Startup Accelerator 2014: Finding, Managing for High Performance

© 2012 ASPIRE. All rights reserved. Confidentiality: The concept and methodologies contained herein are proprietary to ASPIRE.

Duplication, reproduction or disclosure of information in this document without the expressed written permission of Aspire is prohibited.

Managing for Performance

Three Lessons at McKinsey

Lesson # 1: There is no HR. Everybody is HR

Lesson # 2: Hunger and Pride is a deadly combination

Lesson # 3: Patience Pays

FreeMarkets

Lesson # 1: Spend time building the team

Lesson # 2: People may not tell you the truth (e.g. Sales)

Lesson # 3: Patience Pays

Lesson # 4: Lead from the front

WNS

Lesson # 1: Spend time building the team

Lesson # 2: Patience Pays

Lesson # 3: Lead from the front

Lesson # 4: Measurement matters (KPIs / KRAs)

www.wnsgs.com

Confidential & Proprietary © WNS Global Services 2005 www.wnsgs.com 6

Put People First

Vision & Values

Communicate management values across the organization

Encourage employees to contribute to company vision and help achieve it

Communicate vision through every critical path – from hiring process to customer service

Rewards & Recognition

Ensure a benchmarking system that measures performance across the board

Ensure recognition and rewards for above average performance e.g. cash incentives

Encourage job rotation, internal promotions, skills upgradation, mentorship programmes

Fun Calendar Create social bonding e.g. annual

ball, monthly beer bash, regular dinners

Hold offsite events - training, seminars, meets, roundtable talks

Employee Satisfaction

Well defined career path, regular training programmes

Flexible work schedule, job enrichment

Open door policy, 360 degree quarterly performance appraisal

Customer Orientation

Inculcate the “Extending Your Enterprise” vision e.g. create client teams with client IDs

Encourage, enhance direct interaction between team leaders and clients

Create clear understanding of client work, relevance of team role and quality work to be achieved during the whole process

People Mix

Various age brackets, professional background and regional/cultural milieus

Source: WNS Global Services

October 29th, 2005

Unleashing Your Enterprise

Looking Back,Moving Forward

Money Can Buy Me Love

We Did It Our Way . . .

Flying Without Wings

Hard Night's Day

Key Messaging

Aspire

Lesson # 1: Tradeoffs: Skills versus Behaviour

Lesson # 2: Inspire. Inspire. Inspire

Lesson # 3: Measurement matters (KPIs / KRAs)

Lesson # 4: Mentorship versus Management

6th Employee Conference

Manesar, Haryana

3-6 June 2009

“No Looking Back,

Just Moving Forward”:

Three Months to Profitability

11 ©2009 Aspire. All rights reserved. Confidentiality: The concepts and methodologies contained herein are proprietary to Aspire. Duplication, reproduction or disclosure

of information in this document without the expressed written permission of Aspire is prohibited.

Right Compensation

Industry Leadership

Intellectual Stimulation

Learning & Success

Superior HR Processes

Fairness, Equity &

Meritocracy

Fast Industry Growth

Training &

Development

Promotions & Growth

Noble Mission

Start-up Challenge

Ownership & Stock

Professional, MNC

Environment

High Industry

Growth

Constant Touch &

Support

Social Acceptance

Reward & Recognition

Off-sites, Awards, Road

Shows

Personal R’ship w/CEO

ATTRACT

EXCITE

RETAIN MOTIVATE

Put People First (1 of 2)

Entrepreneurship

13 © 2010 ASPIRE. All rights reserved. Confidentiality: The concept and methodologies contained herein are proprietary to ASPIRE. Duplication, reproduction or disclosure of information in this document without the expressed written permission of Aspire is prohibited.

17 November, 2011

1. Start Small, Think Big

• We started Aspire as a national business (in 2007) from

Day 1 with four academies in all four parts of India.

Customers and Shareholders loved it. Big Mistake.

Advance orders and investor herd mentality misled us.

• Although successful, our “conversion rate” was wanting

across the board, due to insufficient product validation

•In 2008, with the global downturn reaching India, and job-

freezes / layoffs being announced, we were sandwiched

between aspiring candidates and customers reneging on

contracts. Student anger was scary.

• We had to shut down all academies, return fees and

took a big financial write-off

• Moral of the story: Never mind the advise. Start small,

think big. Else, all VC/PE metaphors will come true:

•Put the horse before the cart

•Don’t shoot the elephant

•Don’ t wear the Emperor’s new clothes

•Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread

•If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true

14 © 2010 ASPIRE. All rights reserved. Confidentiality: The concept and methodologies contained herein are proprietary to ASPIRE. Duplication, reproduction or disclosure of information in this document without the expressed written permission of Aspire is prohibited.

2. Put People First

17 November, 2011

•Know who’s on the bus (in Jim Collins’

famous words) even if I can’t agree with his

“Good to Great” tenet 100%

•As things went wrong, we ran a very high

attrition rate, often as high as 25% every

quarter! I felt isolated as I lost founding team

members, senior executives, etc.

•It is ok to trade some capability with trust OR

merit with commitment: It is important that the

team not only has the right mix of energy &

experience but even more importantly, there

must be commitment and trust.

•From Day 1, “Till IPO, us do part” maxim

must apply

15 © 2010 ASPIRE. All rights reserved. Confidentiality: The concept and methodologies contained herein are proprietary to ASPIRE. Duplication, reproduction or disclosure of information in this document without the expressed written permission of Aspire is prohibited.

3. Stick to the Knitting

17 November, 2011

TECHNOLOGY ILLUSTRATION

•First Hire: Product Development Head. our ivory tower

was built because we had Blind lead the Blind. We did not

have an established business model, processes and

requirements. Writing specifications for a business model

which kept changing turned out to be our waterloo.

•Caveat Emptor: We quickly bought “Rapid Application

Development” using our vendor’s proprietary BPM

(business process management) engine on .NET, assured

that it will take a fraction of time and cost.

•Diversify Risk: We decided to outsource development,

hosting, administration, support and maintenance to one

Firm to make it attractive for him to serve us. Despite being

a management accountant, I forgot the basics of audit and

put all our eggs in one basket.

•Keep it simple; do not over-engineer: Several of our

features like Video CVs, Online scheduling of assessments,

Weekly candidate progress report inside Training

Academies, etc. were never used by our customers, who

preferred Excel spreadsheets. In six months, we had 20

pages of over-engineered specifications, never to be used

in real life. Ignorance is bliss.

TracHire: our Ivory Tower

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4. Stay Asset Light

17 November, 2011

• Aspire’s decision to build four large academies and

tens of Career Centres for sourcing turned out to be

disastrous within 12 months

• On hindsight, a Services business must stay as

Asset Light to be able to extend the life of each dollar

• The writeoffs cast perpetual shadow on future

financials and undermine ability to raise future money-

for “Doubt” is sufficient to scare the investor

17 © 2010 ASPIRE. All rights reserved. Confidentiality: The concept and methodologies contained herein are proprietary to ASPIRE. Duplication, reproduction or disclosure of information in this document without the expressed written permission of Aspire is prohibited.

5. Raise Professional Money

17 November, 2011

• Professional Money puts the right business pressure, Family

& Friends money puts additional moral pressure; always raise

professional money

• Our success with Angel Round, including returning money,

got into our heads

• However, even if you are riding the wave (as Aspire did),

never overvalue the company despite temptations. The

disappointment of “future down-rounds” can overshadow the

initial excitement of high valuations

• Time both Angel and VC capital well

• Remember, shareholders must always make money

• Also remember, Investors, despite their pitch, will always be

“fair weather friends”- they have a job to do, it is not their

money. Boardrooms will be hot if business does not perform

financially !

• Finally, despite everything, more money raised is better

18 © 2010 ASPIRE. All rights reserved. Confidentiality: The concept and methodologies contained herein are proprietary to ASPIRE. Duplication, reproduction or disclosure of information in this document without the expressed written permission of Aspire is prohibited.

6. Keep the faith!

Commit for Passion, not Wealth- If you just chase the pot of gold, chances are we won’t get there

Choose Profits over Scale- Demonstrate to yourself and others that the business model works. Remember, investor views change over time

Develop a thick skin. Keep a conscientious heart- Especially in social entrepreneurship, as you run into issues of for-profit companies- face issues head-on. Focus on improving outcomes for the disadvantaged customer- who need help

Never Give Up- Thomas Edison said “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time”

31 May, 2012