Start ups have some interesting challenges and conversely some exciting opportunities.
They have a limited runway of cash – this drives an intense focus on delivering value (before the money runs out)
They have no existing culture or processes – there is nothing to undo as they create a new culture
There is no existing code to build upon - there’s no legacy code to deal with, and you produce applications that match what you need to do
There is no set of commonly understood processes – you get to adopt whatever works well and that fits your needs.
This case study talks about the last 9 months of our start-up where we went from “no team, and limited functionality” – to launching a successful and thriving business backed by completely custom trading platform and fulfilment engine.
Who here works at a startup?
Who here wants to? Its a lot of fun. I love coming to work every day.
I’d like to share my experiences over the last 18 months at irexchange and give you some insight into some of the practices and processes and activities that have helped us along our journey.
Hopefully you will get some ideas that you can apply in your current or future startup
I am HOD at irexchange. We are a technology startup with a unique supply chain offering.
Our mission is to enable independent retailers and suppliers to grow and prosper, by giving them access to a wider of range of reasonably priced goods, and by reducing the costs of delivery through the logistics network.
Irexchange was started over 2 years ago. We started trading in November last year, and in April we launched a new B2B Trading Platform that allowed Suppliers and Retailers to transact transparently with no traditional middleman/wholsealer in the middle. As well we launched a new fulfillment engine that allows us to move physical goods through the logistics network, efficiently and cheaply.
Unerpinning these was a BI Analytics platform that enabled our retail and supplier customers to get better insights into their businesses. To date we have raised over $25M in investment capital and we have signed up over 350 customers into our network.
It is a good news story and I am proud to have been part of it.
I love working at a startup.
I like the great sense of purpose – we are helping the small independent companies grow and prosper and better compete against that larger giants in the sector (Coles, Woolies, Aldi, Costco, Amazon Retail)
I like the fact that I have a voice – I contribute to strategy, and planning and I know that my suggestions will be heard.
And l like the pace – we make decisions quickly and move fast. No 40 page Solution Design Specs that need to be written in triplicate, and which take months to be approved.
It can also be quite stressful working at startup
You have a limited runway of cash and you are burning through it every day
You need to get to cash-flow positive before the investment capital is gone.
The drive to quickly deliver value and generate revenue hangs over every decision that you make.
I think startups have two unique challenges.
How do you make fast decisions and minimise mistakes – because two many bad decisions coupled with the limited runway means that you aren’t likely to make it to profitability
And related – how do you ensure that everyone in your teams can make consistent aligned fast decisions
Heres a quote from another startup founder. Its very true – if you wait until you have all the information its too late. And the situation has likely changed from when you started – so your decision may no longer be relevant.
But if you are making decisions early with minimal information, you are likely to get some wrong. In that you don’t realise the value that you expected from the decision. How do you choose to deal with mistakes – do you fall back into a blame culture or do you treat them as a learning opportunity. Okay this happened – what have we learnt – what will we do differently.
How do you monitor the the progress on decisions – can you put in place mechanisms for recognising when decisions are going awry and course correct early whilst you can.
At irexchange we have focussed on making sure that everyone knows how to make fast decisions and that they have the autonomy and support to make good decisions in within their context.
I think the ability of the team to make good aligned fast decisions has been one of the main contributing factors to our success.
Now let me give you a couple of examples of what we did.