Be An Executor
I recently went one on one with Michael Hurnaus, founder and CEO of Tractive, a market leader in GPS tracking for cats and dogs.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Michael: When I was 15, I dropped out of school, not for grades, but because I wanted to get out and earn money rather than spending time at school learning things I would presumingly never need. I realized a few years later that I could still get to university, if I passed an evening school program of 2 years, which I did. Fast forward a few years, I graduated from university, interned at Microsoft in Redmond and received an offer, which I accepted. After a while I moved over to Amazon working on several projects such as the Kindle Apps and Kindle Fire. In 2012 I decided to quit ‘my dream job’ to move back to Austria to do my own thing. This is when Tractive was born.
Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?
Michael: A friend of mine had a dog which regularly escaped his little backyard in Cupertino, CA. One afternoon he asked me to help him find the dog, so we roamed the streets for 2 hours until we finally found him. While looking for the dog, I was surprised to learn that there was no product in the market that would allow you to see the location of your dog on your smartphone. This is what sparked the idea of simply creating it.
I think it is crucial that - if you happen to have an entrepreneurial mindset - you simply take on a challenge when you identify a problem worth solving. Find partners who are willing to go the extra mile with you in this journey and do it. I have heard many times from others that they had the same idea… It’s absolutely not about the idea, but about the execution.
Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?
Michael: In this very case, I identified a problem, knew that the market (of pets, pet accessories etc…) is huge, growing and in the past even grew during a recession. And thanks to my technical background I had a good understanding of what was possible to actually create.
As soon as we started, it was all about creating a working prototype as fast as possible, so we could actually test the market. We released our first product in January (we founded the company just about 4 months prior). Since the MVP sold well, we decided to take it further, improve the product, listen to customers and continue to innovate.
Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?
Michael: Find one or two partners that you work with hand in hand. Startup life is a rollercoaster, with higher highs than you might expect, but even lower lows. If you work with the right people, things will progress automatically. I always tried to nurture a team culture of fun, creativity and the right amount of work-life balance. If the team loves to come to work, the company will benefit.
Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips? Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Michael: I believe that CEOs should do sales in the early days, to learn to understand the customers better. In marketing, we only spent in areas where we saw a quick ROI and never wasted money (in the early days) on building the brand, which often is what agencies call the marketing spend with a negative ROI :)
As for leadership skills, I recommend people to watch and listen to leaders they find inspiring. If the company grows linearly, you will automatically pick up certain skills and develop your own style. I often ask my team members for feedback or on what they would do, if they were the CEO. This helps me get perspective on topics that I am further away from.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
Michael: As the team grows, build a second line that you trust 100%. This way you can delegate early and free your time to work on strategy and improve your leadership skills.
Don’t hire B talent, go for the A’s.
Remove toxic people the minute you detect them and you will see the spirit in the company lifted.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Michael:
Find a co-founder that you trust 100%, with a slightly different skillset to yours
Try to get the first $1 of revenue as soon as you can. Once you have made the first $1 you can optimize to make $2 the next day.
Share your idea, your plans etc… Nobody will steal your idea. The idea is only 1%, execution ist the other 99%. Be an executor.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Michael: Listen to your customers. I know this is said a lot, but most companies don’t do it. We try to leverage our customers as our extended product team, who gives us inputs on what is useful and what is not.