4 Keys Elements When Building For Growth

I realized several years ago that it is unlikely I will be the inventor of some serendipitous, billion dollar technology (though I still dream it will happen). Instead, my strengths are being the “get shit done and sell it to the masses” guy and I love it. After meeting and working with others like myself I’ve come to identify this as being a “builder,” and I find it to be the most challenging and rewarding work one can do.

For more than 3 years, I was the Chief Operating Officer with Heliospectra. I won’t go into the details of the position itself, but in short - I was #2 in the leadership structure of the organization and responsible for the day to day operations of the company - sales, marketing, support, logistics, and our plant laboratory - with involvement in product development and supply planning as well.

I was with the company starting in 2012. During those four and a half years I had some amazing experiences - R&D breakthroughs, six products launches, travels spanning six continents, huge sales wins (and defeats), and helping raise over 17 million USD in capital.

When I joined the company, we had one product. Aside from this, we did not have much other than great ideas and the desire to realize the company’s vision. Today, Heliospectra is the world leader in intelligent LED grow lights for use in greenhouse cultivation and other controlled plant growth environments.

Drawing on my experiences with Heliospectra, here are some of the areas I've identified as being critical for "building.
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1. Marketing & Sales
Our primary challenge back in 2012/13 was to accurately identify the market for our product while ensuring the niche was large enough to generate the sales our Board and investors were seeking.  What do you do when you have a product that is five times the cost of the closest competitor and investors who are looking at you for a profitable year? Find a niche that’s willing to pay for it, determine what makes it valuable by listening to the prospects and clients in this niche tell you why it’s valuable, then market the hell out of that value to any and all who will listen. Simple enough, right?

I have faced similar challenges in my career and was up to the task, but this did not make it any easier. It wasn't always smooth sailing, especially when it came to relationship building and design of the business development strategies in an industry with which I had no experience. Additionally, I was the only sales person for a new product from an unknown company. I was often selling the company and our competencies first before selling the actual product. In the early days, the company required market awareness and new relationships to grow the business.

I started with the basics of creating a funnel to source leads and attract prospects to the company. Once in contact with a new prospect, I began the consultative selling process to aid the prospect in decision-making and close the sales. Persistence in this process pays. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Case in point - within the first five days on the job I landed a meeting with a Fortune 100 prospect. Two years after this first meeting, the company bought their first product from us. A year after this, they decided to standardize their greenhouse lighting with Heliospectra. Persistence, literally, pays.

2. Product development
We had a need to expand our product portfolio soon after launching our first product. We were lucky to have a highly professional research and development team that had many great ideas. The ideas, though, still needed a business perspective. I had to identify profitable niches and ensure the products we developed were marketable in terms of the appeal to users, pricing, packaging, etc...

I was also tasked with market segmentation and market intelligence tasks. We did develop great solutions for our clients (and still do). New product development comes with a few fails here and there, but the final products that reach the market are successful in delivering real value to our clients. And this is what matters the most.

3. Team building 
As the company started growing in terms of revenue and customer base, it was hard for me to satisfy the whole market alone. One of the main challenges in setting up a team from scratch is the lack of any existing culture. The team was also made up of a variety of type A personalities that had their opinions on how we should move forward as a company.

I must say that most of the ideas and opinions were really helpful in our drive to reach higher targets. However, it’s team building - anyone who has done it or been a part of it knows that it can be a bumpy road while defining company culture and bringing everybody around to achieving the same goals. Fortunately, we have been able to bring together an incredible team with a variety of competencies. It may sound a bit cliché, but I can easily say that the team we have today has been the most essential element to our success. 

4. Creating structures & processes
Another of the bigger hurdles we had to overcome as a company was to put the right organizational structure and processes in place. Unlike a large company that has developed and fine tuned its different business units focusing on different areas in the company, our company had management, an R&D team, an admin and me acting as the sales, marketing, customer support, logistics, and supply chain departments. Scalable, right? Not a chance.

Over time, we added persons - and now teams - within each of the departments. As more people came on board and all activities inside and outside the company increased, the need for clear processes became more important than ever. Gone are the days of verbally submitting an order to the admin or packing and shipping a product myself. Now clear processes are needed to organize the activities. Implementing and/or improving processes across an organization takes time and commitment of everyone for it to be effective. It's an iterative and ongoing effort and leads to continuous improvement throughout the organization. The sooner you can get started, the better.

Growth
When commercialization began, we took on the biggest players in the market. We succeeded in creating a good share of the market as well as opening new markets for us across Europe, North America, Australia and beyond. Again, I found myself at the center of developing international business strategy and workable plans for the same. We now have clients across all seven continents (yes, even Antarctica - remember how I mentioned the need for good relationships at the start of this post? One of our first was with The German Aerospace Center and they’ll be using Heliospectra lights at a research station in Antarctica starting in 2018).

As a part of the Heliospectra team, I gained immense knowledge about the industry, plant science, how different markets behave across the world, and most importantly, delivering real value to clients. I also learned (and continue to learn) crucial leadership do’s and don’ts along the way.
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This is why I love being a builder. It is an incredible feeling seeing the company grow into a powerhouse in LED lighting technology while playing a big role in developing its culture, structures, processes, products, and teams to take it to the next level. 

Author - Christopher Steele

A geek for innovation and tech news junkie. Passionate about technology, sales, and marketing on an international level.