Growing Fast? Invest in a Business Advisor

by Dan McCreary

I started a technology consulting business in 1992 along with six other software engineers. We were all specialists in a very specific software niche called object-oriented software development. We started the company because we all had the gut feeling that our object-oriented way of doing things would give our customers a huge competitive advantage. And we were right. Our customers rewarded our little band of software engineers with far more work than we could handle. Within three years we had over 50 full-time people on staff, and we were growing over 30 percent a year. In 1997, we were recognized as one of the fastest growing firms in Minnesota. When I hired new people, I told them I couldn’t guarantee high pay, short hours or low stress, but I could guarantee they would never be bored.

But this growth did not come without pain. One of the hardest things to do effectively is fix problems and capitalize on opportunities when you are in the middle of them. I was fortunate to find a great business advisor. He helped me recognize many of our growing pains and recommended changes. One of our first challenges was finding good supervisors among our engineers who had little supervisory experience. Our business advisor suggested that we needed training, and so we signed up for a supervisory leadership series and started to get our staff to think like real managers.

At the time, I was running the company and in charge of sales. I quickly found too much work on my plate, and it was time to bring in a general manager to spread the work around. Remember, we were all engineers, not human resources people. We didn’t have the subtle skills needed to find the right person, interview him and make a job offer, while making sure we were legally in line and managing our own risk intelligently. Our business advisor assisted us in enlisting the help of a search firm to hire a general manager, rather than devote our own time and energy to finding just the right person.

Our business advisor was there beside us when we were assessing tax strategies and when we were audited by the IRS. He was there when we had to convince our bank to provide an additional line of credit and when we needed certified financials. I continue to be amazed at how much he understood about our company from just looking at our financial statements. And the key to his wisdom was, in part, his ability to stand away from our organization and objectively assess the situation. He was not consumed by our production deadlines, and he was not distracted by the personal dynamics of our company. He could give us tough advice without it becoming an emotional issue. He undoubtedly saved us money and time, and helped us work efficiently. Perhaps most importantly, he guided us when we had to make the right strategic decisions to ensure our success and our continued growth. When I look back at where we put our money in the early stages of our growing business, I can’t think of an investment that brought us more significant returns than the advice of our business advisor.

Since selling his company, Dan McCreary has joined the LarsonAllen Solution Center, a division of the LarsonAllen Technology Group, LLC. Contact Dan at 612-397-3167.