3 LESSONS I HAVE LEARNT AS A FEMALE FOUNDER
Jan 19, 2018
It wasn’t until the success of my the first company, where I was a co-founder and CEO, did I realize that people regarded female founders and CEOs as different. When I co-founded my second business I realized this was very special and naturally, leveraged it! Now having founded my third tech company I can identify these three most important lessons I have learnt that have lead all three companies to success, regardless of what other people think.
FOCUS
Staying focused on the BHAG, 3HAG and 1HAG is key. Know where you are going! Make sure you know with clarity what your core values and core purpose are, know and believe in your 10-30 year goal, your 3 year Highly Achievable Goal, know where you want to be in 1 year and know where you need to be in 90 days. I always had a 10-30 year goal for my companies, 1 year goal for my companies, a 90 day plan BUT what really brought this all together was being absolutely laser focused on the 3 Year Highly Achievable Goal that bridge the long term with the short term and aligned it with strategic execution.
BELIEF
Believing in yourself. With this absolute passion of the goals above – what came next was believing in myself. Knowing where I was going – with clarity gave me confidence to execute.
TEAM
Having clarity of the path forward – believing and knowing that I was the leader who could get there allowed me to attract an A Player Global Team, 3 times over. And at the end of the day it is lining up a team that has the same core values and beliefs as I did, with clarity of the plan wanted to achieve the same things I did.
At the end of the day, I believed in myself, I was passionate and focused about what I was doing, and thankfully I was able to find a whole-team of like-minded people who wanted to achieve the same goals. Looking back, it was the inherent support of my family, friends, teachers, and coaches and their belief in me too. This is the recipe for success and we realized it in my first two companies with to successful exits. The first one was good, the second one we hit it out of the park and the 3rd one is still in play! Stay tuned.
-Shannon Susko
