I began a business journey in 1990 with a $200 investment and have over the last 22 years been involved as a Director or CEO in growing three technology companies that combined have sold for well in excess of $100m. These slides represent my attempt to record my lessons learned and what I consider are the success factors.

1. From $0 to $100m+ “my lessons learned”

2. Have a clear vision
“I have a dream” – Martin Luther King Jr.
1. What is your dream and vision for the
business and your life?
 Be a tall poppy & be a dreamer
 “Stay hungry & stay foolish” - Steve Jobs
2. Where do you want to be in five
years time?
 Document it, make it living and adjust

3. Be strategic
You need to want to win!
What does winning mean for you? Have you got an „end game‟?
„Think different‟ and „shift the goal posts‟
What is your unique selling proposition? Know your „Why‟
What is plan A, B, & C?
Reinvent the business every „x‟ years

4. Be planning & goal driven
“If you fail to plan you plan to fail”
1. A plan is a ”written living document”
 Carry it around & open on your computer
2. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
3. Also consider ambitious goals
 70% of X is better than 100% of nothing.
4. Three budgets
 Worse case, I‟ll deliver & Optimistic
5. Review & measure
 “You can’t grow what you cant measure”
 Share plans with your team(s)

5. Focus on ….
1. Be totally committed &
disciplined
 Focus on the right priorities
 Do the hardest thing(s) first
2. Sales, sales & sales ….
3. Your market & customers
4. Your product(s) & services
5. Focus means you never give
up ..
 Be prepared to feel all alone
 Steve Gurney, Michael Jones and
and

6. Sell, sell and sell
1. Develop a detailed sales & marketing
plan & budgets
 Sales team each create their own plan
2. Everyone sells
 If you have a marketing person then give
them a budget ..
 CEO/GM is one of the best/top sales
people
 Reception person is „director of first
impressions‟ ... so sells!
3. Don‟t wait to engineer the „perfect
product‟
4. Hire sales people ... learn to love
them!
 „Move them on‟ if they don‟t sell anything
5. Create a sales culture and celebrate
every sale!
 „ring the sales bell – literally!‟

7. Staff – building the team
“One smart developer is worth 50 average developers”
1. Make it tough during selection
 Only the best (top 5%) will do
 “hire hard – manage easy”
 Agree to increase the average IQ in each
team
2. Know each team members
personality, motivation & life plan
3. The A & R words
 KPI‟s for everyone
 Remembers everyone is in sales
4. Staff are your greatest asset.
 Great people want to work with great people
 Design incentives and rewards for all
 Don‟t overlook the competition for new staff

8. Letting people go ...
1. Remember one in five hiring decisions
will not work – Jack Welsh
 Develop the courage to hire, to fire and to
hire again
 My observation in companies and organisations is
one of the biggest failings is the lack of courage to
fire. For me this means move people on to
something that‟s more suitable for them. Help
them!
2. Jack Welsh challenge
 Drop off the bottom 10% of your team every
year
 Cut a failing division, project or company
 You‟re either the best (# 1) or you let it go to
the others who can do it better than you.

9. Your team - personalities
1. It‟s about understanding
yourself & your team
 Profile your whole team & all recruits
 Don‟t try and change who you are
2. Know each persons strengths
and weaknesses
 List them
3. Build a team around your who
compliment you

10. Get organised & structure ….
“Where is the company procedure manual?”
1. Systemisation – Read „The E-Myth Revisited‟
 The majority of businesses fail because they‟re not
systemised or organised
 Where does the company „knowledge‟ reside?
 Can you take 3 months off?
2. What are your policies, procedures, checklists,
templates? Invest in systemisation
 You will always save more than you spend
3. Is organisational structure clear?
 Matrix management (two or more masters) doesn‟t work
 Read - How to lose friends & infuriate people
4. Develop a board with non-executive members

11. Reporting & Measuring
“You can‟t grow what you can‟t measure”
1. Report on your detailed business plans
2. Great team position descriptions with KPI‟s
3. Require weekly reports from everyone
 Communicate clearly and be candid
 OK to fail – in fact encourage it but don‟t do it again
4. Monthly reports & reviews for each team leader
5. Board meetings
 Introduce „non–executive‟ board members
 Appoint a lawyer to the board
6. Create advisory boards for feedback
7. Require as much bad news as good news

12. Leadership
"Management is doing things right; leadership
is doing the right things." - Peter F. Drucker
1. Are you being an inspirational leader?
 Stretch your team
 I‟ve had over 100 people bungy jump with NO regrets
 People are inspired by „stretch‟ goals
2. Find your mentor ..
 Who are your hero‟s?
 Who do you aspire to be like?
3. Leaders are readers
 Read books on inspirational leaders!
4. Don‟t ask your team to go where you won‟t
5. Build a great team around you
 You need a great CEO, CCO, CFO, CTO & CSO

13. Taking risk ….
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever
achieve greatly … …Robert Kennedy”
1. It‟s OK to fail
 “encourage failure – Microsoft” but …
2. It‟s OK to lose money
 Create 3 budgets & cover your „worse case‟
3. Employ those „ra-ra‟ sales people
 “no sales = no business”
4. It‟s a connected big but small world
 The internet changes everthing
 If NZ then look at Australia – easily manageable
 But be successful at home first
5. Do the research
 Be honest .. Its easy to do research that supports you

14. Know your competitors ….
“We are only 18 months away from failure”
1. Know everything about your competitors
 Their products, services, customers, shareholders &
staff
2. Respect your competitors
 Behave as if they do everything really well
 Be your competitor for a day
3. Figure out how to eliminate them
 Back to the plans and strategies
 „Be nice‟ and look at ways of buying them
4. Adapt quickly to competitive environment
 Yes, it‟s like a chess game & yes, its about winning

15. Listen to your customers
“Marketing is easy - the customer is always right”
1. Don‟t fall for the trap of thinking you
know best
 If only customers were not so %$%#@$
2. Create great internal feedback loops
 Have an excellent Intranet
3. Create great external feedback loops
 Use social media – it‟s a customer driven
world

16. Counting the beans
“$1 saved is $1.50 earned”
1. Don‟t let „red ink‟ be an option
 Create a „profit plan‟ as part of your business
plan.
 Constantly refresh your budget & plans
2. Understand cash flow
 Don‟t be fooled by „accounting profit‟
 The best measure of success is your bank account”
3. Have financial data at your fingertips
4. Focus on & understand margins
 Don‟t be sucked into chasing „revenue‟

17. Hard work & transparency
1. I haven‟t found the business or
organisation yet that became
„successful‟ with „normal‟
capital on an easy „balanced‟
work week
 Let your friends and family know
the cost, the risks and share the
rewards
 You have to work harder &
smarter than your competitors.
2. Transparency
 Financial ..
 Board & Management plans,
objectives, goals etc

18. The ‘final’ sale ..
1. Prepare well for your exit
 Be realistic and strategic
 Prepare well in advance
 Create a living „Information Memorandum‟
 Now you need those business plans!
 Document all IP
 Keep up to date financials
 Have all „agreements‟ & „contracts‟ complete
or terminated
2. Decide who „fronts‟ the potential buyers
 Be prepared for an „emotional‟ journey
 Have a good lawyer on your team
3. No one gets a „big cheque‟ without conditions
 Desire success for the buyer as much as for yourself

19. So the reward is $$$$$ …
1. $$$$ gives you choices but DOESN’T make you happy
 Death bed .. I wish I had earned more $$$ - NEVER
2. Think about life purpose, relationships and values

20. Some final thoughts …
 Please, be a tall poppy and dreamer - NZ needs more tall poppies
 Appreciate just how wonderful NZ is
 It‟s all about „just doing it‟

21. Best wishes & Contact Details
Mike Chisholm
24 Hatfield Place
CHRISTCHURCH, 8042
Mobile Ph : 029-245-7091
Email : mikejchisholm@gmail.com