Startup Mentor to Founders | Career Mentor to Operators
Recently I shared my career autobiography on LinkedIn, with all its ups and downs. Many said you want to try it for yourself. Here’s why it’s helpful to reframe your career failures as valuable experience. Followed by a simple guide how to write your mini career bio. And finally, my own as an example…
Continue reading “Ever Feel Like You Should Have Achieved More in Your Career by Now?”
This is a guest post by Jude Kriwald. He is co-founder of Tech Relief, a UK startup closing the digital skills gap by providing friendly and empathetic support for people left frustrated by their computers.
Here’s Jude’s no-nonsense guide to setting up business operations for your online company, quickly and easily on a shoestring budget…
Continue reading “How To Get Your Startup Online In 7 Days!”
Hearing I was a British Army officer in Afghanistan, people often say: “wow, you were so brave!” I appreciate the sentiment, but I beg to differ. I wasn’t brave. I was well-trained, motivated by a clear mission, and supported to achieve it. You can reduce stress in your organisation by becoming a better leader…
Continue reading “Being Shot At Isn’t The Most Stressful Thing I’ve Experienced”
Delegating effectively doesn’t come naturally to most people. I’ve coached many managers who struggle with workload because they spend precious time doing tasks their team is capable of. In my experience, great leaders and high performing teams have typically mastered the art of effective delegation…
Continue reading “How To Become A Better Leader With Effective Delegation”
I reflected this week on my personal leadership principles. Then I remembered my “3 life-changing leadership lessons” from Deliveroo. I shared them with the company when I left in 2019, having joined as employee number 15ish 5 years prior…
Continue reading “The Most Important Leadership Lessons I Learnt At Deliveroo”
Shhh..! Don’t tell my clients. There are lots of consultants out there, offering all kinds of services, using a variety of approaches. But what is a startup operations consultant exactly? What do they do? And do you even need one..?
Continue reading “The Truth About Startup Operations Consultants”
Roles and responsibilities – sounds a little dry, right? But working in the world of startups, I’ve come across too many employees who simply don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing.
You know: the green as grass operations associate, who scurries round the office sheepishly asking how they can help…
Continue reading “3 Great Reasons To Define Roles And Responsibilities In Startups”
The internet is full of self-styled experts promoting work-life balance. You may have heard:
But is this helpful advice? Or is it a fool’s errand? That all depends on you…
Continue reading “The Truth About Work-Life Balance: It’s For Gurus And The Gullible”
It’s easy to overcomplicate operations in a startup and make them hard to manage. It’s comparatively hard to simplify them and make them easy to manage. In 1960 US Navy engineers coined the design principle KISS – “Keep It Simple Stupid”. Here’s how to give your startup operations a big KISS…
Continue reading “Easy Operations In A Startup – Keep It Simple Stupid!”
This is a guest post by operations executive Keir Tutt about scaling operations (learn about him below).
Building a startup seems like a simple formula. You come up with a great idea, perhaps you seek seed funding, then you develop a Minimum Viable Product, acquire customers and sell, sell, sell! Nothing else matters, right..? But once you get some pioneer customers on board and it becomes clear your MVP has legs, how do you progress quickly from hustling to scaling operations for growth – without everything falling apart?
Continue reading “How To Grow Your Startup By Scaling Operations”
OK I lied, it’s not simple at all! Startup operations eludes straightforward definition, as does operations in general. There are however some commonly used frameworks to help you get your head around it.
Continue reading “What Is Operations In A Startup? Don’t Worry, It’s Simple…”
This is a guest post by sustainability expert Stephen Last on how to create a sustainable startup.
I’m going to show you four easy steps to make your startup more sustainable.
During my time working in some of the world’s most fast-paced companies, and specifically as the person responsible for driving sustainability at Deliveroo, I realised there’s a lot of confusion around what sustainability is and what it means to be a sustainable business.
Continue reading “4 Simple Steps To Make A Sustainable Startup”
Transitioning from the Armed Forces to “civvie street” pushes you out of your comfort zone – I know from experience. These days there’s an abundance of free advice and resources available to help service leavers navigate the plethora of civilian jobs on offer. But if, as I did, you want to explore a career off the beaten path – like in the world of startups – it can be more challenging to find useful guidance. How do military operations translate to civvie street?
I spoke to three former military officers from the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (learn about them below). Since hanging up their boots, they’ve each pursued unique and fulfilling careers in the startup space. I asked them what they’ve learned from making that bold career change – good and bad, about startups and the military – and what advice they’d give someone looking to follow in their footsteps.
Continue reading “The Best Career Advice For Military Veterans Entering Startup Operations”
This post covers step 3 of hiring your operations manager, the job interview.
Continue reading “How To Hire The Best Operations Manager: Job Interview”
This post covers step 2 of hiring your operations manager, the job assessment.
Continue reading “How To Hire The Best Operations Manager: Job Assessment”
This post covers step 1 of hiring your operations manager, the job description.
Continue reading “How To Hire The Best Operations Manager: Job Description”
There’s nothing quite like this pandemic to make us reevaluate our attitude to risk management.
Continue reading “Risk Management: How Pandemic Panic Can Change Our Attitude”
Here are my 5 top tips on how to work from home, effectively and enjoyably.
Continue reading “How To Work From Home Impressively And Love It”
Pay transparency remains a taboo subject for many – employees and employers alike. But why? Here’s my take on why pay secrecy is bad for business. And how to achieve fair pay, transparently.
Continue reading “Pay Transparency: The Truth About Fair Pay”
As part of their manifesto pledge to “unleash Britain’s potential” after Brexit, the British government has announced plans for what they’ve branded an “Australian-style” UK immigration policy. Australian it isn’t, but I think it’s upside down. So here’s my take on how it could affect your business. And what you can do to prepare for it.
Continue reading “UK Immigration Policy: How To Prepare Your Business”