While the life of a start up is full of excitement, dreams and potential, unfortunately, start up companies and entrepreneurs have more than their fair share of conflicts to deal with. Several factors make conflicts involving start ups highly problematic and often disastrous for all concerned.
In the vast majority of the cases, start up companies are being set up and run by novice, first time entrepreneurs (God bless ‘em !!). They have tremendous levels of enthusiasm and energy, but often lack deep, hands on experience in the complexities of running a company with all that that entails. Even serial entrepreneurs who have been around the block a few times with varied levels of success, know full well the types of conflicts they encounter on a regular basis. As opposed to a large company the start up will be able to survive one, maybe two serious mistakes. Lastly, the start up CEO is very often all alone. The cliché “it's lonely at the top” doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the reality to being the CEO of a start up.
At The Cedar Group we LOVE start ups. We have extensive hands on experience in the world of the start up. As they say .., “been there - done that !”. We provide a safe zone where all parties involved in the start up: the CEO, co-founders, their spouses, investors, senior managers and all concerned parties can confidentially discuss the issues as they see them. We act as an unbiased, neutral third party to try and help you resolve the conflicts you encounter and more important, help you to plan ahead to try and avoid the many minefields that lay ahead on your road to success.
Conflicts involving start ups often involve the following issues:
Between Founders (including active & less active founders) / Between founders & investors (F.F.F., pre-seed, seed, Gov’t programs, incubators, accelerators, TTOs, Angels, VCs ) / Everyone reporting to the founder instead of the CEO / Entrepreneurs & their spouses / Compensation issues / Work – Life balance/ Dividing the pie (Option Plans) / Negotiating as a start up / Partners / Board & CEO* / Strategic direction / Dealing with senior managers / Training first time managers how to identify & deal with conflict / Decision making protocol / Hiring & Firing /Issues regarding Intellectual Property Rights / Strategic partners / Among & Between the teams / Manager issues / Subordinate issues / Gender issues / Age issues (in both directions) / Race issues / Inter-Cultural issues / Woke / PC issues / Issues with suppliers, services providers, banks, bureaucrats, regulators, gov’t / Issues with landlords / Corporate culture challenges : Younger Generation vs. The Traditional Establishment / How to handle difficult conversations …… & so many more !
* Board & CEO issues alone can fill up a library. The relationship that is forged and established between the CEO and the Board will play a big role in determining the amount and severity of conflicts that will ensue with the company. We can help you try to get it right early on.
Looking forward to meeting and getting to know you and your start up. Give us a call.... We Get You.
