Former Polycom CEO Andrew Miller on Founding Your Own Business

A significant part of the modern dream, everyone wants to create their own business to connect

their name and pride. Whether your passion is cupcakes or manufacturing complex servers, it’s essential to know a few basic things that every company needs to grow, such as the right CEO, employees, and goals. By focusing on these in the beginning, you’ll set yourself up for success and give your business the opportunities it deserves.

Former Polycom CEO Andrew Miller dishes his advice on this subject.

Focus On People

Who are you hiring? What are you looking for in your employees? You need to heavily consider everything you need and be clear about it in the hiring process. Hiring and training new employees just because the first round didn’t work out can cost you endless money and time. You need to ensure that your first round is mostly what you need so that you can expand instead of replacing. Get references for everything, ensure they have the education they claim on their resumes and train everyone thoroughly. Your earliest employees may end up higher in your company than anyone else besides you: make sure they’ll be people fit for those roles.

Consider Production

Where are your items being made? Are you producing them in a factory that you can visit in less than twelve hours if you need to? American customers are warmer towards American-made products or products that are ethically sourced. Can you guarantee these options? If not, is that something you’d be willing to work towards? After this, what about your packaging? A company that commits to green packaging is usually considered more respectable in the eyes of the public. Consider what promises you can make your customers and how to achieve them.

Set Goals

A company without any goals is a company that won’t be keeping the same CEO for long. Focus on creating plans and hopes for your business that you should be able to reach within five or ten years. The last thing you should do is start a business and hope that fate will take care of it. You have to prove to yourself and your employees that there’s a direction you’re taking and that tangible wins are coming in the future. This plan is also suitable for customers because you can let them know you’re working on going green or working to up quality, making them more likely to buy.

Focus On Brand

The first thing many people think about when beginning a company is its branding. Although this may feel vital, it’s not nearly as important as the other things on this list. You may have the best business name, some truly inspired advertising ideas, and a great mission statement- but all of it means nothing if you haven’t taken care of these other items.

When it’s time to focus on your brand, look at what your customer base would look like, and advertise at that level. If you’re selling tractor supplies, you don’t want to take out an advertisement in Times Square. Likewise, advertising processors may be better done on Twitter or message boards about it than on Facebook. Consider everything deeply, and then move forward.