Crafting the Next Great Leader

I’m thrilled to announce that rising junior Matt Bilotti will be my successor as the next President of the Northeastern University Entrepreneurs Club. Our team’s executive board just voted him in, but that wasn’t a surprise for me; in fact, I knew Matt was going to be the next President since last October. This is the story of how a leadership development strategy crafted Matt from inexperienced sophomore to chief executive.

It is October 2011 when I walk in the door at an Entrepreneurs Club meeting. Sure enough, Director of Marketing sophomore Matt Bilotti is just a minute behind me, ready to get the room setup an hour before our 100+ person event. As I think back to recent events the club has put on, I come to an interesting realization: Matt is always “just a minute behind (or ahead) of me” when it comes to preparation. As President, I attend nearly every event the club puts on, which is usually about 6 weekly. There is only one other person that attends all of those with me: Matt. I never asked him to, he just shows up. He is at every meeting, every event and responds to every email. As a manager, this gives me a simple indicator: Matt cares. Matt’s passion for the organization can only rival mine. Needless to say, this was the first indicator that Matt has potential for the big job of President.

Once I discovered Matt’s passion, care and how it set him apart, I decided to spend more time with him. I invited him to more meetings and asked his opinion in more emails. Before we knew it, he was playing a Vice President role informally, taking on many of the tasks without the title or authority of VP. As Matt continued to add value in all that I threw at him, it hit me that he could be the next President. But at this point he is young and inexperienced. So what did we do? We created and executed the following leadership development strategy:

1. Critical Beyond Belief

When most people on my team make a mistake, I am generally pretty comforting, help them understand what they did wrong, and am lenient in letting it go. With Matt on the other hand, I was ruthless. I ripped apart his emails, comments and any written documents with a slew of constructive criticism on the weaknesses and specifically how he can improve them. When he made a silly comment in a meeting, I came down on him harder than anyone else.

This all got to him sometimes and I could feel his intense frustration. He might not have realized how much it burned me inside to see him agitated. But I knew I had to keep going. So I just pushed harder. I taught him how to send authoritative emails, engage with sponsors and motivate teammates to excel. 

2. Meetings Meetings Meetings

I pulled Matt into many management and recruiting meetings. He watched and soaked in how I handled on boarding new teammates and senior level management challenges. 

3. Expanding the Marketing Department

To give Matt more responsibility, we expanded the Marketing Department, created a new program called Marketing Marines which he manages and gave him responsibility for another brand new club program, Engineers for the Greater Good. Having oversight on these new programs gave Matt an opportunity to build his leadership skills in real life as opposed to just watching. 

4. Spending Time

Matt and I started spending a lot of time together. In the fall we would watch movies together on the weekends, and in the spring we started going to the gym together every morning. The gym was just an extended conference room - we discussed organizational successes and challenges, and used the time to brainstorm solutions. Matt was able to get a clear view of what the role of President was like because we interacted with each other so much.

5. Caring

Perhaps the most important element of this leadership development strategy is that I truly care about Matt. When he is struggling or upset, I want to help him and see him feel better. I want him to grow, learn and succeed, and over the past year I invested a lot of time into ensuring that he will. This element is why I was able to be so critical with Matt, and an important “secret sauce” in the leader development and mentor/mentee strategy. Below is an excerpt from an email I sent him in February when I sensed he was being challenged with the training:

“I know I am extremely critical and rough on you, more so than with anyone else. I know this can be challenging and aggravating at times. I call you out on stuff I’d never mention to most other people. While this is challenging to work through now, it will be immensely beneficial for you going forward. I am incredibly proud of you and all of your hard work so far this semester and your journey towards becoming the next great leader of our organization.

What I am doing now is a crash course to prepare you for that, which means that if it is to be done well it requires me to be hyper-critical. Most people won’t do that for you… they won’t call you out on things. Instead, they’ll let your weaknesses build up until you fall. That is a shameful disservice to you. Few people will have the guts to call you out… and those are the people you want to be surrounded by because they actually care about you.”

I joke that Matt was my biggest “project” this year; and all joking aside, it is pretty much accurate. Through all of the leadership development, meetings, constructive criticism and teaching, Matt has emerged as a force to be reckoned with. He is organized, forceful, insightful and can control a room. He knows how to identify talent and how to cultivate it. He still has a ton to learn, but I am confident that he is ready to take on the role of youngest President in the history of the club. Put bluntly, Matt will kick ass in his role and I cannot wait to watch him do it next fall.

Making People Feel Valued

I recently had the honor of being a judge at Northeastern’s Research, Innovation and Scholarship Expo, RISE:2012. The event was planned by the university’s new Center for Research Innovation (CRI). It was a large scale event with many moving parts: nearly 400 students exhibiting their research, dozens of judges and attention from all of the major eyes at the university, such as the President’s office. 

Being a judge was a time commitment - it required me to review and rate several posters before the event and then meet each researcher in person to hear their pitch and pose questions. Tracey and the CRI team understood that, and considered ways to show the judges their appreciation. One way that particularly impressed me was the name badges provided (see photo on the right). These are not just little name tags; instead they are well designed, laminated displays complete with a head shot photo and title.

It seems like a simple little detail, but getting this badge made me so excited. It created a feeling within me that went along the lines of “wow, I must be an important part of this event.” As a result, I was quite excited to jump right into judging and was glad to give more time and effort to make the event a success.

The important lesson to learn here is how important the little details can be and how much of a big impression they can make. The CRI team went above and beyond to make the people supporting them feel valued. This attitude should be mirrored in every organization’s culture - it is certainly something that I hold in high importance at the Entrepreneurs Club.

A Day in the Life of Ryan Durkin

For a recent class assignment, I interviewed Ryan Durkin, the COO of CampusLive, a marketing company that focuses on engaging college students with brands through fun online games and challenges that give the students opportunities to win cool prizes. Ryan is a 2008 graduate of UMass Amherst and also serves as an Administrator for the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund. At CampusLive, Ryan is responsible for a 25 person team, overseeing spending of over $3.1M in venture capital funding and is passionate about being an operator.

Ryan’s days are busy to say the least. He gets to the office at 9am, fires off some emails and jumps right into finances. He checks in on cash flow, how much cash is in the bank, ensures receivables are paid off to keep CampusLive’s customers and vendors are happy. His focus on financials is not to do book keeping but more to quickly identify problems early as opposed to finding a cash shortage at the end of the month when closing the books. If he does detect something of concern, he can immediately alert the proper stakeholder so they can take action accordingly.

From there, Ryan moves to sending a daily email to the entire team updating them on key performance metrics for their product. It includes growth rates, user engagement and multiple internal stats for the business. Ryan considers that consistent communication and transparency a crucial aspect of his management style. He sees ensuring that KPIs are in check is a primary role for any operator.

Next, Ryan shifts focus to legal, accounting and general administration tasks. This includes creating offer letters for new hires, reviewing stock option grants, etc. While it isn’t the most glamorous of his responsibilities, he is confident that one can learn a ton from dealing with these administrative tasks. Once he finishes those up, Ryan spends the rest of his day in random meetings with his team. He might get pulled in to advise the marketing folks or sit in on usability studies with customers. He also spends time speaking to potential new teammates at networking events in Boston: he is constantly recruiting.

Management Challenges

While Ryan’s job is fun and fulfilling, it isn’t always easy. He faces constant challenges that he must overcome in order to continue to be a successful manager and learn and grow.

1. Getting the product right

In order for CampusLive to sustain its growth and continue to expand its revenue, the product must appeal to each unique consumer group based on their interests (men interested in sports, women interested in music, etc). This provides an exciting challenge to the company’s engineering team that keeps them motivated and passionate about coming to the office everyday – they know they will be faced with challenging problems to solve.

2. Hiring technical talent

As a technology-driven company with a web-based product, Ryan is constantly on the hunt for top-notch developers to join the team. He is tasked with creating a world class company culture that is a prime environment for developers to be happy. He recommends making that environment be focused on problem solving and seeking developers that also have strong business acumen and comfort speaking. Ultimately, Ryan looks for developers that he can sit down and have a conversation with and be comfortable talking to.

3. Finding the right mentors and board of directors

Ryan relies on a network of mentors and advisors to get advice, introductions and assistance from for his business. Finding great mentors, appointing investors to the company’s Board of directors and appropriately engaging with all of them can be challenging but rewarding when done successfully.

4. Figuring out when to communicate with team members

When a company is small, it might be feasible for the COO to sit down with every member of the team once a week and check in, ensure they have everything they need to succeed and that they are happy in their role. As a company gets larger, it becomes much more difficult to do that. Additionally, a management structure and hierarchy starts to form where marketing associates might take detailed questions to the VP of Marketing instead of Ryan as the COO.

Putting faith in VP level management and consulting with them as opposed to everyone in the team directly can be challenging, but a necessity as the venture grows. Being willing to encourage teammates to speak to their managers directly and not handling every detail is a tough call for a manager like Ryan. He consistently delegates responsibilities to his VPs so he can focus on more of the big picture operations responsibilities.

Characteristics of Great Managers from Ryan’s Perspective

• Finding success and drive in productivity – passionate about building and executing
• Good managers live for other people – they want to see their team succeed
• Ability to look at their team’s skills and match them with mentors to build up those skills
• Communicating clearly and transparently
• Providing feedback in the form of appreciation, praise and suggestions for improvement
• Setting specific goals that are measurable and realistic
• Introducing teammates to the right people to advance their lives
• Keep people happy and reduce turnover… making a new hire can cost $20,000+

Key Abilities to focus on to be a great manager and COO

Ryan recommends that an operator should have a solid understanding of numbers and business models. They need to understand implications of adjustments in the business cycle – if we increase our marketing spend, how does that affect the month’s cash flow?

He also stressed the importance of someone’s likability. One can be good at managing, but if people don’t like them or they are simply an asshole, others will not be interested in being led by that manager. Managers must have their people gravitate towards them and give off a constant vibe that they truly care about their people, following the mantra that “if I can help you, the rest of it will work out.” This means that Ryan meets many candidates that might not be the right fit for CampusLive, he will still introduce them to another start-up.

Finally, Ryan is a big believer in having a deep understanding of each of the people on his team and their needs. Some might need to be checked in with once a month, versus others who need help daily. Understanding the right allocation of time and resources for each of his teammates keeps everyone on the team happy, motivated and working hard to build something great at CampusLive. 

5 Ways to Be a Great Mentor

Especially in the world of entrepreneurship, having great mentors and being a great mentor is crucial. Mentors can act as guides for a young entrepreneur, helping them avoid classic mistakes, making key introductions and serving as a teacher far after college graduation day.

Over the past few years I have had multiple mentors, and been a mentor myself to others. As President of the Entrepreneurs Club, a key part of my role is to act as a mentor to all 640 of our members, and especially to the younger students leading the club on our executive team. On top of that, I am honored to have quite a few great mentors to guide me, such as Graham Brooks at .406 Ventures, Gordon Adomdza at Northeastern University, and Ken Coleman, co-founder and former EVP at TimeTrade Systems.

So what makes a great mentor? There are varying degrees of how intense the relationship can be. In some cases, it is just a check in once in a while and an open line of communication to ask questions. When I play the mentor role, I like to take a very hands on approach. Especially for my younger colleagues, my goal is to give them tangible feedback, advice points and action items that they can use to advance their careers. More specifically, I suggest a mentor does the following:

1. Be critical

I call my mentees out a lot, anytime they make a mistake. I clearly explain to them where they fell short and how they can improve. It’s much better they hear this from you so they can improve for when it counts.

2. Focus on soft skills

This means proper business acumen, wording in emails, etc. I am constantly reviewing sent emails / any written doc (ie a resume) with my mentees and making suggestions for improvement.

3. Make introductions

And make a lot of them. Build up your mentees’ networks. I make many intros via email and suggest my mentees set up meetings.

4. Guide, don’t do

Be sure to make suggestions, but never give orders and never do the work for your mentee. I always use the phrasing when making a suggestion ”I would consider doing X”

5. Suggest tangible action items

I always provide, in bullet list format, clear ideas for my mentees to consider executing to contribute to and advance whatever they are working on.

Ultimately, the relationship will depend on the time, flexibility and personality of the both the mentor and the mentee. If you want to find a mentor of your own, there are plenty of great programs in Boston to help you, like Sean Lindsay’s Founder Mentors or Northeastern University’s venture accelerator, IDEA.

I’m Back! Update on the Entrepreneurs Club

Alright, I admit it - I’ve slacked on this blog. I mean seriously, my last post was in October. But have no fear, I’m back with the energy and enthusiasm of a kid after eating an entire box of oreos (or me, after eating an entire box of oreos…)

The past semester has been an incredible journey. In addition to finally being a senior, I took on the reigns as President of the Northeastern University Entrepreneurs Club. I first got involved with the club my freshmen year when there was rarely more than 15 people in the room at any given meeting. Now, our team has grown the organization to be one of the largest at the university, attracting 100+ students every week to our kick ass Get Togethers, where we invite a passionate speaker, network, build skills and enjoy free pizza with our community of student entrepreneurs.

By the numbers since September, Entrepreneurs club members have launched 17 new student ventures, picked up thousands of dollars in funding, signed up hundreds of new customers for Zaarly, mentored 40 low-income high school students, invited 11 CEOs and founders to speak and created leadership opportunities for dozens of students at Northeastern.

The club has grown like no other, and it is all thanks to the entrepreneurial attitude of our members. Students have created new programs, reached out to C-level executives, led activities and ultimately demenstrated how Northeastern’s worldclass programs prepare students to not only get lots of job offers, but to create their own jobs.

This role has been one of the best experiences I have had the privilege of earning during my college career. I have learned so much about managing people, scaling an organization, event planning and execution, fundraising and a myriad of other invaluable skills. I’m looking forward to continuing the momentum this upcoming spring semester!

How I Admitted Myself to Duke University

In the fall of 2010, I accepted a spring semester internship in Durham, NC. At that time I didn’t know anything about North Carolina, nor did I know a single person there. I wanted to change that.

I decided that it would be great to have some friends when I got to Durham. I would be located just a mile away from Duke University, full of kids my own age - a great place to start. So I did what I do best - send emails to strangers. I searched the internet for the student leaders of the entrepreneurship community at Duke and introduced myself: “Hey, I think what you’re doing is cool and although I  don’t have any affiliation with your school, I’d love to get involved.” And to my surprise, my inbox filled with enthusiastic replies, welcoming me to the community.

Fast forward a month and I arrive in Durham. I begin following up on those emails and arranging meetings. Within the first week I had met with several student leaders and Presidents of clubs. I began attending executive board meetings and providing input from what I had learned running the Entrepreneurs Club at Northeastern. All of the groups had websites, although some of them were outdated. So I offered to re-design them, for free. Of course I was met with an enthusiastic yes and over winter vacation I began to code several new websites for the Duke Entrepreneurship organizations.

A week later, I was introduced to a professor in the Markets & Management program and after telling him my story, he invited me to participate in his class. Within 3 weeks of being at Duke (minus vacation), I was:

• Participating in the executive board operations of clubs
• Taking a senior capstone class… and doing homework!
• Rushing two selective living groups (living communities on campus)
• Went to my first Duke basketball game, and then another.

Now fast forward another few weeks and I was:

• Planning & executing events for the InCube selective living group rush
• Starting a company with a freshman computer science major
• Meeting more key people at Duke then many seniors knew

I had quickly accomplished my goal of making friends - but the experience ended up becoming so much more. I gained an entirely new perspective by immersing myself in a university that was so different than the one I had been at before. I went from not knowing anybody to walking through Duke campus saying hi to people around every turn.

What did I learn?

• People will give you amazing opportunities if you have the guts to ask
• If you create advantage instead of taking advantage, everyone wins
• Duke & Northeastern are completely different - more info coming later

Life on Metadata Mountain

Today is my last day of co-op at Digitalsmiths, a video discovery & metadata software company in Durham, NC. Over the past 5 months, I engaged on several exciting initiatives with the Digitalsmiths team, all focused on technology, project management and business. Just a few including building a cloud-based KPI dashboard, running logistics at a trade show in Las Vegas and spearheading social media marketing strategies.

So, what did I learn about?

• All about the digital video industry and a unique application of data
• How a VC backed tech start-up operates from the inside
• Structure of an executive team & reporting structure
• Talking to clients at major fortune 500 organizations

Biggest Takeaways:

• I realized how important company culture is & how I want to structure it
• I have the entrepreneurial bug. Next step is to start my own company
• I crave risk, responsibility & big rewards & relentlessly pursue them

Bottom line:

This semester was all about discovery for me: video discovery & self discovery. I confirmed important parts of what motivates me & makes me happy. All in all, a great success!