spencer thompson of sokanu presents why does your company exist
TRANSCRIPT
Why Does Your Company Exist?Spencer Thompson • TechVan Feb 2016
Who Am I?
Founded in 2012
10 employees
Mission: to help people find their best career
~200M career recommendations given since launch
Q: Why Does Your Company Exist?
Should Philosophy Matter When Building A Company?
New Founded Company(Philosophy)
Employees
Investors
Confusion = people have a lack of understanding of why something truly exists
New Founded Company(Philosophy)
Employees
Investors
poor
CEO co
mmunica
tion
1. To Make As Much Money As Possible (Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs)2. To Solve A Personal Problem (Spanx, Starbucks)3. To Fill A Market Need (Ford, Match.com)4. To Solve A Social Issue (Tesla, Khan Academy)5. To Utilize Personal Abilities (Pixar, Disney, Apple)
So Why Do People Start Companies?
Order Matters. Every company has a rank order of the following philosophies.
If I Had To Guess What The Most Popular Order Is…
1.To Fill A Market Need
2.To Make As Much Money As Possible
3.To Solve A Personal Problem
4.To Utilize Personal Abilities
5.To Solve A Social Issue
Why Is This Important?Take time to think about the true reasons why you are doing what you
are doing, BEFORE you do it
Only work with people who understand and share your philosophy.
The best companies know who they are. More importantly, they know who they are not
Each philosophy leads to different capital allocation, strategy and timelines
You want to build the best company/career for you
