Pragav Jain’s Post

Last week a technical founder came to me with one of the most COMMON leadership problems I see. Here’s how we fixed it: Like most founders: - He had a hugely complex vision - He wanted things done a certain way BUT he didn’t want his team to get lost in the complexity of it all. So he didn’t share the whole picture with them, just the highlights. It was like an architect describing your house blueprint, but instead of having a 3D render or all the plans he’s just saying: “Yeah, we're gonna have a very spacious first floor — it’s just going to be AMAZING”. So VAGUE. But that’s exactly how your team feels when you talk about your fluffy mission statement. There’s a HUGE asymmetry between what WE know and what we THINK our team knows. Instead — create a VIVID vision. One that makes your team say: “AHA! Now I see what you're trying to build!” So I gave him an exercise from this book: → Vivid Vision by my mate CAMERON HEROLD. Together we created his ‘Vivid Vision’. One that covered 8 critical areas of his business: 1. Team and Culture - what does it look like and how do employees fit in? 2. Products and Services - how are they going to evolve and create impact? 3. Marketing and Sales - what are your primary strategies and how do you want YOUR brand to be perceived? 4. Operations and Systems - what systems, tech and methodologies do you want to use? 5. Customer Experience - what’s the customer journey and where are their interactions? 6. Financial Metrics - specific financial goals (revenue, profit margins, etc.) and indicators to track them. 7. Key Milestones - what big achievements do you want to hit (product launches, expansions)? 8. Industry Impact - what role does your company play? In one afternoon we took the complex model of his business from his head and turned it into an easy guide (on paper) for everyone to understand. I know this sounds obvious, but think about it this way: Do you really think Elon Musk makes SpaceX employees do crazy 16-hour work days with ‘incentives’ and ‘benefits’? Are you crazy?? They work so hard because they’re all on a frickin’ mission to Mars! Everyone knows EXACTLY where they’re going. When your vision is clear: → You stop acting like a product manager telling people what to do → You have a team who are completely bought into his mission. They’re bringing new ideas to the table. They care more about the customer. It’s a level of team performance that every founder DREAMS of achieving. And all it takes is getting vivid with your vision and communicating it with your team! – I’ve opened up more slots in my calendar to help high-performing founders get faster results with absolute clarity. Let’s chat (link in my bio)

UBER Founder Travis Kalanick's Success Points: Visionary Leadership: Travis Kalanick displayed visionary leadership by co-founding Uber, revolutionizing the transportation industry with innovative technology. Resilience: Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks, Kalanick demonstrated resilience, bouncing back from adversity and steering Uber through turbulent times. Disruptive Innovation: Under Kalanick's leadership, Uber introduced disruptive innovations like ride-sharing, changing the way people commute and creating new opportunities for drivers. Adaptability: Kalanick showed adaptability by evolving Uber's business model, expanding into new markets, and diversifying services to meet changing consumer needs. Risk-taking: Kalanick embraced calculated risks, pushing boundaries and challenging conventional norms to propel Uber's growth and success. Customer Focus: Kalanick prioritized customer satisfaction, constantly seeking ways to improve the Uber experience and enhance service quality. Strategic Partnerships: Kalanick forged strategic partnerships with investors, stakeholders, and regulatory bodies, leveraging alliances to drive Uber's expansion and overcome regulatory hurdles. Innovative Culture: Kalanick fostered an innovative culture within Uber, encouraging experimentation, creativity, and continuous improvement among employees. Global Expansion: Kalanick spearheaded Uber's global expansion, navigating complex regulatory landscapes and cultural differences to establish Uber as a worldwide phenomenon. Continuous Learning: Kalanick embraced a mindset of continuous learning, seeking insights from failures and successes alike to inform strategic decisions and drive Uber's growth trajectory.

Say hi to Version Lens … the newest member of our portfolio. Version Lens is transforming the future of product teams with the world’s first co-pilot for product managers. Their tool makes work in product teams easier by automating and streamlining tasks, extracting valuable insights from existing data, and empowering product managers to focus on innovation and strategic planning instead of overhead. “Product development is the heart of any company, making it hard to understand why we haven’t seen the same rise of solutions dedicated to enabling product teams. After all, anyone who’s been part of a product team knows that way too little time goes into building and too much into putting out fires, endless Slack threads, stand-ups, and maintaining an ever-growing backlog.” – Fredrik Stockman, Co-Founder and CEO, Version Lens We’re thrilled to work with you Fredrik, Pontus, Pascal - the future of product management looks brighter with you! ✨ Curiosity VC - Pitchdrive | Early-stage VC 🚀

📌Investor Opportunity - Different category which includes apps, transforming smart homes and health sectors ✍️Freebird Rides – Cash and rewards for using Uber and Lyft. Over 4 million Freebird Rides completed with their development firm MobileOffer (dba FreeBirdRides) ✍️Painterland Sisters – Female farmer-owned organic yogurt making a difference Sold $4m in their first full year in business, exceeding revenue plan by 11.3% and growing 438% YoY ✍️Olympian Motors – Manufacturing electric vehicles - an emerging competitor to Tesla and Rivian Backed by Y-Combinator. Technical founding team from Tesla, Ford, Qualcomm, Apple, Toyota, and NIO. ✍️ZenniHome – Transforming the US housing market with robotic smart homes. CEO with 2 IPOs, sold SkyMall to Rupert Murdoch, and was named 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year by EY New Companies 🔥   ✍️Syllaby – All-in-one AI based full automation for social media marketing. Projecting 23,000 new customers in the next 12 months (not guaranteed) ✍️EarKick – AI mental health companion for Gen Z 4.8 star rating and 40,000+ users #Investor #Marketing #Companies #Opportunity

” If you don’t understand the details of your business you are going to fail” This Jeff Bezos’s statement elicits a mixed reaction. Some experts believe a head of a company has to focus on strategy and shouldn’t dive into minor workflows and procedures. How can Tesla, General Electric, Morgan Stanley, or Alphabet CEOs know how thousands of their workers perform their daily routines? Others think that understanding the details of the business is obligatory. Otherwise, a CEO begins to live in an ivory tower of headquarters and loses touch with reality. When Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, started driving for Uber as an ordinary driver, he learned a lot about the experience his customers have when using the app. As a strategy workshop facilitator, I’ve seen many cases when executives couldn’t visualize their companies’ value chains because they didn’t know what they looked like. I believe that a CEO and C-suite level executives must know: – How their company delivers value for customers – What processes are critical from the strategic perspective. They also need to understand these processes in more detail. What do you think? Should a CEO waste their precious time delving deeply into the details of their businesses? Do you like the post? Repost it. Join our community of strategic thinkers by subscribing to my newsletter to get exclusive articles via the link in my profile. People-based strategy. Strategy – map it out yourself #strategy #strategicthinking #startup #business #peoplebasedstrategy

The time is now to quit your job and start an #autotech company. Seriously. That’s the advice from our technology operating partner Jake Sigal. And he ought to know. He started and exited two companies during economic downturns, and he’s condensed his knowledge and rationale into 5 quick bullets. Read the full piece in Automotive News. Thank you Jamie Butters for the opportunity! What are you waiting for? #detroit #automotive #startups #venturecapital

The CEO is not obliged to delve into all the details. He just doesn't have the resources to do it. The CEO must understand how the organization as a whole works. What critical parts it consists of. 1. The CEO must create and maintain a "Management System" in working order: System of consolidation and distribution of Power, Responsibility, Money and Information. 2. The CEO must create Institutions! Institute Of Top Managers, Institute of Middle Managers. Most of the tasks and emerging problems should be solved by Institutions. 3. The CEO must know the Objective Laws that determine the work of the organization. In the case when you have a mediocre "Management System" and there are no Institutions, then yes. Then you will have to do everything with your own hands. But if you do not yet know the Objective Laws that determine the work of the organization, then you are very bad. You will have to crawl in small iterations like a blind kitten or a system analyst.   I offer you support when implementing changes. 1.    A second look at the urgent problems. 2.    An independent analysis of your action plan to solve pressing problems. Identification of hidden risks that will arise in the event of its implementation. 3.    Recommendations on structural and personnel solutions.

When Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi began his tenue at the company, he was alarmed that safety was not as high a priority as growth. He said: “Our DNA was about growth. It was the right DNA for a startup that was trying to take on the world. And a lot of the safety features we introduced hurt our growth. We had to make trade-offs. It absolutely slowed us down, but that up-front investment helped us become the most respected transportation brand. And now we’re growing faster and we’re more profitable than our competitors. “ He went on to say: “We’re under a microscope, and incidents that happen on our platform tend to get more attention. You can either feel sorry for yourself or you can say, “We’re going to learn from every single incident.” It doesn’t mean we can be perfect, because humanity is imperfect. Is the attention frustrating? Sure. But ultimately I think it’s good for the company.” Khosrowshahi provides some valuable lessons for all businesses operating in high hazard industries: ·       Uncontrolled growth can present tremendous downside. It’s critical to have guardrails in place. Sometimes you must slow down to speed up. ·       Safety is at the foundation of operationally excellent, profitable companies. After years of bleeding cash, Uber is growing fast and profitable. There's no value to growth unless it is profitable. In that regard, show me a company that is chronically unsafe and sustainably profitable. It does not exist. ·       An investment is safety is an investment in your brand. Customers will patronize companies that they trust. Uber’s prices have increased four times faster than the rate of inflation, and the company is still growing. “Peace of mind” has tremendous value in the marketplace. ·       No matter how hard you try, you may not prevent every incident. It’s about continuous improvement and transparency. When something goes wrong, lean into it.  Learn from it. Build a more resilient company.  I strongly recommend you read the interview in Wired Magazine. It contains profound lessons for leaders of companies where safety must be a nonnegotiable core value. Link the article is in the comments section.  #safety #safetyculture #leadership