36 Cara untuk Memotivasi Karyawan Anda - oleh Startup Bisnis

Editor’s Note : Artikel ini ditulis oleh Bryan J. Zaslow, Founder / President / CEO dari JBCStyle / JBCconnect / JBCPlatform. JBCStyle adalah sebuah full-service recruiting agency dengan fokus utama pada industri fashion, beauty, action & sports, retail dan home industries. JBCconnect adalah perusahaan penyedia creative staffing. JBCPlatform adalah perusahaan penyedia temporary staffing untuk berbagai macam industri seperti hospitality, catering, administrative, dsb.

An employee who enjoys coming to work is a worthy investment.

Pekerjaan yang bagus memang sulit ditemukan, namun setiap entrepreneur tahu bahwa karyawan yang bagus lebih sulit lagi untuk dipertahankan. Seorang entrepreneur harus memastikan perusahaannya memiliki karyawan yang lebih mementingkan pekerjaannya lebih daripada gajinya.

Selama bertahun-tahun, saya merasa mudah untuk memotivasi karyawan, yang perlu saya lakukan hanya menjadi leader yang layak untuk diikuti dan memberikan pekerjaan yang bernilai untuk dikerjakan. Namun setelah hampir 7 tahun berada di perusahaan, Saya masih mencari cara-cara baru untuk mempertahankan produktivitas dan memberikan setiap individu hal yang mereka perlukan untuk melakukan yang terbaik.

Inilah cara-cara yang saya lakukan :

1. Mendukung ide-ide baru

Ketika seorang karyawan datang kepada Anda dengan sebuah ide atau solusi untuk suatu masalah yang mereka percaya baik bagi perusahaan, itu tandanya mereka peduli. Mendukung ide-ide baru dan memberikan masing-masing individu kesempatan untuk menjalankannya adalah sebuah motivasi, meskipun pada akhirnya ide tersebut tidak berhasil

2. Berikan wewenang pada setiap individu

Setiap individu berkontribusi pada bottom line perusahaan. Membuat mereka mempunyai peran dalam pekerjaan mereka, besar atau kecil, akan membuat mereka mempunyai ‘sense of ownership’ yang akan membuat mereka mempunyai performa yang melebihi ekspektasi.

3. Jangan biarkan mereka bosan

Saya mudah merasa bosan, jadi saya berasumsi bahwa karyawan saya juga mempunyai short attention span. Seperti kontes membuat cupcake, merencanakan happy hour, membuat kontes push-up di tengah-tengah kantor pada hari rabu, atau membiarkan orang yang berbeda untuk menjalankan meeting mingguan supaya tidak monoton.

4. Rayakan setiap momen penting

Sekitar 7 tahun lalu, ketika perusahaan hanya mempunyai kurang dari 10 karyawan, kami merayakan ulang tahun setiap karyawan, work anniversary, pertunangan, dan juga kejadian-kejadian penting pribadi mereka. Sekarang, sebagai perusahaan yang mempunyai lebih dari 100 karyawan, kami masih merayakan kejadian-kejadian penting tersebut.

5. Mengenali setiap pencapaian professional mereka

Setiap orang ingin diakui kehebatannya. Pengakuan dan pujian dari para manajer tingkat atas atau owner dari perusahaan akan sangat berarti bagi seorang karyawan, lebih dari yang Anda bayangkan.

6. Dengarkan mereka

Ini mungkin adalah hal termudah dan juga kadang tersulit  yang dapat Anda lakukan untuk karyawan Anda. Meluangkan sedikit waktu setiap harinya untuk mendengarkan ide karyawan Anda tidak hanya membuat mereka senang, namun juga akan memberikan Anda wawasan lebih pada bisnis Anda dari orang-orang yang membantu Anda menjalankannya.

7. Mendorong adanya persaingan yang sehat

Lingkungan yang kompetitif merupakan lingkungan yang produktif. Mendorong karyawan untuk berpartisipasi pada kompetisi atau tantangan merupakan hal yang sehat dan bahkan akan meningkatkan persahabatan.

8. Luangkan waktu Anda

Meskipun Anda mempunyai jadwal yang sangat padat, Anda perlu meluangkan sedikit waktu, mungkin beberapa menit setiap harinya untuk mengobrol dengan karyawan Anda. Meskipun mungkin hal tersebut tidak ada di kalender jadwal Anda.

9. Memberikan reward pada suatu pencapaian

Jika menepuk pundak atau melakukan tos tangan tidak cukup, Anda dapat memberikan insentif keuangan akan membuat mereka terkesan atau intangible reward seperti training yang valuable.

10. Buatlah sasaran yang dapat dicapai

Membuat sebuah target adalah hal yang penting, namun memastikan bahwa sasaran yang dibuat tidak terlampau tinggi akan membantu Anda menentukan tercapai atau tidaknya target pada evaluasi akhir tahun.

11. Berikan pengakuan pada mereka yang berhak mendapatkannya

Meskipun para karyawan datang ke kantor untuk menyelesaikan pekerjaan yang telah ditetapkan untuk mereka, jika mereka melakukannya dengan baik, hal itu juga merupakan sebuah pencapaian. Beri tahu semua orang di perusahaan tentang kerja keras mereka.

12. Dorong mereka untuk menjadi dirinya sendiri

Setiap orang tidaklah sama. Mendorong berkembangnya kepribadian setiap orang akan menciptakan kultur yang dinamis dan beraneka ragam. Selain itu juga akan tercipta lingkungan kerja yang lebih terbuka dan dapat menerima perbedaan. Kami mempunyai banyak karakter orang disini di JBC, semakin banyak semakin meriah.

13. Jadilah leader yang layak untuk diikuti

Ini adalah hal yang pasti saya lakukan. Jika karyawan saya tidak menilai saya sebagai pemimpin yang layak, bagaimana saya bisa mengharapkan mereka untuk percaya

14. Berikan contoh

Berikan sebuah contoh, atau mungkin 2 atau 3 contoh. Saya tidak dapat mengharapkan karyawan saya untuk melakukan suatu hal jika saya tidak melakukannya juga. Saya selalu bertanya pada diri saya apakah ekspektasi saya untuk karyawan saya sebanding dengan ekpektasi yang akan saya tetapkan untuk diri saya sendiri.

15. Buatlah segala sesuatu menjadi menarik

Melakukan hal-hal kecil dengan berbeda atau melakukan sedikit hal-hal gila atau tidak jelas dapat mencairkan suasana kerja.

16. Mendorong untuk belajar skill baru

Waktu terus berjalan. Memastikan bahwa setiap karyawan mendapatkan kesempatan untuk belajar ilmu baru atau memperbarui ilmu lama akan menguntungkan semua orang yang terlibat di dalamnya.

17. Mengenali kelebihan masing-masing karyawan

Kemampuan untuk mengeluarkan kemampuan terbaik dari karyawannya adalah bakat yang harus dikuasai setiap entrepreneur.

18. Membuat hubungan yang lebih personal

Ini memang merupakan hal yang cukup tricky, karena ada suatu batasan yang tidak boleh kita lewati. Namun, menunjukkan kepedulian dan ketertarikan pada kehidupan masing-masing karyawan akan cukup berguna.

19. Buatlah sebuah jenjang karir yang jelas

Mengetahui apa yang akan dicapai kedepannya adalah motivasi yang utama. Karyawan yang telah mempunyai jalan untuk mencapai promosi, akan bekerja menuju target itu. Hal ini akan meningkatkan komitmen para karyawan.

20. Membuat sebuah tradisi

Acara Thanksgiving tahunan kami sangat ditunggu-tunggu hingga beberapa karyawan membatalkan liburannya untuk berpartisipasi. Setiap musim liburan, kami mengadakan acara “toy drive” untuk sekolah-sekolah di Bronx. Karyawan-karyawan di US terbang ke sana untuk ikut berpartisipasi. Maka, mulailah sebuah tradisi dan terus lakukan.

21. Kenali tim Anda secara individu

Setiap orang berbeda, namun ada beberapa orang yang sangat berbeda sehingga mereka butuh management style yang lebih personal. Memahami karyawan Anda secara individual adalah satu-satunya cara untuk mengelola mereka secara efektif.

22. Miliki pikiran yang terbuka

Saya tetap terbuka pada ide-ide baru dan metode-metode baru. Segala sesuatu yang baru patut dieksplorasi dan dipertimbangkan.

23. Miliki kesabaran

Entrepreneur cenderung hanya tertarik pada hasil. Kesabaran akan mencegah Anda untuk berekspektasi terlalu awal dan terlalu tinggi, sehingga akan membuat karyawan untuk menyelesaikan tugasnya dengan baik.

24. Rangkul perubahan

Melawan perubahan lebih sulit daripada merangkul perubahan. Saya telah mengalami hal tersebut baru-baru ini dalam hal media sosial dan hidup di jaman digital. Saya juga mendorong karyawan saya untuk melakukan hal yang sama.

25. Membuat lingkungan kerja yang positif

Tidak ada tempat untuk pikiran negatif untuk mencapai kesuksesan. Sebuah lingkungan kerja yang positif merupakan cerminan dari pemimpin yang positif.

26. Mengembangkan kreativitas

Lingkungan yang kreatif adalah lingkungan yang mudah berkembang. Doronglah kreativitas, buatlah “thinking out of the box” menjadi kewajiban, dan lihatlah bisnis Anda berkembang

27. Mengijinkan mereka membawa hewan peliharaan

Dua anjing saya datang ke kantor setiap hari, dan semua karyawan saya dibebaskan untuk membawa hewan peliharaan mereka ke tempat kerja. Hewan peliharaan dapat membuat orang-orang merasa senang dan membawa rasa persahabatan ke kantor.

28. Buatlah ekspektasi yang jelas

Tentukan ekspektasi atau harapan yang jelas, sehingga Anda dapat menetapkan hasil yang spesifik.

29. Buatlah karyawan merasa memiliki perusahaan

Kesuksesan suatu bisnis berada pada ‘ownership’. Ketika karyawan merasa mereka mempunyai investasi di perusahaan, produktivitas akan meningkat.

30. Mempromosikan kesatuan

Setiap karyawan perlu untuk mampu berdiri sendiri, namun mampu untuk bekerja dalam tim juga sama pentingnya. Mempromosikan kesatuan akan membantu karyawan untuk mencapai sasaran individual dan tim.

31. Membuat mereka tertawa

Tertawa adalah hal yang menular, jadi bantulah menyebarkan kebahagiaan.

32. Jadilah fleksibel

Segala sesuatu tidak berakhir sesuai yang direncanakan, namun jika karyawan melihat Anda cukup terbuka dan berlapang dada untuk mengikuti alur, ketegangan akan menurun dan produktivitas akan tetap konstan.

33. Tawarkan insentif

Mengetahui akan adanya hadiah $500 atau mendapatkan hari libur tambahan akan membuat mereka lebih terdorong untuk mencapai target.

34. Berikan keseimbangan pada waktu kerja

Sebuah lingkungan kerja yang hidup memang baik, namun menjaga keseimbangan antara waktu kerja dan refreshing juga penting untuk mempertahankan tingkat produktivitas dan juga kesehatan jiwa para karyawan.

35. Sambutlah dengan terbuka metode-metode baru

Seperti yang kita tahu, jaman digital telah merubah banyak hal pada hidup kita. Merangkulnya daripada menghindarinya akan lebih baik. Metode-metode baru akan memastikan bisnis Anda dan para karyawan tetap

36. Berikan mereka alasan untuk datang bekerja setiap hari

Datang bekerja setiap hari dan kesiapan untuk melampaui ekspektasi, membutuhkan semangat juang yang tinggi untuk mencapainya.


Sumber : Startup Bisnis

18 Startup Mistakes Everyone Should Know About - by Funders and Founders

If you have a list of all the things you shouldn’t do, you can turn that into a recipe for succeeding just by negating as written by Paul Graham in his essay.

Below you will find the 18 startup mistakes:

1. Single Founder – as a single founder you have almost zero chance of getting funding from Paul Graham. Why? It’s not a coincidence, he says, that founders who succeeded did so as a team of at least two.
2. Bad Location – you can change everything about a house but its location. Likewise, if your startup is in a bad location, you can’t change the nature of that location. It’s easier to move the startup. Where to? Silicon Valley.
3. Marginal Niche – by choosing an obscure niche a startup may paint themselves in a corner. If you are afraid of competition, this is not the way to avoid it.
4. Derivative Idea – there are only so many Twitters for pet owners one can come up with. The bottom line is that the Google of tomorrow will not be like Google.
5. Obstinacy – or inability to adapt kills startups who would have survived had they not been too stubborn to see what their users were telling them.
6. Hiring Bad Programmers – knowing a good programmer from a bad one often takes being a good one yourself, or having a trusted one on your team. Exceptional programmers are always in short supply. So the odds are stacked up against hiring good ones.
7. Choosing the Wrong Platform – how fast you can scale will determine whether your startup lives or dies once you get traction. On the wrong platform scalability will be the bottleneck. And users often don’t wait for you to figure it out.
8. Slowness in Launching – before you actually launch you are in the dark about whether your startup should even exist. The longer you delay the launch the more you delay getting the answer. If you are afraid to know what the answer is, you might want to ask yourself why.
9. Launching Too Early – launch too early, though, and you may be completely unprepared to handle your growth, or worse yet to present a usable product.
10. Having No Specific User in Mind – somewhere someone will for sure be interested in your product, you just don’t know who yet? Sounds like those people may not exist. Be sure to check.
11. Raising Too Little Money – you get what you spend on. With too little money you may not be able to flesh out your product in to its full potential.
12. Spending Too Much – spending too much before you grew enough to have the numbers to raise the next round, and you are out of cash, which often spells the end.
13. Raising Too Much Money – raising too much will likely make you feel like a huge success even before you made anything useful. At the end of the day it’s users, not investors, you want to impress the most.
14. Poor Investor Management – if the choice is between making investors happy or making your users happy, always choose the users. If the user is happy your investors will make money eventually.
15. Sacrificing Users to (Supposed) Profit – you can always make money later. This however, cannot be said about making users happy. You need to make something they want now.
16. Not Wanting to Get Your Hands Dirty – you can’t solve all your problems with coding. Businesses are built on relationships. Go out and meet those people.
17. Fights Between Founders – founder conflict is too common. Founders being ambitious people are almost bound to disagree.
18. A Half-Hearted Effort – a lack of determination to see the startup through to the end is not rare. If you feel like you have other options in life than building your startup, you will probably mentally hang on to them.

...

Points from essay by Paul Graham, commentary by Anna Vital.

Written by Mark Vital (Information Designer and Hacker)

FundersandFounders

How To Start a Startup - by Funders and Founders

Here is a literal and actionable guide on how to start up.

Live in the future. 
Most of us live in the past or the present. It is easier to analyze what already succeeded and think of ways to replicate the success. It’s thinking by analogy. It is a valid way to think, except that this isn’t the way to create a big startup. Big startups are based on ideas of two kinds – obvious and hard, like Elon Musk’s SpaceX; and non-obvious and hard, like Uber. If you don’t see the obvious and hard or the non-obvious, there is a name for it – “Schlep Blindness”. SpaceX is an obvious idea because the only other enterprise that could send people to Mars, NASA, had no plan to do so at the time SpaceX started. So it is obvious. Because it is obvious and no one else is doing it – a reasonable assumption is that it is impossible. Yet if you live in the future, it will also be obvious to you that humanity will either go to Mars (or another planet) or go extinct at some point. More likely we will find a way to leave this blue pebble. So the impossible must be possible. With UberPool, the idea that at any given point in time there are at least two people going from about the same location to about the same destination is non-obvious. It requires at least three assumptions. It is hard because you would have to gather and store mountains of data about where people actually go in a city. That kind of data analysis is only becoming available now. But Uber thought of it when they offered their first ride back in 2009. They were living in the future.

See what is missing in the world. 
You probably noticed that before Uber, taxi rides weren’t enjoyable. You probably noticed that before SpaceX people were less interested in space. But that is already the past. What is missing now? More importantly what is missing from your life now?

Write it down. 
No matter how smart you are, you will not remember all your insights. Your conversations with others, random observation, and shower thoughts that are worth following up on. Write these done or lose them. Daydreaming has value. Einstein had another name for it – thought experiment.

Make a prototype. 
Most of your thoughts, even the best ones, will never see the light of day sadly. You will forget them into oblivion even if you write them down. The only exceptions are those thoughts you prototype. Make them physical if they can be – program them, design them, do anything that makes them more than just thoughts. Most people will stop right here. So if you do this, you are already ahead of the imaginary curve.

Show the prototype to 100 people. 
Now you will need to step out of your comfort zone and seek out people who will critique your prototype. Ideally, these are both people you already know and complete strangers. Why 100? Because you need a breadth of perspective and hopefully a pattern to recognize from all the feedback.

Iterate. 
Although a few people will get it right on the first try, the odds are you will not. So prepare to redo everything from scratch. This is your “founder MBA”, except it is free.

Find a co-founder. 
When the prototype starts making sense, go find another person who will pour a decade of their life into this project because it will change the world and they probably don’t have a more meaningful thing to do in life at the moment.

Register your business. 
Split equity. Finally, an easy step. Get a lawyer who will register your company. Give your co-founder as much equity as will make them work their hardest, while you keep as much as will make you give it your all.

Look for funding and build version one. 
Unless you have enough savings to build version one, go find an investor. While you are doing that build version one. You have to keep building because there is no guarantee about when or whether you find an investor. Don’t assume that you will just because other startups are getting funded. Assume the worst, and build your product.

Launch. 
By the time there is even an iota of usefulness in your product, launch it. Extra features, better interface, faster load time and other optimizations probably won’t save it, if the core features have no use.

Follow up with users. 
Are users coming back? Find out why they are not.

Launch again. 
Launch as many times as it takes. At some point, if at least a few dozen people are coming back on their own, you probably made something valuable.

Get to 1,000 users. 
This may not seem like a lot, but the first 1,000 users will show the weaknesses of what you have built. You probably will have to recruit them manually. How manually? Take their computer and open your website for them. Whatever it takes.

Grow. 
Paul Graham encourages startups to grow at least 5% a week. If you grow that much, within 4 years you will get to 25 million users. In other words, you will be one of the largest startups.

Success – whatever that is. 
You can IPO, sell your company to another or stay private by convincing investors that there is a bigger liquidity event coming. Even now, though, you may or may not have made the world better. WebVan IPO’ed, but quickly disappeared. Think about what kind of a dent in the universe you want to leave with your startup.

...

Inspired by Paul Graham’s essay “How to Start a Startup”.

Written by Anna Vital (Information Designer and Infographic Author)
FundersandFounders

Happy Birthday HubSpot! 9 Lessons From Our First 9 Years by OnStartups

1. Don't defer the hard co-founder questions for later. They only get harder.

Have the important conversation(s) with your co-founder early.  Topics might include long-term goals, fund-raising, equity allocation, vesting, etc. I've written an entire article with some of the questions co-founders should ask each other. In our case, one of the reasons my relationship with Brian Halligan (co-founder/CEO of HubSpot) has worked out so well is that we talked through these things early and made sure we had agreement and alignment.  One of the top reasons for startup failure is co-founder conflict.  You can't mitigate that risk completely, but you can reduce it significantly simply by some candid and direct conversations just as things are getting started.

Oh, and no, the best way to avoid co-founder conflict is not to not have any co-founders.  I think that's sub-optimal.  Your odds of success go up if you have a co-founder.  

2. An imperfect decision today is better than a perfect decision some day.

Some decisions will be impossiblly hard to make and you'll debate them for months (and in our case years).  Most decisions you'll need to make in a startup are based on imprecise and incomplete data. Get used to it.  Make the decision and move on.  Sometimes, you'll need to cycle back and "course-correct" decisions that are wrong and significant (the wrong, insignificant ones you should learn to ignore).

Let me give you an example of how not to do it.  In the early years of HubSpot we were trying to make the (very hard) decision about whether to focus on the very small business market or the mid-market (larger businesses with 10-2,000 employees).  We debated this one for years.  There were good, strong arguments on both sides.  We spent many days locked up in a conference room, promising ourselves we wouldn't leave the room until we had made a decision.  But, the decision still didn't get made.  We should have made the decision sooner, because regardless of which path we picked, we likely would have made it work.  

3. Don't be distracted by the "Press Release Hire".

When building the early team, don't get hung-up on how people look on "paper" (i.e. how experienced someone is).  Brian (my co-founder) calls these kind of hires the "Press Release Hire".  Litmus test:  Imagine you hired this person.  Would you issue a press release to let the world know that you brought this awesome person on board?  If so, you're probably more focused on what they've done instead of what they will do for you.  Don't get me wrong, if you can get someone that's a great fit and they've accomplished something in the past, and you think that'll translate to doing great things at your company, go for it -- and may the force be with you. But remember, that past successes at really big companies doesn't guarantee future success at your company.  The context is very different.  Also don't ignore talented future stars because they lack experience and nobody has heard of them.  At HubSpot, in those early years, we were all relatively unqualified for the roles we were in.  Some might argue I'm still unqualiifed for the role I'm in.  But, we were hungry, willing to learn and most importantly -- we cared. 

4. If you don't love your customers, you're more likely to lose.

You better really love your customers.  If not, pick a different idea or industry.  Life is short.  Startup success is both about solving a problem you care about and solving them for people you care about (or at least don't hate).  If you find yourself making fun of or disparaging your customers when they're not around, something's wrong.  It's not impossible to build a business this way (there are entire industries where it seems that every company hates their customers).  It's not impossible, but it's harder -- and less fun.  On the flip side, there's something immensely gratifying about genuinely helping people and caring.  If you love your customers, several good things happen.  One, they'll know it, and will stay longer (yay,lifetime value!).  They'll refer other customers.  You'll be able to recruit and retain better people onto the team.  So, overall, your odds of success go up.

5. Even micro-investments in culture can yield mega returns.

If you know me or know HubSpot, you probably know that we are obsessed  with culture.  As many people likely know HubSpot for it's culture as it's product (I could argue that the culture you create is part of the product).  But, it wasn't always that way.  In our early years, we didn't talk about culture much.  We hadn't documented it all.  We just built a business that we wanted to work in.  And, that was great.  But the real return on culture happened when we started getting more deliberate about it.  By writing it down.  By debating it.  By taking it apart, polishing the pieces and putting it back together. Iterating. Again. And again. And again. If you're interested in learning more about how we think about people and culture at HubSpot, you should check out our Culture Code deck -- embedded below for your convenience.

Slideshare of HubSpot Culture Code

Now, I'm not suggesting you drop everything and go create a 128-slide treatise on culture for your company.  But make some small investments.  For starters, have some conversations about the who.  What kind of people do you want on the team? Try to avoid platitudes.  Make a list of attributes and traits that other companies avoid, but tend to work for you.  And vice versa.  Write this list down, even if it's just a simple email to the team.  Once you start writing your culture down, a couple of surprising things will happen:  1) You'll realize you got parts of it wrong (because people will tell you).  2) You'll increase the chances of hiring for "culture fit" without falling into the trap of toxic homogeneity where you just hire people like yourself under the guise of "culture fit".  Short rant on that topic:  No company should be able to skip over candidates for lack of "culture fit" unless it has at least a minimal clue of what that culture is.  

One of my regrets about culture at HubSpot is that we didn't wake up to the value of diversity until much later in our evolution.  And, though I'm in good company, that doesn't make me feel that much better.  If you're just getting started, take my advice:  Be mindful of diversity super-early and beware the homogenity traps.

6. Don't just think bigger -- think better.

Since time t=0, one of the decisions Brian and I made early on was that we were going to take our best shot at building a big, successful company. We specifically talked about not building a company that was "built to sell".  In fact, many of our early decisions and actions reduced our chances of being acquired.  That was OK, because it's not what we were after.  Instead, we made sure that we pushed each other to think about scale.  To keep thinking bigger. 

Here's my theory:  Most big, spectacularly successful companies (which I hope HubSpot will become some day) did not get that way by accident.  Rarely does an entrepreneur, wake up one morning, drink her morning coffee and exclaim: "Hey look!  I accidentally built this super-successful company!  Yay me!"  Yes, that happens every now and then, but it's super-rare.  99.9999% of the time, success is built through deliberately deciding to build something big -- and then working super-hard, taking risks and persevering through the hard times.  

But, what worked for us wasn't just making the numbers go up and to the right.  It was about thinking about every part of the business and trying to figure out what would make it better.  Yes, we're a software company, and I'm proud of our product team.  But, it's not just about the product.  We try to be equally maniacal about making every part of the business better.  Every. Single. Part. 

Fun, inside story:  We do NPS (Net Promoter Style) surveys on a crazy number of things.  You might know NPS as a way to measure customer happiness.  The standard two questions are:  1) On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this product/service? 2) Why that score? Like many other companies, we've been sending NPS surveys to our customers regularly for years.  But, unlike many other companies, we also send out NPS-style surveys to all of our employees every quarter.  The question is slightly tweaked to: "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend HubSpot as a place to work?".  We also do NPS for our alumni.  We're working on doing it for job candidates that interview with us ("How likely are you to recommend HubSpot as a place to interview?").  We've done it for our company meeting.  After the meeting, we ask: "How likely are you to recommend this meeting?" (Learned lots of interesting things on that one).  OK, so that might be a bit OCD.  But in our experience, once you can start measuring something and getting qualitative feedback it's much easier to make that thing better. No big revelation there, I think the business world has known that for years.

What was a revelation (at least to me) was how all the parts of a company are so inter-connected.  It's impossible to build something really great by just focusing on one part of the system.  You need to simultaneously work on every part of the system -- and make it better. 

7. Don't obsess over competitors.  Obsess over customers. 

I'll confess.  I'm likely more guilty of watching our competitors too closely than anyone at HubSpot.  But, the good news is that though I watch them closely, I try not to follow them.  Knowing what your competitors are up to is good.  Doing what your competitors are up to is bad.

Take the calories you would have spent worrying about your competitors, and spend them on your customers.  You'll be better off (and will sleep better too).  

8. Don't minimize dilution, maximize impact.

This one might come off as controversial.

If you go out and raise outside funding, resist the temptation to worry too much about valuation (and minimizing dilution).  In the grand scheme of things, as long as you're getting a fair deal, marginal differences in dilution won't matter.  What will matter more is the degree to which you can have an impact (however you measure that).  You're probably going to be happier owning 5% of something great than 25% of something not-so-great.  

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that every company should go out and raise funding.  I advise entrepreneurs (especially first-time founders) to defer fund-raising. The reason is that once you start raising funding, you're often shifting your focus from solving customer problems to solving investor problems.  You're better off working on the former -- because that makes the latter much easier.

In any case, if you're going to raise funding, raise funding.  Pick a great partner, get fair terms and don't sweat the dilution too much.

One more thing:  The other way you dilute is by sharing equity with your team.  Here too, don't worry too much about minimizing dilution, get the best people and try to maximize impact. 

9. Don't be satisfied with sales, seek LOVE.

This one might come off as a bit weird.

If you're reading this, there's a decent chance that you're human.  (If you're a robot, and you actually understood this article so far, I submit to your kind's superior intellect and ask that you forgive us humans our foibles).  Anyways...let's just assume you're human.  And, because you're human, you probably seek love. It's natural.  We spend a fair amount of time and energy looking for love (hopefully in some of the right places).  I'm going to posit to you that you need to carry that sentiment to your startup. I'm not talking about the crazy, desperate call at 3am kind of "love", but the hope to find someone that "gets you" and "likes you for who you are and what you believe".

Yes, I know that  sounds a bit strange.  But it's not that strange.  Chances are, there are some companies or brands that you love. All I'm saying is that as a startup, you need to seek that love.  

Let me explain by telling you how we do this at HubSpot.  Like most growing companies, we want to get people to buy from us and become customers.  But, unlike most companies, for us, deep-down inside, that's not enough.  We don't just want people to buy from us.  We want people to love us.  We want them to love what we love and respect what we do, even if they don't buy from us.  Even if they are unlikely to ever buy from us. Because what we believe is that the more people that love us, and want us to succeed, the more likely we are to do so.

...

Thanks for all the love and support over the years.  
-Dharmesh via OnStartups

Important Questions Startup Co-Founders Should Ask Each Other by OnStartups

One thing I have learned in my experience with startups is that if you are not careful, you are as likely to experience as many challenges with your co-founder(s) as you are with the business itself.   

The following are some of the most important questions that should be resolved as early in the process as possible.  In most cases, these issues only get more difficult over time. 

Top 10 Critical Startup Co-Founder Questions 

1.  How should we divide the  shares?  
There are actually multiple parts to this.  Here, I’m primarily interested in the economic impact.  Basically, the question is really simple:  Who gets what percentage of the company?  This question is often the most difficult to answer (and the right answer is rarely “divide them equally amongst the co-founders”).   
  
2.  How will decisions get made?  
This is often tied to the number of shares (from #1 above), but not necessarily.  You can have voting and non-voting shares.  You can setup a board.  You’ll need to decide what kinds of decisions get made by the board, and which ones don’t.  Common areas to address are decisions around capitalization, executive hiring/firing, share issuance (dilution) and M&A. 
  
3.  What happens if one of us leaves the company?  
Though it may seem like a bad idea to be talking about this when you’re starting the company – it’s not.  In the evolution of any startup, there will be good times and bad times and there will always be times when one or more co-founders are simply not happy and not committed.  You should decide how to treat this situation early (when it is easier and everyone is at least semi-rational).  The last thing the company needs is a co-founder that is no longer engaged but is hanging around out of guilt or ambiguity. 

4.  Can any of us be fired?  By whom?  For what reasons?  
Yes, that’s right.  Even co-founders can be terminated.  Too many people mix the notion of being a shareholder in a startup and having an operating role.  These two things should be thought of as somewhat separate and distinct.  The company should have a mechanism for gracefully terminating the operating role of a co-founder if that’s the right thing to do.  This is often not fun, but should be discussed up front. 
  
5.  What are our personal goals for the startup?  
Though this can change over time, its helpful to at least get a sense of what each of the co-founders wants to get from the company.  If you have one co-founder that wants to build a sustainable business that is spinning off cash and run it forever and another one wants to shoot for high growth and some type of liquidity, it’s better to get that out in the open early and talk it through. 

6.  Will this be the primary activity for each of us?  
Lots of co-founder conflict can stem from misunderstandings around how committed everyone is.  Will one of the co-founders be keeping her day job until the company gets off the ground?  Will one be working on another sideline business?  

7.  What part of our plan are we each unwilling to change?  
Not all startups need to change their plans during the course of their evolution.  Just the ones that want to survive and succeed.  Having said that, there may be elements of the plan that you don’t want to change.  This could be around the product being built, the market being addressed or some other aspect of the company.  For example, if one startup is fanatically obsessed with wanting to create an enterprise software company, then friction may be created if the model needs to shift to a consumer product.  
  
8.  What contractual terms will each of us sign with the company?  
One of the best examples of this is a non-compete agreement.  Will each of the co-founders be signing some sort of contract with the company (outside of the shareholder agreement)?  If so, what will the terms of this be? 

9.  Will any of us be investing cash in the company?  If so, how is this treated?  
It is very likely that one or more co-founders will be putting in some cash in the early stages of the company.  It is critical to decide up front how this cash will be treated.  Is it debt?  Is it convertible debt?  Does it buy a different class of shares?  

10.  What will we pay ourselves?  Who gets to change this in the future?  
This can be a touchy issue.  Risk tolerance varies by individual, and it is a good idea to factor this into determining the compensation plan for the founders.  The issue can be clouded sometimes when one of the founders is investing significant cash into the enterprise.  (Though in theory, it shouldn’t matter where the cash came from when determining comp. plans). 

...

What have I missed?  What other types of things should co-founders be discussing in the early days of a startup and getting clarity on?  Would love to hear your thoughts.  If you’re a first-time entrepreneur (or thinking about becoming one), I’d bookmark this page and save it for future reference if I were you.  By keeping this checklist handy, you’ll save yourself and your co-founders a lot of angst. 

...

Some more things to think about ... 

(a) Pre-money, before you get VC investment, you may be buying stuff for new company. Is this money considered to be an investment in the company (what accountants call paid-in capital) or will you claim it on an expense report and be reimbursed from the proceeds of your first round of financing? Either strategy is acceptable, but you need to give shares in return for paid-in capital in some fair way. Discuss this. Either way, DILIGENTLY KEEP TRACK OF EVERY DIME YOU SPEND. (And DON'T buy each other fancy dinners and fine wines and attempt to claim it on your expenses or treat it as paid-in capital.)

(b) What fraction of the company's ownership will you set aside for employee stock options? Why?

(c) Will you have the same terms of employment as your future employees? That is, are you and your partners willing to sign the same exact non-disclosure and non-compete agreements as you'll ask your employees to sign? If you will vest employee options over four years, are you willing to sign something agreeing to sell a pro-rated fraction of your shares back to the company if you leave before four years have run out? (Savvy employees will care about this issues.)

(d) When you work before having any investor money or revenue, you'll be working for cheap or for free. How much of this do you expect to be repaid as deferred salary, and how much is plain old non-reimbursable sweat equity? Hint: savvy VC's DETEST paying for deferred salaries with their investment capital. 

(e) What non-disclosure or non-compete agreements does each partner have with former employers or any other company? Are any of your partners expecting to bring source code, customer lists, or other intellectual property to your new company from a previous employer? If so, does your new company have the unambiguous right to use that intellectual property? Do you all understand and agree on the hazards of misappropriating the intellectual property of previous employers? 

(f) What is your attitude towards wealth? If you get VC investment,you'll have a big check in your hands (a wire transfer actually) and all of a sudden you'll find bankers, furniture salespeople, stockbrokers, and other people treating you like one of Warren Buffett's daughters. Ask yourselves, "are we capable of resisting this kind of flattery?" In other words, can you be suspicious when somebody tries to get you to use your investors' money to buy Aeron chairs or other symbols of conspicuous consumption "because you deserve the best?"

Source : OnStartups

Tips Strategi Promosi Efektif Yang Belum Anda Ketahui Oleh Sribulancer

Dalam memasarkan produk dari suatu brand, Anda akan memerlukan strategi promosi yang tepat pada sasaran. Dengan strategi promosi bisnis yang tepat, Anda akan meraih kesuksesan pada bisnis Anda. Bukan hanya itu, Anda juga akan mendapatkan kesempatan untuk mencapai target penjualan Anda dan juga mendulang brand awareness ketika strategi promosi dijalankan. Untuk mencapai itu semua, simak 10 tips dari strategi promosi bisnis dari Sribu.com berikut ini!

1. Gunakan Media Sosial

Di era yang serba mobile ini, media sosial sudah menjadi suatu hal yang wajib dimiliki brand Anda. Melalui media sosial seperti Facebook dan Twitter. Anda dapat melakukan strategi promosi dengan memperkenalkan brand dan juga produk yang ingin Anda pasarkan kepada pengguna media sosial. Dengan menggunakan media sosial, maka pendekatan yang akan Anda lakukan menjadi lebih personal dan juga menjadi ‘lebih dekat’ dengan target market.

2. Adakan Lomba

Siapa sih yang tidak suka menjadi pemenang? Tentu saja semua orang suka untuk memenangkan sesuatu. Oleh karena itu, menjadi salah satu penyelenggara kontes atau menjadi sponsor dalam salah satu kontes yang sedang direncanakan adalah ide strategi promosi yang baik. Dengan menampilkan logo Anda pada kontes atau perlombaan tersebut, maka brand yang akan Anda promosikan akan dikenal oleh peserta lomba.

3. Bagi-bagi Produk

Jika brand Anda sedang ingin memperkenalkan produk atau varian baru dari produk yang pernah dikeluarkannya, maka salah satu strategi promosi yang cocok untuk dilakukan adalah dengan memberikan produk langsung kepada target market. Pembagian produk ini bisa diberikan secara cuma-cuma dalam bentuk sample atau tester.

4. Mendata Pelanggan/Target Market

Mengumpulkan data pelanggan merupakan kegiatan yang kami rekomendasikan. Pada saat proses perkenalan produk ataupun penjualan berlangsung, pastikan Anda mendapatkan data pelanggan sesuai dengan kebutuhan Anda sehingga akan berguna untuk strategi promosi maupun rencana perusahaan berikutnya.

5. Berikan Insentif untuk Setiap Rekomendasi

Berikan insentif bagi pelanggan setia Anda yang memberikan rekomendasi kepada calon pelanggan lainnya untuk menggunakan produk dari brand yang Anda pasarkan. Insentif dapat diberikan dalam wujud yang berbeda, seperti kupon diskon, sejumlah uang, atau produk Anda sendiri. Dengan cara tersebut, pelanggan setia Anda akan terus menggunakan dan semakin semangat untuk merekomendasikan produk Anda. Hal itu tentunya merupakan salah satu strategi promosi yang jitu!

6. Tempatkan Produk di Tempat yang Tepat

Penempatan produk yang baik adalah penempatan produk pada toko yang dapat menambahkan angka penjualan. Anda bisa saja memindahkan produk Anda untuk diletakkan diantara 2 jenis produk lain yang merupakan komplementer dari jenis produk yang Anda jual. Anda juga bisa menempatkan produk yang Anda pasarkan pada ujung gang toko sehingga mudah untuk ditemukan. Dengan memanfaatkan segi letak produk dalam toko, tentunya ini menjadi strategi promosi yang jitu, bukan?

7. Lakukan Kegiatan Amal/CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)

Salah satu strategi promosi lainnya adalah dengan menunjukkan rasa peduli brand terhadap isu di sekitar masyarakat/target market yang biasa ditunjukkan melalui kegiatan CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) sambil mempromosikan brand atau  roduk teretentu yang ingin dipromosikan. Dengan kegiatan ini, brand Anda akan mendapatkan label baik dan disukai oleh masyarakat.

8. Gunakan Barang Promosi

Dalam menjalankan strategi promosi, Anda boleh menggunakan barang promosi (seperti kaos, kalender dan merchandise lainnya) yang telah diberikan label berupa logo brand Anda sehingga ketika barang promosi tersebut digunakan oleh seseorang, maka barang tersebut telah mengingatkan orang disekitarnya untuk menggunakan produk dari brand tersebut.

9. Susun Acara untuk Mengapresiasi Pelanggan

Selenggarakan acara bagi para pelanggan setia produk yang akan Anda promosikan. Susunlah acara yang menarik, banyak hadiah dan tanpa ada stand untuk berjualan serta tanpa harus memaksa para peserta membeli apa pun pada acara tersebut. Dengan strategi promosi melalui acara-acara tersebut, loyalitas dari peserta acara tersebut akan bertambah dan begitu juga rasa senang pelanggan dengan brand Anda.

10. Lakukan Survey Pembeli setelah Penjualan

Untuk meningkatkan kualitas produk yang dipasarkan dan juga pelayanannya, maka ada baiknya bagi Anda untuk melakukan survey pada setiap pelanggan setelah penjualan. Anda bisa melakukannya di tempat, melalui telepon maupun melalui email. Tetunya strategi promosi berbentuk survey ini mempermudah pelanggan untuk menyampaikan baik pujian maupun keluhan tentang produk yang digunakan/dikonsumsi.

...

Dari 10 tips yang sudah Sribu bagikan di atas, Anda dapat melakukan berbagai kombinasi strategi promosi yang menarik dengan tips tersebut sepeti menyelenggarakan kontes melalui media sosial dan memberikan barang promosi setelah pelanggan menjawab pertanyaan pada survey yang diselenggarakan. Mudah dan juga menarik untuk dicoba, bukan??


Sumber : Blog Sribu

Target Market Overview & Bisnis Sukses Dengan Membidik Target Market Yang Tepat Oleh Sribulancer.com

A target market is a group of customers towards which a business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise. (Wikipedia)

The consumers a company wants to sell its products and services to, and to whom it directs its marketing efforts. Identifying the target market is an essential step in the development of a marketing plan. A target market can be separated from the market as a whole by geography, buying power and demographics, as well as by psycho-graphics. (Investopedia)

A specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services. (Entrepreneur)

Target markets are groups of individuals that are separated by distinguishable and noticeable aspects. Target markets can be separated by the following aspects:

• segmentation - addresses (their location climate region)
• demographic/socioeconomic segmentation - (gender, age, income, occupation, education, household size, and stage in the family life cycle)
• psycho-graphics segmentation - (similar attitudes, values, and lifestyles)
• behavioral segmentation - (occasions, degree of loyalty)
• product-related segmentation - (relationship to a product)

Strategies for reaching target markets

• Mass marketing
• Differentiated marketing strategy
• Concentrated marketing or Niche marketing
• Direct Marketing

...

Untuk membuat bisnis sukses hal pertama yang harus Anda lakukan adalah menentukan siapa target market Anda dan menyesuaikannya dengan strategi marketing yang akan Anda jalankan untuk membidik target market tersebut.

Ditengah persaingan yang semakin ketat dalam dunia bisnis memiliki target market yang sesuai merupakan hal terpenting. Bisnis berskala kecil mampu secara efektif untuk berkompetisi dengan perusahaan besar dengan membidik target market yang sesuai sasaran.

Kebanyakan pebisnis mengatakan bahwa target mereka adalah orang-orang yang tertarik pada produk atau service yang mereka tawarkan. Beberapa juga mengatakan bahwa target market mereka adalah pengusaha kecil, ibu rumah tangga atau pemilik rumah. Tentunya target market ini terlalu umum dan sulit untuk mewujudkan strategi marketing yang lebih kongkrit.

Dengan mengarah pada market yang lebih spesifik maka bukan berarti Anda memisahkan diri dari orang-orang yang bukan merupakan target market Anda. dengan adanya target market yang jelas maka ini akan membantu Anda untuk fokus pada strategi marketing yang lebih tepat sasaran.

Tentunya strategi marketing dengan target market yang tepat akan lebih mudah untuk diterima, efisien, efektif dan mampu menjangkau klien potensial serta menciptakan sales.

Dengan target market yang jelas tentunya akan lebih mudah untuk menentukan bagaimana dan dimana Anda harus mempromosikan bisnis anda menjadi bisnis sukses. berikut adalah enam langkah cerdas yang harus dilakukan ketika menentukan target market Anda.

1. Kenali Siapa Customer Anda

Siapa customer Anda sekarang dan mengapa mereka membeli dari Anda? Anda bisa mencari kesamaan karakter dan kesukaan dari customer Anda. Dengan mengetahui siapa dan seperti apa karakter dari customer Anda maka Anda bisa mulai menyasar orang-orang dengan karakter dan kesukaan yang sama seperti customer Anda saat ini untuk menawarkan produk atau service yang Anda jual. Ini adalah fondasi daripada membuat bisnis sukses.

2. Kenali Siapa Kompetitor Anda

Mengetahui siapa kompetitor Anda merupakan salah satu cara untuk mengetahui siapa target market Anda. siapa orang-orang yang dituju oleh kompetitor Anda? siapa customer mereka saat ini? sebaiknya Anda tak menyasar market yang sama Anda bisa mencari target market Anda sendiri yang sesuai dengan brand Anda.

3. Analisa Produk atau Service Yang Anda Jual

Dalam menentukan target market Anda sebaiknya Anda melakukan analisa pada produk atau service yang Anda jual. Buat daftar feature dan spesifikasi dari masing-masing atau produk atau service yang Anda jual. Buat juga secara detail keunggulan dan keuntungan yang bisa didapat orang dari produk atau service tersebut. Misalnya saja seorang desainer profesional menawarkan layanan desain berkualitas bagus maka keuntungan dari hasil desain tersebut adalah imej perusahaan yang profesional.

Imej perusahaan yang profesional akan menarik lebih banyak customer dikarenakan mereka melihat perusahaan tersebut bisa dipercaya dan profesional. Bisa dikatakan bahwa keuntungan dari hasil desain berkualitas bagus adalah untuk memperoleh lebih banyak customer dan mendapatkan profit besar.

Jika Anda telah memiliki daftar berbagai keuntungan dari produk atau service tersebut maka buat daftar orang yang membutuhkan keuntungan tersebut. Seperti misalnya Sribu sebagai perusahaan penyedia jasa desain terpercaya dan nomor satu di Indonesia bisa menyasar pengusaha kecil dan menengah yang membutuhkan hasil desain profesional dan berkualitas bagus untuk meningkatkan imej brand mereka.

4. Pilih Demografi Yang Spesifik Sebagai Target Market

Anda harus menganalisa target market Anda berdasarkan kebutuhan mereka akan sebuah produk atau service namun siapa yang akan membeli produk atau service anda. Berikut beberapa faktor yang harus dipertimbangkan dalam menentukan target market:

• Umur
• Lokasi
• Gender
• Pendapatan Perbulan
• Tingkat Pendidikan
• Status
• Pekerjaan
• Latar Belakang Etnis

5. Pertimbangkan Psikografi dari Target Market Anda

Psikografi merupakan hal yang harus Anda pertimbangkan dalam membidik target market. Psikografi merupakan hal-hal yang berhubungan dengan karakter pribadi dari seseorang seperti didalamnya:

• Personality
• Attitudes
• Values
• Interests/hobbies
• Lifestyles
• Behavior

Anda bisa menganalisa dan membuat strategi bagaimana produk atau service yang Anda tawarkan bisa sesuai dengan lifestyle dari target market Anda. bagaimana dan kapan mereka akan menggunakan produk tersebut? Fitur atau spesifikasi apa yang paling menarik buat mereka? Media apa yang akan mereka cari untuk berburu informasi? Apakah mereka membaca koran, mencari informasi di internet atau menghadiri acara-acara tertentu?

6. Evaluasi Keputusan Anda

Untuk mencapai bisnis sukses, ketika Anda telah memutuskan target market tertentu, anda harus mempertimbangkan beberapa pertanyaan dibawah ini:

• Apakah ada cukup banyak orang yang sesuai dengan kriteria target market Anda?
• Apakah target market Anda benar-benar akan mendapat keuntungan dari produk atau service Anda
• Apakah Anda sudah memahami apa yang mendasari target market Anda dalam mengambil keputusan?
• Bisakah target market Anda menerima produk atau service yang Anda tawarkan?
• Apakah Anda bisa menjangkau target market yang akan Anda tuju?

Anda bisa memulai untuk menemukan target market Anda dengan mencari berbagai informasi. Cobalah untuk mencari informasi online hal-hal yang belum pernah dilakukan orang mengenai target market Anda. Anda bisa mencari informasi mengenai target market Anda di artikel majalah atau blog.

Anda bisa juga mengunjungi blog atau forum dimana orang-orang yang merupakan target market Anda berkomunikasi mengenai pendapat mereka. Anda bisa mencari hasil survey yang telah ada atau membuat survey sendiri. Anda juga bisa meminta para customer Anda saat ini feedback mengenai produk atau service yang Anda jual. Ini adalah salah satu jalan untuk mencapai bisnis sukses.

Menentukan target market merupakan bagian paling berat. Jika Anda sudah mengetahui orang-orang yang akan Anda tuju maka akan lebih mudah untuk mengetahui media mana yang akan Anda pakai untuk menjangkau mereka.

Selain itu Anda juga lebih mudah untuk menyusun strategi marketing yang cocok untuk target market tersebut. Menentukan target market Anda akan mempengaruhi kesuksesan bisnis Anda nantinya dimasa mendatang.

Sumber : Blog Sribu.com