Successful entrepreneur Robert Jordan was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his idea and wisdom filled book How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America.
Robert Jordan shares his interviews with forty-five of the most successful company founders who ever have emerged from the heartland of America.
Thanks to Robert Jordan for his time, and for his informative and fascinating responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.
What was the background to writing the book How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America?
Robert Jordan: I was waiting for a flight in Seattle at the SeaTac airport reading a book of quotes. Then I thought how much more inspiring it would be to learn directly from champion entrepreneurs – how they hit their home runs – in their own words.
You describe America's top company founders as sharing several traits. What are a few of these traits?
Robert Jordan: These founders started just like you and I. But things changed once they made the decision to take a leap – to launch their companies. In the first place, they did not seek to avoid failure, they had to leap forward. Most of us think failure avoidance will lead to big success, but that’s just not true. Second: success is never a solo act. All of these founders developed incredible partnerships and senior management teams. Third: where most folks see or complain about problems in the world, or problems affecting them, these founders were far more curious, and didn’t accept the problem as a given – they saw these problems as huge opportunities, and then acted on them.
One of their secrets is hiring the right people, and firing them if necessary. How can a business person select and hire the right people?
Robert Jordan: There is a big difference between control and equity. Most entrepreneurs have a death grip on control of their companies, so they either don’t hire or never hire people who are truly better than they. Conversely, to see their dream come true, they will sell equity far too cheaply. Successful founders have a variety of strategies for hiring. First is the decision to have a great management team around you. Second, when possible, is to get help in doing the hiring, because we entrepreneurs tend to talk too much and not be great listeners when figuring out best-fit employees. The advanced strategy – to really hit a home run – is to work hard to create your top 5 people, who will in turn hire and train the next 25 people, who in turn will hire and train 125 people.
Robert Jordan (photo left)
How can a business person spot a huge money-making opportunity that others overlook, and do those opportunities have things in common?
Robert Jordan: Be curious. Ask questions, and don’t accept pat answers. These founders saw problems – circumstances and conditions around them that just weren’t as good as they could be. So they dug deeper. They got curious. Then they didn’t stop. They identified the problem, a solution a customer would buy, and launched a company. Jim Dolan, founder of the Dolan Company (DM), bought a legal newspaper publisher, a business over a hundred years old, overlooked by everyone as a stale business going nowhere. He figured out that the biggest asset were the fine-print notices in back. He turned those little notices in the back into a $100 million business delivering real time information to banks and credit card companies. It all started with Jim asking a question of his customers – what do you read, and why? No one else had ever asked them.
How can a businessperson look like a successful CEO when attracting investors?
Robert Jordan: None of these founders were overnight success stories. They all took time. In most cases they didn’t seek investors at first; they started privately and only approached investors with promising early results. In the few cases where investors came onboard early, those founders already had significant job experience from previous corporate careers.
One problem many start-up and expanding business entrepreneurs have is maintaining autonomy when working with investors. How did the businesspeople described in the book maintain control of their companies?
Robert Jordan: Are you more motivated by money, by prestige, or by having control? First, know what moves you. For example the founders of Yahoo correctly gave up control when investors came in, but stayed at the head of the parade in highly visible positions. The founders I interviewed did not all retain control, but in all cases they focused intensely on equity, on the value of ownership. These founders usually waited to bring in investors, and that waiting was a critical point in retaining equity, ownership and control.
What are some classic business mistakes that start-up companies make that the successful business people described in the book either overcame or avoided entirely?
Robert Jordan: A classic start-up mistake is attempting to design the “perfect” product. Time after time founders talked about customers helping in product development, essentially saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
How can employees be kept motivated, innovative, and productive even if the company experiences shortages of cash and growing pains?
Robert Jordan: There is a quality that can’t be taught in school, and that is the ability to lead, to act as a role model, and to both encourage and offer loyalty. Most of these founders hit a cash crunch at least once, and beyond the simple notion of persistence, I think their sense of taking on real problems and opportunities – of having a legitimate mission that inspired everyone around them – was the motivation they sought for themselves and their teams.
Very often entrepreneurs get attached to an idea, even if it is a proven failure. If a businessperson discovers an idea isn't working well, how can they make the decision to end that idea, and move on to another?
Robert Jordan: It’s a tough call. Founders face family and friends telling them they’re crazy. And maybe they are. But most businesses fail for lack of sustained effort following through to the best solution or product or service. I am reminded of Scott Jones’ quote, to “fail fast.” He didn’t mean busting companies – he meant that in marketing, product development, and other aspects of business development, you have to work quickly to discard things that aren’t working, keep experimenting, to get to the best solution. Dick Costolo, founder of Feedburner and now CEO of Twitter, likened the process to an eye doctor’s exam, putting lenses in front of the patient: “Is A better than B? Is B better than C?” By making these tactical decisions the founder can get to a better strategic outcome.
Do the ideas and techniques shared in the book work even in a down economy, and is a weak economy a good time to start a company?
Robert Jordan: These founders prove that a down market is just as good as an up market, and also that Mary Engelbreit’s line, “Bloom where you are planted,” is true. The #1 founder in the book, Dane Miller, launched Biomet in tiny Warsaw, Indiana, which is where the company is still located. Biomet stock appreciated 30,000% over 25 years and was taken private for $12 billion. There has never been a better time to start a company.
What is the first step a businessperson should take toward emulating the success of the amazing achievements of the people profiled in the book?
Robert Jordan: Look in the mirror. Assess your own skills and likes/dislikes as rigorously as you can. When you then take on the opportunity that moves you, work to attract partners or employees who have great skills that complement yours. Inevitably there are setbacks, and what successful founders do is to assess themselves and these problems as a further opportunity, not a reason to take the result personally or get down on themselves. Don’t view the setback personally.
What is next for Robert Jordan?
Robert Jordan: Helping How They Did It become widely known, inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
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My book review of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America by Robert Jordan.
Robert Jordan has been launching and growing companies and helping other entrepreneurs do the same for the past 20 years. He is author of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America (RedFlash Press), a collection of interviews from 45 leading founders who created $41 billion from scratch. His newest endeavors are RedFlash project implementation team, and interimCEOinterimCFO, a worldwide network of interim, contract, and project executives. Find out more at www.HowTheyDidItBook.com.
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