Risk & Business Magazine McFarlan Rowlands Fall 2016 | Page 12

10 THINGS TO BE PARANOID ABOUT 10 Things to Be Paranoid About As An Entrepreneur T he biggest thinkers are usually the most paranoid, and the smallest thinkers are the least. Andy Grove was a Hungarian immigrant, an entrepreneur, and one of the founders of Intel. He was known as the guy that drove the growth phase of Silicon Valley. He was respected among all CEOs. He wrote a book titled Only the Paranoid Survive. I highly recommend this book. Even though it’s an older book and some of its stories may not be relevant today, the concepts are still relevant. A lot of people say that it’s not good to be paranoid, but I think paranoia is absolutely necessary for entrepreneurs. more diligent so you don’t lose $728,000 on a project that you’re working on. Here are some examples: • Speed of delivery for customers • Speed of delivery for partners and vendors • Speed on how quickly you get back to customers and other people • Speed on emails • Speed on placement • Speed on purchases, how long it takes, how easy it is for the buyer, and how quickly the product is delivered ENTREPRENEURS WHO ARE THE BIGGEST THINKERS ARE USUALLY THE MOST PARANOID. THOSE WHO ARE THE SMALLEST THINKERS ARE NORMALLY THE LEAST PARANOID. • Speed on how quickly it takes for a loan to be underwritten Here are ten things to be paranoid about as an entrepreneur: #3: DEADLINES I’m paranoid about deadlines. “Are we going to hit this deadline?” “Is this thing going to get done?” It’s similar to time, but different because time can be so general. #1: SPEED OF IMPLEMENTATION Speed of implementation is probably at the top of my list of things for entrepreneurs to be paranoid about. What do I mean by speed? I mean how quickly we implement effective ideas. However, it is possible to move too quickly and do things abruptly. There are instances where you need to take your time and be 12 | FALL 2016 Everything comes back to speed. The biggest companies in the world that became way too thick did so because at one point, speed was very critical. But they’ve become flat because speed is no longer a priority for them. They forgot about being paranoid about the speed. #2: TIME You don’t have as much of it as you think you do. One of time’s best friends to a paranoid entrepreneur is preparation. Learning to delegate the $10-an-hour jobs and staying focused on the vital role you play in your company is the best way to be effective with your time. If you make an announcement that something is going to launch at a particular time, how paranoid are you that the launch is going to take place? How does the team feel about that deadline not being met? What are you doing to make sure the deadlines are met? #4: INTERNAL SYSTEMS How efficient are your internal systems? What type of product are your internal systems producing? Are they the best they can be? Is the experience that results from your internal systems the best it can be? What needs to be adjusted in your internal systems to make things more efficient, faster, and more streamlined? Can your systems be duplicated? Can anybody do them? If you hired another person, could they come in and immediately do exactly what the person who was there three-and-a-half years was doing? How efficient are your internal systems? Do they work well together? Do things run smoothly, without glitches? You need to be paranoid about your internal systems. #5: INNOVATION You need to feel a lot of paranoia about innovation. A lot of big companies aren’t paranoid about innovation because they don’t ever think they’ll be passed up. They are typically extremely arrogant and cocky. Then, a younger company comes along and recognizes it isn’t the best and it hasn’t arrived yet. It recognizes that the other company is bigger and better. But the younger company is hungry. It’s ready to fight. It wants to win. You have to ask if you have an appropriate level of paranoia on whether innovation is still taking place in your company, or if you’re doing business as usual. #6: ENERGY Do you still have the same enthusiasm and excitement you used to have, or are you getting too content because you’ve had way too many victories? You need to be paranoid about keeping your energy at the highest level, such that other people want to be around you and emulate you.