Multitasking – The downfall of an Entrepreneur

We are in a fantastic age.

Unlike the past centuries, our heroes aren’t generals, revolutionaries, statesmen, politicians, scientists, editors, doctors or writers (to an extent). Today pop stars, rock bands, actors, sportsmen, businessmen and CEOs have taken their place.

Our adulation, concern and awe is reserved for these new champions of the new world. As expected, folk lore has grown based on such individuals.

Like the Rapper who lived a life of crime, selling drugs and finally finds real meaning in his life when he starts rapping after a new-death encounter. The CEO who fought rules, regulations, an old guard, unknown credentials etc to lead a dying organization to a phoenix like re-birth. The PE fund manager who lives on coffee and sleeps 3 hours a day. The Investment Banker who makes a 100 million $ a month and still finds time to train for the Iron Man. The dyslexia or ADHD afflicted entrepreneur who makes a billion dollars by establishing a technology company. The sports star who has been training for 6 hours a day since the age of 4.

Just like every folk lore and story that exists about larger than life figures, there exist a number of facts and details which are often misrepresented. One of the biggest issues is the portrayal of these heroes with an almost maniacal dependence and skill using multi-tasking.

 Before I go any further I would like to underline the difference between what is assumed as multi-tasking and what it really means.

Most people look at multi-tasking as a form of virtue which is usually associated with qualities of flexibility, high IQ, street smartness, focus and great resourcefulness.

My qualitative assessment of the above is that what people really know about Multi-tasking may be encapsulated in one word.

Bullshit

What multi-tasking really means in today’s context is to be able to develop a reputation and presumed super-human ability of doing multiple tasks at 100% efficiency without sacrificing the quality of end result.

As the above statement infers, the actual execution of multi-tasking is humanly impossible and is done so at the expense of details and quality.

However, the ‘appearance’ of multi-tasking has become as essential quality for would be CEOs, Bosses, Entrepreneurs, Consultants and great thinkers.

Why?

Because general wisdom now states that this ability to multi-task is an essential skill to handle complex and comprehensive activities, operations and teams.

This disconnect between what is required/portrayed and what is really done, has lead millions of entrepreneurs handling businesses and their time in the most inefficient way possible, while ensuring a perpetual lack of sleep.

 

Below are 10 reasons why and how Multi-tasking does more harm than good

1. The Devil and the Details – Remember how the US power pointed over the issues of IRAQ war and its aftermath. If the most well resourced government messes up on the details and suffers the deaths of thousands of soldiers, a huge debt and image issues, then startups fall in this trap all the time. Recent history is littered with startups falling by the wayside simply because their business models and operations were based on assumptions which did not cater to details. A part of problem has to do with investors and entrepreneurs not putting in the time required to come up with a solid business model. 

2. The Team – Nothing is most damaging for a team than to be made up of individuals who make decisions and execute activities, based on the surface details of an issue. For a young, inexperienced team, with no great gut instincts to talk about (since that is made up of experience too), it is imperative that a lot of attention is paid to various details.

3. The Customer – Ever sat across someone in office who claims to be there to serve you but is instead answering mails on his blackberry? What does that do to your confidence in him? We think we can suddenly turn off our instinct to multi-task when we meet someone important but we just can’t. And then we lose a customer because they will turn-off the moment they feel that you or your organization’s focus if not 100% meant for them.

4. Decreased Productivity – A cursory search on Google will throw up study upon study which proves how multi-tasking decreases productivity. 

5. Lack of Patience/Planning – Patience, perseverance and planning are the 3 Ps of a successful entrepreneur (Sorry for this, I hate this concept of 7Ps, 9Ss, 43Ds etc but I just couldn’t help it). All these qualities run contrary to multi-tasking as it programmes the mind to short bursts of work and activity. It’s like asking a 100 meter sprinter to compete and win a marathon… at the Olympics

6. Creative Solutions/Innovations – Will never happen when the mind is occupied by a million different things in the present and an equal number of things for the future. This ability needs time and some free RAM in the mind. Multi-taskers are bad creative thinkers because their minds are always busy with the ‘next’ activity or are processing parallel streams of info while the body is being ordered to work in sync.

7. The ‘Always On’ Tech – Smartphones, twitter, FB Apps, emails etc have made sure that we are always connected and hence are always expected to respond… right then and there. This ensures that the mind undergoes constant interruptions during a particular stream of thought. Coupled it with a mind which is trained to multi-task and we ensure that nothing of any importance ever gets done.

8. Unable to live in the Moment – Bad for you and bad for your team. It means you and your team will stop having fun and hence interest in the job at hand will fall. More than employee disenchantment, frustration and lack of engagement, this leads to stress. Basically a multi-tasking environment may lead to higher attrition and even health issues.

9. Eyes off the ball syndrome – Every Startup has at max 3 critical issues which it must tackle from a med to long term perspective. A Social Network knows that building and partnering for exciting apps, creating scalable infra and building a sustainable revenue model are its main ‘balls’. However, multitasking means that the management and the entrepreneur may take their eyes of the ball at various times leading to short-term decisions and activities which lead to long term problems.

10. Sleep/Chilling – You need it. You aren’t superman. And if you can look back at your day and remember large chunks of work done by you, you will sleep better and also find more time to do it. Most white collar workers have an issue with this because on looking back at their day, they realise that nothing of great importance has been achieved. Which really is a fact. And a pity.

 

What Multi-tasking really should mean

1. Flexibility – To handle various major issues, events and problems as and when they arise and become critical.

2. Multi-Skills and not Multi-Activity – To possess the ‘ability’ to do various things satisfactorily and to use this ‘ability’ sparingly.

3. Zoning In and Zoning out – To focus on what is important and leave the rest behind.

4. Dealing with chaos – To deal with chaos by singling out the important variables to control and handle. One can only deal with chaos when one has a calm and clear mind devoid of the need to act on multiple things at the same time.

5. Execution/End Results – To work so that the end results are fantastic and not based on our perception on what is efficient. To talk on the phone and write an email may ‘seem’ efficient. But if this means that the customer on the other end of the phone is left unhappy and our email is badly worded with lots of typos, then the end results do not justify multi-tasking.

 

My Conclusion

An entrepreneur must realise that his/her team and partners will be taking cues from his/her own behaviour on how they handle work. While inculcating a sense of being able to do various things and developing various and disparate solutions is a healthy and essential feature to create teams for the future, entrepreneurs would not like to have a team of professionals who shift from one job to another, form one idea to the next almost simultaneously in the name of productivity. 

We must realise that our definition of ‘productivity’ is extremely short term and shallow. For me a productive team is one which can consistently come up with well thought out, detail oriented results even if they do so once a month. A productive team is NOT one which can turn up with mediocre results on a daily basis.

We must start demanding excellence in a few things and not being average in many. This demand must be made not just of our team but also of ourselves.

For startups this detail oriented approach may be a great way of doing things since post funding scalability depends on a great fundamentally sound product, well thought out and allocated resources and an almost obsessive focus on building amazing aka wow iterations of your product/service.

This, in my view, can only be achieved when we stop multi-tasking and start focusing on the details (without getting caught in the paralysis of analysis).

Built to Sell.. For India

I really love this book. If you haven’t read it by now, then you should soon enough (Click on the picture for the Flipkart page). John Warrillow narrates a simple story about a person (like you and me) who wishes to sell his business off and chill.

But he can’t.

Because like many first time entrepreneurs and a majority of Indian Businessmen, he creates a business that is fundamentally unsellable.

The book walks you through a relatable story of a good guy who wants to move on and expects to be rewarded for all the work he has done in building up his company.

Unlike what Steve Jobs and his ilk might say, I feel that selling out a business, which you have created, is a very valid exit route. Steve Jobs might have found ultimate happiness in creating highly priced touch screen toys for the hipster crowd but many others just want to retire on a beach and spend time with their families. After all we are all in it to make a profit.

In this post I choose not to ‘recreate’ stuff written by others since I don’t feel good about restating what has already been written (rather well at that). However I feel that a few rules apart from those given in Built To Sell are relevant for Indian Startups and businesses.

 

10 ‘Built to Sell’ rules for India

1. Black Money – Most startups or young businesses in India really depend on Black Money in one form or another. Informal markets around India, especially in the urban centres provides most entrepreneurs with the capital to start businesses at low or moderate interest rates. Sometimes this money is from a relative or a friend who wants a piece of the action. With cash still King, not only in the financial but also the physical sense, this is a fairly easy and painless form of capital. Our risk-averse banking system really isn’t made for first time entrepreneurs and that’s where the black money market helps support millions of small businessmen across India. The problem happens when your business can not graduate from Black Money based capital and transactions to white money based business operations. If dealers, vendors, customers etc are dealing with you in off-the books transactions and black money then it becomes very difficult for a large players (who themselves are highly regulated and well known) into buying your company out. It also restricts the actual sales you can declare. With most buyers being progressive, large domestic or MNC firms who are, in general moving towards cleaner operations, this is a real issue. Even if you have a great business, the best step is to wean your business off black money and work on white.

2. The Law – Indian businesses have a penchant for breaking laws, not taking all the licenses, permissions, not getting into contracts, agreements and having a multitude of cases against them. Due to our fabulous (read slow, lousy and corrupt) legal system, most businessmen don’t really mind cases against them as long as it doesn’t lead to a stay against major business operations. However a prospective buyer will in all probability put his money only when he knows that there are no extenuating legal issues against the business. If there are, then the buyer considers it a potential threat to future revenues and business operations. A firm interested in buying you out will look at long term contracts, agreements, permissions etc since it not only considers them as safeguards to business activity but also increase long terms revenue projections and hence the valuation of the business.  

3. Family Members – Involving family members in a small business which looks to spread its wings and grow fast seems like a great idea in the beginning. After all you are ensured order, loyalty, motivation, a quasi-managerial set of people and low salary expectations. This also leads to the dreaded mix of the personal and the professional. In many cases it leads to family disputes, ego hassles, staff loyalty issues and development of company fiefdoms. This is a major turn-off for buyers.

4. Markets with major player interests – This is really a no-brainer but for some reason most people get this one wrong. A businesses’ ability to sell itself to a major player/MNC/Domestic Company only exists when (A) It’s an exciting sector where a number of players are looking at gaining traction and market share (not necessarily revenue… yet) (B) FDI limits are 100%/high/Going to increase hence ensuring that buyouts can happen by a foreign player for domestic presence. This also increases domestic competition (C) The sector is strategic in nature i.e. it is important from a technological, geographical or social perspective and not only from a revenue point of view. (D) Low regulation by government agencies.

5. Process Process Process – My biggest issue with Indian businesses and startups. The lack of process and systems. The absence of it makes most prospective buyers jittery and unsure, leading to lower valuations for your business. A proprietary process and system set up for your operations and sales will make it really easy for a professional business to put faith in your business and buy you out. A process and system oriented management shows that the company is poised to take on scalability issues head-on.

6. Documentation – Usually this would be a part of the above point, but I just don’t think that would cut it from an Indian perspective. Indian startups and businesses refuse to document. Actually it’s not in our cultural DNA since we are a verbal story-telling based culture. While this may lead to some great traditions and promote faith the in informal business sector, it also leads to bad records, adherence to policy and issues with creating processes and systems. It makes duplication of results and activities really difficult while making the business extremely people dependent and reduces organizational intelligence.

7. Don’t offer to sell everything to everyone – This is a like a disease which afflicts every Indian startup and business at some time or the other and totally goes against all practical advice regarding scalability, identifying differential advantage, identifying your TMS, creating great products/services and organizational focus. Too many companies have lost money, time and resources trying to please too many people at too many price points in too many ways. This also confuses the living hell out of a potential buyer of a business since they want to fulfil a specific need by buying your business but can’t identify what to do with all the rest of stuff that you seem to be doing. It makes your business look poorly organized and very muddled. Why? Because it is.

8. Hire a great CA – Just take it from me. Hire a great CA. Pay him more than you pay yourself if you have to. Just make sure your ass is on the right side of the law/tax department and that your financial papers look ready to be entered into the next Harvard Case Study series. It really really helps.

9. Build a Board – Most boards only exist on paper and consist of family members who either are already part of the management or don’t even know what you do. That is a fatal mistake. A board made up of local business leaders, professionals, professors and socially known /respectable citizens not only make it easier for you to do business and look good, leads to better credit ratings and it also increases valuation.

10. Don’t look at the US/EU valuations – Please understand, the US/EU (especially the US) is a crazy place where valuations go into bubble mode at regular intervals. The US/EU markets have a very well developed M&A market/players, with deals being done every day and companies being used as short/long term investments by PE/VC firms. In India we don’t have a developed market for M&As, we also have FDI restrictions, low valuations, cultural aversion to selling out and most importantly we have the Rupee (not the dollar). So don’t expect to be offered a deal on the lines of the US. You will be much happier and will also close the deal better. Don’t convert your Rupee valuation into dollar, unless you like being depressed.

Pitching… in the absence of the pitcher!

We spend a great deal of our lives delivering pitches. From cajoling parents to give us more money, begging teachers for more marks, haggling with the auto guy, requesting the cop to let us go, pleading with the maid to come on time and finally praying to god… everything is a Pitch.

Most of us are good at different kinds of pitches.

However with the advent of the great corporate Brahamastra ‘PowerPoint’, the pitch presentation has become an art in its own right. And most people suck at it.

Ironically, the reason why most of us can’t deliver effective pitches is because somehow the pitch has become more about the slides than about communicating what is required to convince someone to come aboard.

A pitch can be made

On the phone (Hello Sir I am calling from XYZ bank…)

On Email (My name is Odumbe Ombaka from Nigeria and I want to offer you a chance to make 1 Million $…)

On TV (This is the best abs machine in the market because you never need to exercise….)

Through Flash ads (Want to find hot friends in & around Delhi?….)

In a meeting (Sir this product will kill the competition….)

Non-Verbally (Wink Wink Smile Laugh….)

etc etc etc

This post is NOT on how to make effective presentations since I have already covered that somewhat (here). This post is about what you need to know before making effective pitches to various people using a PowerPoint or equivalent program.

But just to keep it simple and in the interest of those who (mercifully) take out time to read this blog, I will only be writing about Pitches from a Startup’s perspective.

Oh! And I write the below pointers assuming that you WON’T be present when the person views your pitch. Which means that he/she will be looking at the presentation and there will be no opportunity to razzle and dazzle with your mellifluous voice.

There are 4 different types of pitches for Startups

1. For Investors – They are interested in Your Idea/Product, The General Market Contours, The Profile of your Customers, The Pain you are trying to Solve, What you have achieved till now, How they can get in touch with you, Existing backers, partners and investors and most importantly Who are you and your team mates?

2. For Partners – They are interested in Your Idea/Product, The Profile of customers, What you have achieved till now, How they can get in touch with you, Profile of your team, What are the potential ways in which they can partner, Any Press coverage, Why is this so exciting and WIIFM (What’s in it for me).

3. For Customers – They are interested in the Product/Service, What makes your Product/Service so kick-ass, What you have achieved till now, The management profile, profile of some other clients, any press coverage, How to get in touch with you and the benefits of what you are selling.

4. For Employees– They are interested in knowing about how amazing your startup is, Why your Product/Service so kick-ass, What have you achieved till now, Management Profile, Your Backers/investors/partners, Profile of a few employees, Why this market so amazing to work in, What positions and skills you are looking for and finally How to get in touch with you.

10 Rules to follow while making a Startup Pitch

1. Keep it simple – Pushing in too many ideas, with too many flowcharts and too many details is going to kill your pitch. If you know what is the central Idea to your startup (I hope you do), use that as the common thread which binds all slides. Please note that the central idea may differ based on the category of viewers as given above. A tagline which encapsulates ‘what you do’, is very useful. Use only a few elements per slides. Don’t use too many animations, pictures or arrows. He/She will turn off really quick if you insist on being difficult to follow.

2. An Idea per slide – Ever tried reading 3 different subject books at the same time or even watching 3 movies. No? Well I hope not because it will be a waste of time. One idea/topic per slide makes it really easy to follow, register and digest in the mind of the viewer.

3. Colors and Graphics – Colors, Shape and Sizes affect the brain subconsciously. It’s a scientific fact. So even though Yellow font with a black background might sound like a GREAT idea, it usually isn’t. Please pick out easy colors, shapes, graphics and fonts for your presentation because the ‘Environment’ of your presentation really makes a lot of difference on how the content aka meat of your pitch is received. If the pitch is about a Startup making toys, then a black and white presentation devoid of any color is a bad idea, similarly a financial services startup may not want to use the rainbow as the presentation background. It will really help if the colors, fonts and graphics used in the pitch are part of your startup’s ‘creatives standards’. Finally, make sure that function comes before form. That is, the environment should support the content by making the presentation easy to read, pleasant to view and simple to remember.

4. Foot in Door – The pitch should not be written or made to communicate everything there is to know about you. You never mail a free mini-dictionary to someone in the hope that they might buy the extended 3 part volume series dictionary. You talk to them about the benefits owning a dictionary and how it will enrich their lives. The main purpose of a pitch is to introduce yourself, make yourself look interesting and to get a meeting! The final sale/decision/agreement etc will happen in that meeting. Your pitch must ensure that the person sitting across the table really wants to meet you.

5. Master Presentation for Material – Make a master presentation for your startup which may be treated as source material for all further variants. I have seen too many people messing up on details and content by putting up different things on different presentation and pitch variants. To a detail oriented person it can be irritating and confusing especially when they call you for a follow up presentation after they have seen your pitch. A master presentation also makes it easy to keep updating other variant presentations whenever required.

6. Easy to search – Most investors, customers and people get hundreds of emails a day. Since your pitch will probably be going through email, make sure you put easy to remember and recognizable subject lines, email ids and file names. If your Pitch presentation is named ‘Pitch’ or ‘Presentation’ or just XYZ12rd4 or some such ambiguous term, then the probability is that your file will be lost in some hard-drive or email inbox for eternity. Make the email subject easy to search. Put your Startup’s name and the term ‘pitch presentation’ in it. Also name your file using “Startup Name Pitch Date” format. For example “CoffeeCup Pitch – 22 Mar 2012”. Personally I would like to also know how many slides I have to go through and how many minutes it will take. This helps most of us get mentally prepared for the time and attention commitment.

7. Easy to share – If you can also mail a link of the pitch on slideshare, youtube etc then not only will you make it easy for someone to access it across platforms, you will also make it easy for them to share the pitch with other interested parties and stakeholders.

8. Don’t insult his/her intelligence – Don’t dwell too hard on the basic info. Everyone knows that the internet market in India is growing, that eCommerce is growing, that food consumption is growing and that global warming is also growing. A few revealing and relevant statistics will be nice. If you know the profile of your potential investors, customers, partners etc then you must include info which is relevant to them and doesn’t dwell on the known. This helps save time, effort and eases communication.

9. Tease – The art of the pitch is to open the mind of the person in front to receive the sales information you want to provide to finally make the sale. Since the aim of the pitch presentation is to get you a meeting where the other party really wants to know what you have to offer hence it makes sense to not reveal everything there is to say. Keep the bang for the final meeting. But most importantly tease the person to make him/her really want to meet you.

10. Make it for Mobiles – Probably the biggest shift one has to understand while making a pitch presentation. If you go over the last 9 points you will realize that almost every point has been written with the Smart Phone medium in mind. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that most of us will soon be consuming media in a major way through our smartphones. Certain demographics (like VCs, Investors, high flying executives, ahead of the curve customers etc) already do so. Anyone who owns a blackberry or a better smartphone would know that most emails, messages and social media updates are viewed through the smartphone. So the probability that your email and presentation will be viewed on a phone is really high. And if you have ever gone through a presentation on a blackberry you would know how frustrating the experience can be with slides made for a projector i.e. lots of data, small fonts, lots of words, messy graphics etc). My advice – Make a presentation and see if others can understand it on a basic blackberry phone.