Piotr Sędzik – CEO and Co-founder of Applover, a full-stack digital agency, honored in 2019 by Deloitte as the “Rising Star” in the CEE region and ranked on 24th spot in the Fast 50 category in 2020. Finalist of Forbes 25 under 25 in 2018. CEO of Smart Citizen, a company that studies urban agglomerations to improve the quality of life of their citizens. A graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics.
What were the top 3 mistakes you made as an entrepreneur, and if you could start over what would you do differently?
I believe that as a young entrepreneur I have made many mistakes. Yet I am lucky to run my business with my friends and we can support each other, learn from our mistakes and celebrate little wins together. The 3 top mistakes I made are:
Disregarding the business model and its importance.
It’s a fatal cliché. But in practice, it is not, because when you build a product or a company, you are convinced that it is so great that a million people will be using it really soon. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. The key is to show from the beginning that your business model is scalable or, at best, that it earns on itself from the beginning and just needs resources for growth and development to generate for example 5 times more revenue. It is crucial when you want to receive the funding, cooperate with venture capital funds, and provide your business with development opportunities.
The inability to separate work from private life and the lack of a clear border.
Especially in the beginning, I had it like that, 24/7 by phone, everything, even the least important thing, I was there. It is not productive and you get busy and you have no peace of mind, which does not serve business and the people around you. You need to be well-rested to make smart decisions fast. Without it, your business will not thrive. Moreover, You should lead by example. Show people that you can be a leader with passions. So that your employees do not overwork and feel inspired to look for their escape from work and become less stressed. Apart from the fact, small changes lead to bigger revolutions and if you can support your 60 employees in the development, they will translate into their loved ones and their social networks, and even with such small changes, you can lead to the bigger ones.
The greater responsibility of the people you work with.
It is crucial, and I did it wrong at the beginning of my journey as an entrepreneur. You cannot conduct each topic alone, people in your organization must take responsibility for it, you must define the direction and the expected effect, but the path should be theirs, especially as they are often 5 times wiser in a given area because they specialize in it and you to trust them, especially if you hired them. Moreover, if you build such structures, base them on the values of employees, then people will be grateful, happy, satisfied. They will be more devoted to the company because they will simply feel good at it and will treat it as their own. They will be engaged in its development, especially when you give some of them more freedom and responsibility for their departments or other certain areas. When your team feels that they are capable of managing some areas, make decisions influencing your business – for your business growth – the sky is the limit.
Piotr Sędzik CEO and Co-founder of Applover
Top 3 Business Mistakes: Neil Patel Founder of KISSmetrics
