In it for the Long Run
I’ve held some twenty first-round interviews with potential candidates for the open CSM position at Herodesk.
One of the questions that most candidates asked me, which actually surprised me a bit the first couple of times, was: What are your long-term goals and ambitions with Herodesk?
When you think about it, it’s an excellent question, especially from a candidate applying for a company where he/she will be FTE (full-time employee) number two (after me…).
I’ve given the same answer to everyone and it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about before starting Herodesk, so I guess it makes sense to also share it here. If nothing else to give you some insights into my ambitions with Herodesk.
I’m in it for the long run.
Herodesk is my third start-up; I hope it’ll be my last.
I hope that in 20, 30, many years, I’ll still be a part of Herodesk.
I have no intention to take outside investments or ambitions ever to sell the business.
I want us to create a great product that our customers love while we’re having fun with like-minded people we like to work with.
It’s my ambition that in 3-5 years, we’ll have 8-10 fully remote FTEs running a business making € ~3M ARR.
When we get to that point, we might say: This is great, let’s aim to keep the business at this size. We might also say: Now we’re aiming for € 10M ARR. We don’t know - time will tell.
That last sentence: We don’t know - time will tell – is essential. Because I honestly have no idea. I have clear ambitions regarding what I want the business to grow into and what I want it to look like in the long run – but you never know what the future brings.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, I always discuss salary and compensation in the first round of interviews. As early in the process as possible. I’d hate to go all the way with a candidate and offer him/her a job, only to find that we 10k apart on salary. So the sooner that’s aligned, the better.
Some people who are hired into an early-stage startup ask about warranties or options. It’s a fair question. You’re joining the company at an early stage, so you want part of the (expected) success. My answer to that, in this case, is: What’s the point of owning 1, 3 or 5% of a company that’ll probably never be sold?
Still, when we’re successful, I want everyone who’s a part of making it to benefit from it. So when we’re profitable, there’ll be some kind of profit-share. I still don’t know how exactly it’ll materialize. But when the time comes, we’ll figure it out. I think it's the right thing to do.
Until then, we focus on creating a profitable business that offers our customers a product they love while we have fun making it. If that pans out, I'm confident the rest will follow by itself.
