Bryan Clayton turned a teenage chore into a successful business and then into a second. GreenPal enables consumers to “press a button for lawn care and move on”. Building both companies to multiple eight-figures without external funding, Bryan’s experience demonstrates that the role of a successful founder is that of capital allocator and consistently focusing in the right places. Delight the customer, fix what needs it, and become a competent generalist - place talented people in every role and know enough to be able to speak effectively with them about the business.
Show Notes
Bryan Clayton used many of the lessons learned in his first business to grow the second, but he did find that the nature of the business has a big impact on how you achieve success. It was difficult to switch from growing a lawn care business to building a technology business because a tech business is mostly inventing something new; never seen or used before.
One of the secrets to growing your business is to focus on one level at a time, and look to gain knowledge or experience from multiple sources in order to build your own ability. Progressively try to move towards working more on your business than in it, but be patient because the early years are a challenge. Success in a technology business can be developed through rapidly releasing a first product, which probably embarrasses the creators but delights the small customer base you have, and using the valuable feedback received to develop a product that the market truly wants.
Employing his superpower – consistency – made Bryan show up every day and persevere on the one or two things his business was working on to get to the next milestone. By doing it over and over, enthusiastically, until successful GreenPal has grown large, and yet Bryan feels they are only getting started. Bryan counsels to stay enthusiastic as you pursue each milestone, do not get side tracked through the highs and lows, and for those who feel they have missed their opportunity in technology – remember what Marc Andreessen thought about his opportunities in technology!
Tune in to hear about:
- The value of the first-year customer base.
- How to close the gap between founder logic and user logic.
- The double-edged sword of external funding.
- Finding a business soul-mate if you need a business co-founder.
- And more.
Mentioned in this episode:
What is Unlocking Business Growth - exploring achievements, challenges and what's interesting?
Bringing together successful executives, entrepreneurs, experts and their advisors within interesting and emerging companies and industries to share their achievements, challenges, and what makes them successful. Technology, Manufacturing, Services, Mining, Construction,... and more.
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