Tech COO Group for Growth ™
NEW TECH COO GROUP FOR GROWTH NOW FORMING!
As a Company’s #2, whether you’re called President, CFO or COO, besides working side by side with the CEO on strategy issues, you have responsibility for the execution of the vision. It is a vast job with many different responsibilities, often completely unrelated. Given that, the chances that something can be done better or that you’re not even thinking about all that should be getting done is high. Who is there to teach you how to do your job effectively and efficiently? Beyond that, there almost certainly are times where you and the CEO won’t see eye to eye on some key component to running the business and where a confidential conversation with a group of peers who already has broader context gained over time can offer on-point guidance and support.
Tech CXO Groups for Growth provide you the amazing experience of being able to confidentially discuss business, managerial and life balance issues for 3-4 hours one morning each month with a closed group of 8-14 committed peers from non-competitive tech product companies. Members support each other’s efforts in building successful companies, expanding their managerial skills, knowledge base, and networks AND living rich, meaningful lives. Participants consistently report that having a trusted peer group that understands your vision and goals and is able to follow your progress month after month offers a powerful mix of knowledgeable opinions, understanding, and support for your issues as well as tremendous learning opportunities. As the group bonds and trust grows, participants become that much more comfortable sharing not only their successes but also their fears and failings, and the value received tends to grow exponentially.
WHAT HAPPENS AT THE MEETINGS?
Alan Kraus is the Blind Spot facilitator there to help the group achieve maximum value and thus may be somewhat flexible depending on the needs of the group. Generally, each meeting will be split into 2-3 parts, usually consisting of:1A deep dive into either:
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a) one member’s company or issue, or
b) a particular topic of interest to members, perhaps with an invited speaker or panel.
2Each person will be given time to talk about and receive feedback on:
a) Recent outcomes/developments
b) Some topic or situation, whether strategic or tactical, that they seek guidance on
c) Short and/or long-term goals
d) Asks of the group—service provider referral, intro to contact at a specific company or investor, to review a marketing piece, etc.
3Best practices that members think their peers would value from. This could include specific forms, applications, resources, business process, etc. that has been useful in running their business. Sometimes a member might do a demo to help train others on how to maximize its potential.
Each member is also entitled to a free 60-90 minute private coaching session with the facilitator each month where you will have the opportunity to further delve into your sharing, receive support for achieving your goals and/or to address other issues.
WHAT MAKES THESE SO VALUABLE?
There are several reasons that these are so popular, including:
1Participants all have the tech industry as a common foundation but also have sufficient diversity to be exposed to a wide breadth of knowledge and opinion.
2Because the group is closed and committed to attending if at all possible, there isn’t the need to waste valuable time repeating the description and/or answering basic questions about your business each meeting.
3Each participant’s commitment to maintaining confidentiality enables the building of trust with others who can really understand what it’s like to be in your shoes. This trust often leads to deeper, honest and vulnerable communication that opens up additional possibilities of support, understanding and/or learning.
4Once trust has been established, deeper relationships and even long-lasting friendships can form. It then becomes much easier to both offer and receive challenging feedback in a way that can be heard. It also often creates additional willingness to help each other open doors and/or offer a wide variety of support outside the meeting, whenever possible.
5As the Group continues and members share the ups and downs of each other’s businesses and lives each month, valuable feedback can be offered with the added weight of historical context.
6Included with your monthly fee is a free coaching session with the facilitator, who then has the benefit of already being updated on your business issues, having heard your sharing. This helps to make the coaching session that much more efficient and valuable.
WHO IS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE?
Getting the right mix of participants is very important. Groups are constituted to provide 2-way give and take between all participants. Beyond the relatable experience of coming from tech companies, diversity is also important, whether through demographics, company stage, company size and/or the participant’s business experience-based. Broadly speaking, all else being equal, experience shows that management of companies with an annual revenue run rate of $600k-$10MM, give or take, facilitates stimulating conversation. That being said, a serial entrepreneur at a start-up may fit in perfectly so please to inquire if interested in participating but not within that revenue range.
Please note, if you are a start-up and interested in such a group, please contact Alan Kraus at alan@blindspotstrategy.com as I’m quite willing to launch a group of earlier stage companies.
YOUR FACILITATOR AND COACH - ALAN KRAUS
During my 18 years at Ben Franklin, I was responsible for funding 130+ companies. After a company was funded, I utilized various strategies and tactics to support their growth. I launched and/or co-facilitated 4 long-running CEO Roundtables because the participating entrepreneurs consistently found it to be time well-spent for receiving actionable ideas, valuable referrals, general business knowledge and trusted friendships.
I provide experience at bringing together the right mix of people that can learn and grow with each other. A critical part to this role is figuring out when and how to integrate new energy/fresh ideas to the group with minimal disruption. That being said, the group will have veto powers if a proposed new person doesn’t seem a good fit.
My experience at the Roundtables and as a Board Observer for so many of the portfolio companies gave me tremendous background to add value, as appropriate, to the conversation. Further, by understanding the issues you are facing, I am frequently able to identify the perfect service provider referral from my extensive network to best assist you.
Click here to learn more about me.
Next Steps
If interested, please contact me at alan@blindspotstrategy.com or call at 215-888-5589.
I will soon be organizing a couple of introductory breakfast meetings so that you can meet others committed and/or interested in joining the groups. I expect that the first Tech Groups for Growth will happen in May.
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