and host of top 25 itunes podcast, Millionaire Mindcast, solved this problem by creating The Rich Life Academy.  

The Rich Life Academy is an online education platform that was created when Matt could no longer sit down with all of the people that wanted to learn from him about real estate investing. 

On this episode you will learn when to start an online education platform, the fastest and easiest way to start one, the different types of courses you can offer, and how to build an online community. 

Do you have knowledge or expertise that you want to share with your community – then check this out!

Please SHARE, REVIEW, COMMENT and REPOST to help more entrepreneurs overcome the obstacles in their way and unleash their full potential.

Is a business accelerator right for me?
Startup Accelerators, like Techstars and Ycombinator, have become very popular in the past 5 years. Being able to tap into the knowledge of those who have been there done that when launching and growing a business can be the difference between success and failure.
Chris Peacock is the CEO of Aquaoso, a startup that recently went through the Techstars accelerator in Denver, Colorado. Chris and half of his team moved to Colorado to participate in the three month program while the other half of his team continued daily operations of the business.
I sat down with Chris to talk about his and his team’s experience going through a business accelerator program. Chris shares that it was a tough decision to take half of his team away from the business to work on strategy, but worth it! He believes him and his team learned a years worth of lessons in those three months and his company is prepared to scale at a much faster rate.
On this episode you will learn what type of business benefits most from business accelerators, what to expect when going through one of these programs, and how accelerator’s prepare you and your company to scale at a very rapid rate.
Growing a startup is not easy. If you are looking to drive growth as quickly as possible, then an accelerator program might be the best way to set yourself up for success. Find out from this interview whether or not this is the right route for you.
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Aquaoso is a water risk and research tech company. Their platform works with lenders to understand the water risk for the agricultural industry. For more information about Aquaoso check out their website: https://aquaoso.com/

- Mark Haney is a serial entrepreneur that has experience growing companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He is currently the CDO and founder of HaneyBiz, a business services platform that helps entrepreneurs be entrepreneurs. HaneyBiz offers outsourced accounting, digital marketing, HR, and investment opportunities. - Instagram: http://instagram.com/themarkhaney Facebook: www.facebook.com/themarkhaney LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markehaney Website: http://haneybiz.com Audio Boom: https://audioboom.com/channels/5005273 Twitter: http://twitter.com/themarkhaney