Small Company/Big Lessons

I had a chance this week to spend time with some amazingly smart people at this amazingly little company that specializes in telecommunications equipment.  There aren’t more than 50 people in this company tops.  Any of the engineers could stand in their own sted at any company, but they chose to work here at a small firm (that has been that way for 6 years). A further conversation with the CEO dredged up how financially efficient this little place was.  I came away impressed, if not a little envious as to where they worked.

As I was doing my nails that night, I started thinking through some of the lessons from my visit, and how they might apply to any small company - or even small non-profit organization that has a big vision to help or change a sector of our society.

What are some of the Lessons Learned?

• Bullsh** with Integrity!
  • The small firm I visited wasn’t afraid to have a little hubris
    about what they did - but they didn’t let the fluff outstrip the facts
    of what they could really do.  Lesson?  Be proud of what you do and
    don’t be afraid to say so.  Don’t let others bully you around with
    their "apparent" knowledge, but don’t stray beyond the strengths of
    what you can actually do.
       
• Have fun and laugh alot
  • This small firm, in the middle of mid-America wasn’t afraid to pull practical jokes, laugh at their own foibles in the process of doing development, or even just kick back.  I don’t know alot of companies doing that today honestly.  It’s a good lesson in taking a breather and not sweating the small stuff.  This company knows they could get crushed by a Nortel or a Lucent, but, they also know they are having fun right now and making hay while their larger competitors are struggling for meaning in a changing telecommunications world.

• Age is meaningless when passion fuels you
  • I was really impressed with this companies spunk, tenacity and their innovation!  And, that 75% of the employees were 40 or older.  They were inventing things outside of their standard mission simply to make their standard mission work.  No one else in their industry was doing a thing to solve some basic problems, most of their competitors and fellow travelers were sitting on their hands just going with the status quo.  Not this small firm.  It showed me that age is meaningless for innovation and excellence when passion for what you do fuels you (and that stands true regardless if the passion is for engineering or for social justice).

• Do very cool things
  • This is related to the above lesson.  And Steve Jobs made a strong case for this in his commencement speech at Stanford this year (see link here for that very worthwhile read).  Basically, this small firm found something that was a problem in their industry and then they went after it.  They saw what they did as industry changing and as a bit of an adventure.  But in the midst of it, they were doing COOL THINGS, and that sense of impacting an industry for massive change really drives them.  Are you doing cool things?  In work?  In school?  In some social justice or grass community action work?  Don’t just go along in the rut - do something cool!

• Make some money
  • This small firm was very frugal.  They put their money into tools for their people, salaries and benefits, and in inventing.  They keep their overhead low (no Lear jet for the CEO of this company).  And they make money.  Not a ton, no one is getting rich - yet!   If your a non-profit, are you losing money or are you being as fiscally efficient as you can be without sitting on crates for office furniture?  If your a department in a larger firm, are you making money or are you getting that entitlement mentality?  Making money isn’t wrong and the results of that can be a broad swatch of goodness deepening on what you do with those profits.

• Long View
  • Unlike the quick fix view of today where ROI is expected in 9 to 12 months or the project or investment is folded, this unique firm knew this was a long term play and acted accordingly.  For sure, there were late night crunches to get a project done or meet a stage in a product development life cycle but this company focuses on a long term vision, balancing the need to generate cash now with the understanding that cool stuff that lasts takes a view that extends beyond the investors quarterly calendar.