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i realize this is long as hell, there are cliffs at the bottom:
My boss/CEO is scaring the hell out of me, because he lacks some elements that I'd expect a CEO to have. Despite the problems I will state later, he's a really smart, intelligent guy. Dude's an engineer with over a decade of experience, highly respected, came up with a brilliant idea for a startup company in the industry at the perfect time etc.
1) From what i can understand, entrepreneurs are supposed to be hypercompetitve. I come from a sports background, I love the feeling and thought of competition, at practice, and during the game. it gives me an adrenaline rush. I am reading these entrepreneur books from mentors, and they all reassure my points--- the love and drive of competition is huge. one of the books is talking about a guerrilla war tactic used by a small startup to attack the Goliath. it was pure guerrilla like,but legal, and my first thoughts were "wow, this is crazy, amazing, and genius". i was excited because it gave me anecdotal examples of how business shares the same elements of teamwork and competition that sports bring, so naturally it was appealing to me, and i was pleased to come across it.
i tell my boss and his first words "thats scary" and then walks away. like as if thats the normal thing to do and say, and to think otherwise is outrageous. that shit completely pissed me off. we are in the middle of developing out minimal viable product and this guy is scared of the things we might have to do to create a unicorn.
2) next problem i have. everything ive been reading tells me that the CEO is supposed to be the visionary. we hired an advisor, and he starts talking about something that I too have been thinking about--- expanding the niche in the later stages. now, of course, this whole idea is something for years down the road, waayyy later on. it's essentially about expanding into other industries and niches, similar to how many startups explode.
we look at my boss, and his first words come out very nervous like "mmmm ..... baby steps first right?" at this point in my head, im just completely heated. the advisor has a great track record and i tell him "hey man i love how you think, i was thinking the same thing that we could do this in xyz industry" he agrees, and we have to leave by then. I walk with my boss to the car and I tell him "hey man you are the CEO, your the one that's supposed to have the big expanding vision of the future, not me."
he tells me that he wants to be realistic, but i tell him that it's not about being realistic or unrealistic, that he's supposed to exhibit the characteristics of a CEO. and mind you--- the idea that me and the advisor were talking about was completely realistic, given the nature of a disruptive, behavior changing startup. it's just natural.
3) another issue is that he is quick to shoot down ideas because of my lack of experience. he wants to hear my opinions and lets me have the input, but often times he doesn't trust my word until an expert has said the same thing.
ive told him that on one of his features on the software, he is going to experience a lot of resistance, and that we should probably develop other ideas to solve a problem. this was all a hypothesis, but a really good one. he completely ignores it, we bring up the feature during a discovery session for the software development, and the design team tells us the same exact thing.
i brought up to him, a reason why we should go after some big decision makers to have huge companies adopt the software along with going after the legs. he makes some excuse, as to why it wouldn't work--says security issues etc. then our marketing firm tells us that it's a good idea to have the decision maker as a target depending on the market segment. (marketing strategy is very complex and situational)
so far the reocurring theme is that between the 2 of us, im the one who is highly analytical and strategic despite being the dropout engineering student, and him having worked in the industry for over a decade.
im 23 years old, i dont want this opportunity to be a waste. every single expert in the industry is HIGHLY interested in us and tells us the timing is fabulously perfect. i have been reading a lot of books on the industry, on entrepreneurship, taking notes etc. These books are all referred to me by successful mentors. My boss on the other hand is a slow reader, but has been listening to audio books. but i dont know how good his comprehension is on that.
the question is, am i being frustrated/nerve wrecked over something trivial?
is there something wrong that im doing? maybe im wrong?
my whole plan from now on is to write EVERYTHING down in a format. all ideas everything, and write down every objection or possibility, or angle etc. this way, there is clarity in what im discussing, and when he rejects what im saying, if he is still wrong, he would still see the flaws in what he is saying, or vice versa.
this goes for development, marketing, business model and business development etc every single aspect of the company.
CLIFFS:
Problem
Boss is not showing signs of competitiveness.
- scared of the story of legal guerrilla business warfare tactics i showed him in a book.
Boss is not exhibiting grand visions
- scared of looking ahead, wants to focus on baby steps, does not want to discuss ideas of the future.
-I am 23 years old, and i feel like my concerns and ideas aren't taken seriously until an expert brings them up.
questions
-who has the problem here, me or my boss?
if me:
- what do i do to fix this?
If my boss:
- how do i aware my boss on his issues regarding his lack of competitive drive and vision without insulting him?
- should I talk to someone about this?
- how can i be taken seriously and gain credibility? not from just my boss, but from others that we work with?
My boss/CEO is scaring the hell out of me, because he lacks some elements that I'd expect a CEO to have. Despite the problems I will state later, he's a really smart, intelligent guy. Dude's an engineer with over a decade of experience, highly respected, came up with a brilliant idea for a startup company in the industry at the perfect time etc.
1) From what i can understand, entrepreneurs are supposed to be hypercompetitve. I come from a sports background, I love the feeling and thought of competition, at practice, and during the game. it gives me an adrenaline rush. I am reading these entrepreneur books from mentors, and they all reassure my points--- the love and drive of competition is huge. one of the books is talking about a guerrilla war tactic used by a small startup to attack the Goliath. it was pure guerrilla like,but legal, and my first thoughts were "wow, this is crazy, amazing, and genius". i was excited because it gave me anecdotal examples of how business shares the same elements of teamwork and competition that sports bring, so naturally it was appealing to me, and i was pleased to come across it.
i tell my boss and his first words "thats scary" and then walks away. like as if thats the normal thing to do and say, and to think otherwise is outrageous. that shit completely pissed me off. we are in the middle of developing out minimal viable product and this guy is scared of the things we might have to do to create a unicorn.
2) next problem i have. everything ive been reading tells me that the CEO is supposed to be the visionary. we hired an advisor, and he starts talking about something that I too have been thinking about--- expanding the niche in the later stages. now, of course, this whole idea is something for years down the road, waayyy later on. it's essentially about expanding into other industries and niches, similar to how many startups explode.
we look at my boss, and his first words come out very nervous like "mmmm ..... baby steps first right?" at this point in my head, im just completely heated. the advisor has a great track record and i tell him "hey man i love how you think, i was thinking the same thing that we could do this in xyz industry" he agrees, and we have to leave by then. I walk with my boss to the car and I tell him "hey man you are the CEO, your the one that's supposed to have the big expanding vision of the future, not me."
he tells me that he wants to be realistic, but i tell him that it's not about being realistic or unrealistic, that he's supposed to exhibit the characteristics of a CEO. and mind you--- the idea that me and the advisor were talking about was completely realistic, given the nature of a disruptive, behavior changing startup. it's just natural.
3) another issue is that he is quick to shoot down ideas because of my lack of experience. he wants to hear my opinions and lets me have the input, but often times he doesn't trust my word until an expert has said the same thing.
ive told him that on one of his features on the software, he is going to experience a lot of resistance, and that we should probably develop other ideas to solve a problem. this was all a hypothesis, but a really good one. he completely ignores it, we bring up the feature during a discovery session for the software development, and the design team tells us the same exact thing.
i brought up to him, a reason why we should go after some big decision makers to have huge companies adopt the software along with going after the legs. he makes some excuse, as to why it wouldn't work--says security issues etc. then our marketing firm tells us that it's a good idea to have the decision maker as a target depending on the market segment. (marketing strategy is very complex and situational)
so far the reocurring theme is that between the 2 of us, im the one who is highly analytical and strategic despite being the dropout engineering student, and him having worked in the industry for over a decade.
im 23 years old, i dont want this opportunity to be a waste. every single expert in the industry is HIGHLY interested in us and tells us the timing is fabulously perfect. i have been reading a lot of books on the industry, on entrepreneurship, taking notes etc. These books are all referred to me by successful mentors. My boss on the other hand is a slow reader, but has been listening to audio books. but i dont know how good his comprehension is on that.
the question is, am i being frustrated/nerve wrecked over something trivial?
is there something wrong that im doing? maybe im wrong?
my whole plan from now on is to write EVERYTHING down in a format. all ideas everything, and write down every objection or possibility, or angle etc. this way, there is clarity in what im discussing, and when he rejects what im saying, if he is still wrong, he would still see the flaws in what he is saying, or vice versa.
this goes for development, marketing, business model and business development etc every single aspect of the company.
CLIFFS:
Problem
Boss is not showing signs of competitiveness.
- scared of the story of legal guerrilla business warfare tactics i showed him in a book.
Boss is not exhibiting grand visions
- scared of looking ahead, wants to focus on baby steps, does not want to discuss ideas of the future.
-I am 23 years old, and i feel like my concerns and ideas aren't taken seriously until an expert brings them up.
questions
-who has the problem here, me or my boss?
if me:
- what do i do to fix this?
If my boss:
- how do i aware my boss on his issues regarding his lack of competitive drive and vision without insulting him?
- should I talk to someone about this?
- how can i be taken seriously and gain credibility? not from just my boss, but from others that we work with?
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