Doing the right thing - Advisors need to keep it simple and get shit done

Memorial to the heroines of SOE in WW2

One of the hoariest and most ancient of business maxims is “Management is doing things right; Leadership means doing the right thing.”
 
It is usually trotted out to explain why some individual who has risen to a senior post does not quite have the goods for further promotion. More often than not, the real reason is because that person’s face does not fit. Sadly it is one of the many weapons in the arsenal of those who constrain diversity in the business world.
 
Yet like all such sayings it contains a germ of truth. And that truth can be distilled and reborn as a valuable lesson.

This particular learning has been front of mind for me during the past week. And things right v the right thing turns out to be a good way of shining a light on some of the more frustrating moments.

​Are we making it easy for startups to do business?

​I like to focus on helping entrepreneurs and companies. There are plenty of other smart people and organisation trying to help in the same way. You would think that making life easy for founders would be important. And on the face of it, Scotland and the UK should be a good place to achieve that.
 
There are a handful of key measures Economists like to turn to when explaining the relative economic performance of different countries. A favourite is the Ease of Doing Business index compiled by the World Bank.  The UK ranks 7th in this list and 16th for the specific category “Starting a Business.”
 
Yet it doesn’t seem to work out that way. So often a promising startup pitch becomes entangled in a web of process and bureaucracy

Or tangling SaaS in a web of complexity?

One recent experience sticks in my mind. The entrepreneur had a strong, simple idea in a high value life sciences niche. Life sciences is not my speciality but this lady was the best entrepreneur in the sector that I have seen in the last 4 years. It was all clear and compelling. Questions were answered with confidence and little bit of brio.
 
Then we got to IP.
 
And found what felt like dozens of unanswered and unanswerable queries. Many of which lay in then hands of an organisation that I know is committed to helping companies like this get started. Yet the founder was left unable to get to any clear answer. Never mind a simple one.
 
And there are plenty of other areas where the ecosystem designed to help has enmeshed startups in complexity they don’t need.
 
On the very same evening I heard about challenges related to complex shareholder arrangements for a company that has not product yet and has not started trading. Questions surrounding the best way of ensuring that a startup qualifies for EIS or SEIS, the two excellent tax incentives that exist in the UK. And another entrepreneur worn down by the time and effort required to go through the process for a pitching competition designed to give startups free money.
 
This happens all the time.
 
Sometimes its the founding team that initiates the problem. In other cases, the system designed to help is just too process heavy. But every time there is more people like me and other senior mentors could be doing to help.
 
Matters of shareholder law and contracts, tax incentives, distribution of public money and IP are all important to get right. Risk and complexity do exist in these arrangements. The way this reality is approached is wrong. 

Complex solutions are offered and pursued. Or worse, the situation is allowed to go unresolved. Professionals and others weigh the options while the startup tries to move forward. In time, the weight of this uncertainty becomes crushing. A huge obstacle to investment. And a real drain on the time and energy the founding team needs to get things moving.

The Chairman's View

​Too often (and I include myself in this) experienced professionals hear the problem and switch straight into doing things right mode.
 
We all need a big dose of doing the right thing mentality.
 
In the shareholder example above, there was a lawyer in the room. The entrepreneur explained what he wanted to achieve with his co-founder. Rather than taking him at his word, she challenged the underlying thinking. Take an alternative approach and get a simpler, faster, cleaner solution.
 
Great work Julie.
 
Advisors need to look for the simple way through. Resolve obstacles and move forward. Or to be clearer, get shit done. There is nothing worse than confusion and uncertainty. Not knowing your IP rights or shareholder structure kills any investment and the business with it.

So the job of an advisor is to make it easy for entrepreneurs to focus on innovation getting in front of customers. That is doing the right thing.