Your story is your strategy
One of the things I have always underestimated in building our business is the importance of our story. I’m a pretty rational guy, so when I ask myself, “how important can a story be anyway?” I usually tell myself, “well…not all that important”. Turns out I’ve been wrong all these years.
I learned my lesson a few years back when we were working with a consultant. We were toying with the idea of raising money, and whether we did or not, we wanted to put ourselves through the paces and explore the business through the eyes of a third party. There are a whole bunch of reasons why it’s a great idea to act as if you are raising money (ie it makes you think things through, kill sacred cows, etc) even if you don’t choose to do so.
Long story short, we brought in a consultant who had raised lots of capital and had a ton of relevant operating experience. He took us through a series of exercises, the first of which was asking Levi and I to tell our respective stories from the beginning – before there was a FreshBooks.
Part of my story revolved around the design/consulting business I built FreshBooks for (yes, I built an online invoicing service to make it easier to collect from my own customers!). The consultant got fixated on this business, and specifically the way I built that business. I never marketed it and we had no sales people, yet we were constantly turning down business. Why? We took great care of our customers and we over-delivered with the results.
Prior to working with this consultant, I did not make the connection between my earlier business was the genesis for our culture here are FreshBooks. At FreshBooks we believe that we are a service, not a technology, and we try to Execute on Extraordinary Experiences Everyday (4E). Someone else could build the identical product, but the business would be totally different. Why? Because our approach to running the business is so different, and that approach makes all the difference and comes from our earliest days…the ones before there even was a FreshBooks.
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5:11 pm
First, well executed viral blog post. I clicked through.
You are right, completely. This is almost “Taoist” in the sense that it distinguishes between generals by “way.”
You are conscious of your intentions and that is rooted in your perceived context and underpinnings.
I feel that the Web 2.0 / SaaS world has lost the truth you rest on toward the end of your post regarding service vs. technology and the indispensability of one service core vs. another, using the same exact systems, potentially.
That seems like a well galvanized thought for you, which is refreshing. Mad Love //de
7:19 pm
Hi, this is my first visit here with the curiosity of what FreshBooks is about.
Was totally impressed after the read, and congratulations on filling up an important niche successfully.
Cheers!
1:00 pm
I have noticed your 4E through the interactions I have had with your support staff. I can tell I’m not corresponding with an uninterested individual in India, but rather someone who knows and cares about (and uses!) the service. That really shows, and has made me that much more of a fan; in fact, I just referred you guys to a friend at church last night, and to a coworker today!
1:28 pm
Hi Mike,
I agree with you. The story also puts a human face on the business and provides a credible reason for it to exist (other than just to make a pile of money).
I think most of us entrepreneurs build businesses we enjoy. I want to do business with people like that.
Cheers
Pete