
Startup to scale-up
This month I said goodbye to the team that I formed just three short years ago. Back in 2014, I brought together a team of digital specialists around an idea for a new kind of cash flow tool for small businesses. We created the new product, winning rave reviews and awards along the way, and expanded into new channels and markets. We had our ups and downs, our sales partnerships didn’t work anything like as well as expected and the transition from startup to scale-up was challenging for several of the team. But with a growing customer base and plenty of opportunity ahead, why leave?Remaining on board
In my first business, a digital agency, I ran the show for around 13 years before selling to a US-based company. I stayed on to run my “division” in the larger company largely because I’d put so much into the project of selling the business that I really didn’t have any other plan at that time. Founders have a notoriously short tenure when their businesses are acquired, not because they can’t work for other people – that’s a myth – but because their companies become something other than what they created. In my own experience, the first time around my business became a minor division in an international outpost of a US-based business. This was ok when things were running well over the other side of the pond. We had plenty to do and with the additional resources of the larger parent company, we could invest more and do a better job for customers.Time to say goodbye
This time it’s different. Having been through the journey before, I’m much more able to recognise that things are about to change before I get there, and I’ve prepared both myself and my team in advance, so a quicker departure is in order. In this case, I’ve given my shareholders a choice up front: I’ve painted a vision of rapid expansion with venture funding and an exciting possible future. But these are challenging times, and so it’s not surprising, perhaps, that in this instance they have taken a safer route to extract their cash. What that means for me is that the prospect of sticking around isn’t a particularly exciting one, so it’s time to move on. Having invested so much of myself into the company, as any founder does, it’s a wrench to do it, but once I’m sure that each and every member of my team has a good future role, I’m happy that I’ve done my duty as a founder, and it’s the right time to say goodbye. Martin Campbell might be saying goodbye to Ormsby Street, but it’s hello to his new role at digital fundraising platform Hubbub. Stay tuned for his diary entries detailing his latest position.This article is part of a wider campaign called Founders Diaries, a section of Real Business that brings together 20 inspiring business builders to share their stories. Bringing together companies from a wide variety of sectors and geographies, each columnist produces a diary entry each month. Visit the Founders Diaries section to find out more.
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