Gregory Shepard discusses his Business Operating Support System and altruistic capitalism model. He shares lessons from selling a company to eBay and outlines his HANDFUL philosophy: focus, drive, enthusiasm, discipline, and optimism. Key advice for entrepreneurs: know your customer, and investors back the business, not just the founder.
Chapters
I came up with this thing called BOSS, and BOSS stands for the Business Operating Support System. And part of this came out of a lot of experience I had with working with entrepreneurs over the last 25 years. I believe in something called altruistic capitalism.
Greg is a very seasoned entrepreneur. He really knows his stuff. I mean, Greg, when it comes to operations and making investments and really helping entrepreneurs scale to the next stages of their ideas or companies, he knows his craft. And he's coming across It's expressed very vividly in the feedback that he's providing to startups and the feedback that he's providing in the questions that he's asking.
Do you build a product without knowing who your customer is? Why would you build a business without knowing who your buyer is? When I sold my company to eBay, I remember they told me, this is the best-run company we've ever seen. I want the minnow to swallow the whale. I've spent the last 25 years I've spent 25 years studying all the different systems that are out there. I've combined all these into a program, and over 25 years I've tested every single one in different stages of companies. One of the things that I've learned in the 20 years, 25 years that I've been doing this, including my own exits, is that entrepreneurs that are looking for capital are looking for capital because they haven't done it before. Investors are investing into the horse, not the jockey.
It's very clear to me he has— when he comes into an investment, not only does he have a good perspective, for what the company should be doing, but he usually has a strategy in mind that helps the entrepreneur rethink their ideas in ways that they probably didn't think of before.
That moment is something where you took something of vapor, an idea, a vibration, something that doesn't exist, and created something that was so valuable that somebody was willing to pay millions of dollars for it.
Well, with that kind of a resume going in, you had no money, You've got some learning disabilities, and you didn't let that stop you. You know, what made you go, you know what, I can do this?
I had a real— a lot of challenges, and so— but I made it, you know. And so I dedicated my life to helping other people with challenges like me. It's all about what I call the HANDFUL, which is focus, drive, enthusiasm, discipline, and optimism. And those are the things that you need to make something happen.
