I recently went one on one with Susan Hunt Stevens, founder and CEO of WeSpire.

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?

Susan: I have spent 9 years as a marketing leader on the digital and print side of a publicly traded media organization as well as now being a 2X founder of a software company. Most instrumental to my growth has been three things:  great mentors, being on the cutting edge of new technologies and categories, and a passion for people -- users, customers, and team members. I grow primarily by listening and learning from everyone around me and trying to pattern match quickly. 

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?

Susan: I was sitting in a sustainable design class focused on the LEED system for green building and I asked, “Why isn’t there a LEED for people?” I started envisioning an app that was a mashup between game mechanics of Runkeeper, WeightWatchers, the social dynamics of Farmville and other Facebook games, and the LEED system but focused on personal sustainability. That was the original idea for WeSpire.

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Susan: I drafted a one pager and put it in front of 5 VCs I knew from my first start up and quite bizarrely, all five thought it was a good idea and hadn’t seen something similar yet. The fifth told me to quit my job that day and go start the company. But the toughest test is my spouse, a fellow CEO who is not super techy. When even he thought it was a good idea, I knew this might have a shot. 

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?

Susan: The most critical step is to surround yourself with great people to help and I did that from day one. The next is to get a product into people’s hands as fast as possible for feedback and iteration. Our first MVP was built in 3 months and rolled out to 100 users. We got to a place where the vast majority would be very disappointed if we didn’t exist and we knew we could go from there.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Susan: The more you can personalize, localize and target your storytelling, the more effective your sales and marketing will be.

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?

Susan: I think what makes a great leader now has changed from when I studied leadership during my MBA program. The attributes emphasized then, like strategic thinking and strong communication skills, of course still matter. But I think characteristics like adaptability, agility, courage, a sense of purpose, and transparency are way more important today. There is no playbook to follow for pandemics or climate change or the great resignation. So you have to keep that north star of purpose front and center and then adapt quickly and courageously to whatever is thrown your way.  I also think just being a fundamentally good human being is even more important. No one wants to work for a jerk -- and people are way more mobile now - and most won’t.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Susan: I’ve really learned the importance of stage fit and that not everyone is right for where you are. Someone who thrives at $100M might be a disaster at $10M, and vice versa. Hiring for the stage and then coaching to help people scale as well as they can is critical. But tough decisions if they are not scaling is equally important. 

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders? 

Susan:

• Be really clear about your purpose, beyond profit and power

• Get your product or service into people's hands as fast as possible and then improve

• All organizations are made up of people. Focus on them and the rest will follow.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Susan: Quit your job today and go start WeSpire.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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