You’re the Boss Blog: Reflections on the Third Anniversary of My Pink Slip

Searching for Capital

A broker assesses the small-business lending market.

Today marks the third anniversary of my pink slip from corporate America. Three years ago, the bankruptcy trustees at the corporation where I had worked for close to a decade fired me. The next day, I started working on building my loan brokerage.

For some, anniversaries are a time of celebration. And while I do believe that keeping a business afloat and growing for three years is an accomplishment, I would rather use this milestone for some reflection and to share what I think I have learned.

I know that it’s a cliché (and one that’s a little strained right now, with all of our minds on Newtown, Conn.), but the closest analogy I can think of to building a company is parenting a child. Both come with constantly evolving challenges, demands, and highs and lows.

You can read the books, but more often than not, you react with your gut. You can plan a perfect outing for a day, but if your child is sick that morning you’re out of luck. You can think your child will go to Harvard, but he or she might have different plans. You will pick  activities for your children, but eventually they will start to choose for themselves. And no matter how hard you try, there will be times when you will like awake at night and second-guess your choices. You have to be flexible and adaptive. Most importantly, you have to be patient.

I think that companies are built in a similar fashion. You’re always trying to figure it out. You’re constantly experimenting with new things. You learn by trial and error, and sometimes you fail several times before you figure something out. But you don’t give up. I recently spoke to an M.B.A. class, where one of the students asked me what my five-year plan was. I wanted to answer that it was to try to make payroll next week. Instead, I told the class that my plan was to try to build my company at whatever the right pace was as long as it could hold true to it’s values and do right by its customers. I suspect that my answer confused some of the students.

And I don’t think it’s their fault. As a general rule, entrepreneurship is not thought of or taught as a journey. More often — especially at business schools, I suspect — it’s about how to get big quick, how to get venture capitalists behind you, how to become the next billionaire. It’s about planning your exit before you complete the launch.

Too often, I find that lenders don’t reward agile development processes – even though this is ultimately the best way to minimize risk. I think more companies fail trying to get big too quickly than being cautious and pragmatic. Too many companies try to build management teams before they know how to walk.

I am optimistic that when I look back in five or 10 years, I will be glad that I took the slow-growth approach. But the opportunity for reflection always passes quickly. Tomorrow morning — I am happy to say — the doors will open and the phones will ring again.

Ami Kassar founded MultiFunding, which is based near Philadelphia and helps small businesses find the right sources of financing for their companies.

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/reflections-on-the-third-anniversary-of-my-pink-slip/?partner=rss&emc=rss