Our reputation matters — here’s why

[View this email in your browser]( • [Forward to a Friend]( Why Our Founder Reputation Matters TL;DR: "How does my reputation as a Founder (not my startup) affect me over the long term? If my reputation is tarnished, where will it hurt me? Where does that reputation really come from anyway and what can I do to develop it?" Long after our startup is done, no matter what the outcome, our Founder reputations will live on. And for many of us, that could actually present a real problem. Unlike our resumes, which present essentially one dimension of our lives (our job performance), our Founder Reputation is built on how our performance affects so many people — employees, investors, customers, the media, and even our personal relationships. Today’s Advice Sponsored by [Zendesk]( Founder Reputations are Easy to Tarnish From the get-go, we have two huge obstacles working against creating a great reputation. First, we're about to build an organization that will likely (statistically) fail. It's sort of hard to build a winning reputation on the back of a potential failure that could result in the loss of jobs, the breaking of a ton of contracts (sorry, landlord), and losing money for so many people (sorry investors). Second, we're building into the unknown. We're going to hire people we've never worked with (unproven at this startup), building a product that's never existed, with a company that we just invented. All of these variables will lead to their own failures, which in the end, lead to sore feelings about the idiot who made them happen (that would be us). There are so many things working against maintaining a strong reputation as a Founder that it's almost disheartening. Yet it's also the most valuable currency we will ever develop. Founder Reputations are our Ultimate Currency A strong resume may get someone a job, but once they have that job, it doesn't really factor in much more. A strong Founder reputation, on the other hand, gets put to the test daily. Our Founder reputation is what gets us meetings with investors, customers, and most certainly great employee candidates. It's the meeting that happens before we ever get a meeting (without us being present). Building a strong (positive) Founder reputation is like a virtually bottomless debit card that we can use for the rest of our lives. Building a shitty reputation is like having a bankruptcy on our credit report and trying to buy a house. It can be done, but it's a total nightmare. Our Reputations are Forged at the Extremes It would be great to say that our Founder reputations are built by just being good people every day, and there's some truth to that. But the reality is, our Founder reputations are often built most profoundly by the best and worst situations we are a part of. Think of the reputation of Adam Neumann at WeWork before and after that debacle. Prior to the IPO, he was considered a genius. Afterward, he was considered a huckster. By the way — he was the same person, in the same year — the only thing that changed was his reputation. How we handle firing someone affects our reputation. How we treat investors in a down round affects our reputation. How we spread the credit when we absolutely knock it out of the park affects our reputation. Every single day our stock price that is reputation is adjusted. Think Past this Moment — Think Reputation Early in my career, I didn't understand how important my Founder reputation would be. I would make harsh decisions because at that moment it seemed like the right move. Later on, I would learn that each of those poor decisions (even if well-intended) would forever change my ability to operate in the future and how people interacted with me before they even knew me. It works the other way too. I've had countless opportunities afforded to me — key introductions, special treatment with vendors, and preferential press, not because of who I am today, but because of what my long-term Founder reputation afforded me. We need to think not only how our decisions will affect our Founder reputation today, but how they will be each of the bricks we will need to use to build the reputation we want to live by for the rest of our lives. Founders: Zendesk wants to give your startup 6 Months of Support Tools for Free Zendesk’s service-first CRM makes it possible to create, handle, and track customer service tickets across phone, chat, email, social media, and any other channel you can imagine — and all from one place. Because it’s built to scale, it’s the perfect fit for startups and enterprises alike. [Right now, Zendesk is offering]( Startups.com users 6 months for free. Zendesk’s support, sales, and customer engagement software are quick to implement and easily scales to meet changing needs. With Zendesk, it takes hours—not weeks—to get up and running. Through Startups.com, Zendesk is offering the following to qualified startups: - Six months of access to Zendesk Support Suite, Explore, & Sunshine products at no cost* - Online office hours with Zendesk’s Startups customer success team - Access to Zendesk’s Startups Community including events, content, & resources What makes Zendesk so great (besides, ya know, [the free 6 months]( - More than just a help desk, Zendesk crosses over to CRM - Easy to set up and service your organizational needs - Turn your support data into a treasure trove of leads, opportunities and market insights Check out their offering to see if your startup [qualifies for this special deal](. There’s no reason not to -- unless you really love unhappy customers… in which case, you’ve got bigger problems on your hands. [6 Months for Free→]( In Case You Missed It [How Much Should I Invest in My Startup?]( We often wonder whether every dollar of our personal savings should be going toward our startup, or toward our safety. [How Much is an Idea Alone Worth?]( There's some bizarre mythology that's been created in the startup realm that ideas themselves have an incredible monetary value. Spoiler alert: they don’t. [Is a $0 Salary a Badge of Honor? (podcast)]( The $0 salary: is it the cool and honorable thing to do, or is it completely and utterly ridiculous? Love this topic? Hate it? Let's chat on social media! Wil Schroter Founder & CEO @ Startups.com [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( Copyright © 2020 Startups.com, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you joined Startups.com. Our mailing address is: Startups.com 1322 Manning PkwyPowell, OH 43065-1100 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.