THE STORY BEHIND PERFORM
Hello there,
And welcome to the PERFORM community.
Cristobal and Stoyan here, at your service!
The journey of creating PERFORM started back in 2016.
We both met at a startup event in Aarhus, Denmark. At that time, Stoyan was a video and movie producer, transitioning to a career of a professional speaker and productivity coach, and Cristobal was recently appointed a CEO of Startup Wise Guys, Europe’s leading B2B Startup accelerator. Soon after, Stoyan visited the SWG batch in Riga, Latvia, and since that day has remained the Startup Wise Guys’ lead coach in productivity & performance.
One thing strongly in common is our passion for strong culture, values and productivity.
The PERFORM methodology was born out of necessity. As our friend Luis Villa Del Campo likes to say: “It’s an operating system”. It provides a bird-eye of your company from a perspective of culture and performance. It is practical, tested and based on real-life examples.
Cristobal and Stoyan
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PERFORM - The Unsexy Truth about (Startup) Success
In this book you will find the hands-on tools and strategies that founders like you used on their journey of building successful international companies. It will help you to put a structure behind your efforts, so you can max out your results on a consistent basis.
The book features examples, tools and case studies from 50+ successful startup founders and thought leaders from NewEurope.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH?
PURPOSE & VALUES
When a company has a strong Why (Purpose), a clear and compelling What (Vision) and it operates with a clear How (Values), it develops a powerful working culture.
As an entrepreneur, you need to discuss these three elements from the get-go and let them guide you when making every important decision.
EFFECTIVE PLANNING
Planning gives you the ability to bring the future into the present. Once you know the company you want to create, you need a plan for how to get there. As a startup, your resources will be limited for a long time. Planning will give you perspective. It allows you to see the bigger picture and make smart and effective choices. You’ll be effective and productive when you focus on getting the right things done and know what not to do.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Once you have planned what needs to be done, the question is who will do what: Who is responsible for which tasks. What each person takes on will depend on their role. In our experience, most founders don’t define responsibilities properly. In reality, it needs to be done not just once but repeatedly, since responsibilities are bound to change as your company develops. Your team needs to review and revise responsibilities as roles evolve. By combining clearly defined responsibilities with the accountability of setting and meeting deadlines, you have a much greater chance of surviving and thriving.
FOCUS AND
EXECUTION
You know what you have to do, but can you execute? We’ll share some tools to help you improve your focus: use the ones that work for you. Focus will transform long hours of work into the right results. Move the needle by working on the business and not only in the business. What are you going to do with your ability to focus? You’re going to Execute! We’re not talking about being busy, but about relentless execution, on a massive scale. The best decision is the fast decision. Cristobal loves to say: “Execution eats strategy for breakfast. Take 10 decisions fast, 3 of them are going to be wrong. So what? You go and fix them. But don’t stay and overthink. You need to be ready to execute and get s**t done!”
OPTIMAL ENERGY
OPTIMAL ENERGY
You’re focused and you’re turning your startup into an execution machine, but make sure you remember that building a successful startup might take you seven to ten years. That’s a lot of time! It’s more like a marathon than a sprint. We keep wondering why so many founders treat it as a sprint. If you want to build a winning team, you need to create a culture where you manage your own and your team’s energy. It’s all about building the right habits: sleeping, eating, hydrating, exercising and practicing mindfulness.
It’s not just about mastering these habits. It’s about creating a culture in your team where prioritizing energy is non-negotiable.
ROBUST COMUNICATION
You and your company are running a ten-year startup marathon. To make sure your company runs well, it’s fundamental to communicate well and consistently, across all parts of the organization. To make communication robust, incorporate both giving and receiving feedback into your culture. We know it’s not easy, but every single minute you invest in feedback has payback. Feedback starts with you: as a leader, you need to give and listen to feedback. Develop systems and processes so that your managers can provide and receive feedback, too. It’s your job to help them discover how powerful it can be.
MENTAL TOUGHNESS
Even if you master communication and feedback across your company, there will be tough times ahead for any entrepreneur or founder. If you want to survive those periods and win, arm yourself with the mindset of a winning player. Master the mental game! You will need to develop the ability to deal with stressors and threats. That means minimizing the time you spend in a negative or victim mindset. Focus on the solution and on the result. Keep taking action, readjusting and refining your strategies. Don’t stop until you achieve your goal.