The Single Biggest Mistake I've made as Spacegoods founder over the past 3 years - Doc Ep 103

Yo fellas. Back with episode, I think like 103 or something. Bit of a quick one. I feel like I was gonna start planning my YouTube videos and that's never been my style so very much off the cuff. It's probably not the best way to get fucking engagement and grow the audience as it's kind of been the case for the past like I guess two years at this point. But yeah, this has been a topic that's been like majorly on my mind recently. Just I've been thinking about it so much, I've learned so much in the past three years and I always will, right? And it's always up and downs and thinking like you're the only person that goes through this year. But probably not. I just probably am the only one that puts it on the Internet this openly and transparently. And in short, that's basically like the major error of stepping back too much as founder in, in the pursuit of like delegation and letting others own things. And I want to preface this by saying because I know some of my team watch this, we have an amazing team. I genuinely think that, I genuinely believe that. I know that. Yeah, it's not perfect, it never is. In the same way, I'm not perfect. But this isn't me bashing the team. I mean I'm not even going to do that anyway. But I just want to be clear up front that I'm not, I'm not saying anything of that sort when I get into what I'm going to get into. But yeah, it's just a natural progression being a solo founder being, you know, venture backed business, massive growth curve, massive pressure as well to reach the next level of the growth curve. And also ultimately having never built a proper team with like employees and people that actually can drive the business forward without me, which is a great thing, don't get me wrong. But yeah, the main thing I've been thinking about a lot is stepping back too much as founder, especially as solo founder. Right. Because there is no other founder in the business with the view to like. I think I've said it on my, said it on videos before like trying to remove myself because that's what we need to like sell the business one day and stuff. And that's great but I think you should never optimize for that at this stage. And we're very much in the hard middle I'd probably say in that pursuit of ultimately building a category leading brand. And yes, an exit is always in the back of my mind especially being venture back that's a whole other thing. But ultimately the goal is to build a category leader, build a great brand, great products, great financials as well, and obviously grow the damn thing very, very much. But in the pursuit of that, I think I have probably two things delegated and given ownership of certain parts of the business incorrectly because it's my first time doing it, especially with super competent team members, which we have, as I've said. And also alongside that, probably just doubting having a lack of confidence in my ability to not just execute because I don't want to execute everything, but actually just like set the vision and be firm on the vision and lead the vision. That's partly because I haven't known hundred percent what the vision is sometimes, you know, it pivots, it moves, it changes, you respond to the market, etc. Don't know if I'm making any sense. This is a classic, like me just riffing off like zero plan. Not even any notes on this one. But yeah, in the last year, particularly since the team grew, I kind of got to the point where I thought almost like, oh, I don't know what I'm doing. So I'm not even going to share my opinion. I'm going to tell my new team members, especially certain ones in certain areas that kind of work more directly with me and are doing things that I would have done in more depth previously before I hired them. I'm going to tell them the general vision and I'll just let them crack on. And then in doing so, I would say, look, the brand has grown really well. I'm proud of what we're doing. Our products are great, they can always be better. Right? But I genuinely believe in what we're doing and we're going on the right trajectory and we always have been. You know, we grew the first year, second year, third year, next year is going to be much bigger again. But I do feel like as a result of me stepping back too much and probably just not being clear on all things, which I'll get into a little bit more in a second, the brand has started to drift for me and for the team in my perspective. And it's not as clear as it was at the start. And that's partly because I've stepped back. It's partly because I haven't stepped back, but I feel like I've stepped back a bit. It's partly because obviously you respond to what drives revenue rather than in the short to midterm, rather than necessarily like what got you going in the first place. Which is like more mission driven and like my passion around, like focus and energy products, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, this is very much a brain dump. And then I think it's partly that. So actually I'm making no sense, honestly. I'm gonna upload this anyway. Just bear with me. As the business grew, obviously you get loads more data on who your customer is at the start. I built it for me. It felt super authentic to me. It was, and it still is, but it felt like it was just about like people like me, you know, young founders, creatives, people at our desk all day, whatever. And then we realized that the people buying the product mostly and enjoying the product the most and retaining the best, et cetera, et cetera, weren't necessarily just people like me. In fact, a lot of them were, you know, 35 plus females. And that's a great audience. Nothing wrong with that. But that was the kind of the initial start of me feeling like, oh, well, maybe, maybe I don't know what they want because that isn't me and that's fine. And then we obviously hired a team, which we would have done anyway. I'm not saying we hired a team because of that, but that was a natural progression, right? Yeah. People leading, marketing growth, product, customer service, everything. And again, that's all great, but because the brand had started to, or the customer base had surprised me, I kind of thought, well, what do I know? Which is completely wrong, by the way. It's completely wrong because I obviously do know a lot of stuff and do have a lot of skills and experience in a broad range of areas. And I'd say I'm a very good generalist. Never really chosen one thing to become like super nuclear good at, but I want to get better at product, brand growth stuff, particularly product and brand, which always been more of an interest. And then as a result of me being less clear, it kind of reflects on the rest of the team who then, and I'm speaking for them here, this isn't necessarily what they've all said to me, but some have said it, you know, indirectly and through surveys or whatever. I don't think they might be saying this because I'm happy to share it. The team feel like it's not as clear where we're going and that's ultimately on me. And now it's like come full circle where I'm like, I actually agree, like, I've got a vision. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's all, everything's going well. But like, I think it needs to be even tighter and even clearer. And I think the only truly authentic way to do that, because I am the leader of the business, ultimately I have to be and I should be and I want to be, and I was from day one, is for me to lean way more back into owning the direction but also being firm on the stuff we don't do. And I think we're at risk of drifting into a slight lack of clarity around what the brand stands for and what the brand is. I think that's fine. I think a lot of businesses don't even think about this, right? You can build a great business that grows, delivers great products, which I believe we do, and has great customers that retain well, et cetera, et cetera. But I think it's harder to keep growing and really own something if you're not a bit tighter. And I think basically, long story short, I'm saying I feel like the whole brand from my founder perspective, not customer perspective and not even necessarily team perspective, this is really, my opinion has got a bit foggier and that's led to me feeling like I shouldn't be the one leading it as much, which I should and I want to be and that would help the team anyway. It's led to the team probably feeling that for me and it's all just kind of a self fulfilling prophecy. Right. The brand has got a bit muddier or foggy, less clear. I then feel like, oh, am I the right person to like lead it creatively or like, should I delegate that? And then you delegate it to people that also aren't clear on your direction because ultimately they want your direction. And basically, yeah, it's probably a natural curve, but I absolutely know now for a fact that I need to step up into leading the brand business wise. Yeah, I'm obviously still heavily involved, but we do have a guy called David who's our md, who leads a lot of the day to day operations. And that's been great, which is why I've actually started to think about this stuff more. I definitely need to lead it creatively more than I have been. And don't get me wrong, I've been involved in a lot of stuff, but there's been a few things where I've kind of left it to the team and that's great credit to them and it's proof we have a great team, as I've said, and we do. But even a great team wants someone to lead and drive that vision. And that does come from me. It has always come from me. But I think it's not come for me enough in the past six to 12 months particularly. And yeah, it's just a reflection for me that you cannot step back too much. And I don't mean because then things don't get done properly. I mean because that energy and that vision does have to come from me. And ultimately most people are looking for an answer or at least direction from someone. And I think I have made the mistake at this middle three and a bit years in scale up phase rather than start up I guess now of looking back or looking around for someone else to give me the answer. But actually I kind of know deep down where the brand should go, what the product should be. Don't get me wrong, I don't have all the answers and my opinions on those things will change and have changed and have pivoted over time, even like the last year, even in the past month, to be honest. And that will always happen because you're always getting data basing things on not just gut feel, but how the market's moving, how your business is moving, what other brands are saying, other founders, etc. But ultimately all that needs to be synthesized through my brain as it obviously is. I think about this shit a lot and just laid out clear. And if it's not clear, be honest with the team and even the market sometimes. Like, so, yeah, this is already a mega ramble, this is already 10 minutes long. Basically. My point is, in summary, if you haven't captured it already, is you need to fucking lead the vision as the founder and you need to be firm on that. And even if it's not, even if you're not 100% where you're going, you need to pick a path and you need to commit to it. And that's what we've done, don't get me wrong, but I think when that path started to drift from, maybe my natural tendency personally is where it got a bit harder and I started to almost return the responsibility back on the team. And that's fine in certain areas, but like ultimately, yeah, the creative and brand vision absolutely needs to come from me and probably for most founders, you know, depending on certain teams, but in my case it does. And I think that's how I bring out my best, is actually being confident in that stuff again and being like, this is where we're going, this is what we stand for, this is what I want the brand to look like, feel like, sound like, you know, even taste like. And that makes the whole team more effective. Obviously I'm not saying don't have their input. I'm just saying it needs to come from me initially. So, yeah, that's been a big reflection, something I thought about a lot. I feel like I get into this negative spiral of oh, fuck, I'm obviously not a very good founder, CEO and whatever, but I think it's just a natural. I hope it's a natural progression of building a proper team for the first time, a very capable team for the first time, a larger team and a larger business for the first time. And yeah, I'm just reflecting on this out loud and I share this with the team and I'll be sharing more on this with the team this week is my plan tomorrow, in fact, on our weekly team call. So, yeah, I need to get back in the driving seat, lead with a bit more confidence, especially on product and brand direction. And I think that just results in more clarity for everyone, more clarity for the market, hopefully. And actually a more authentic brand offering as well. And I'm not saying we don't have any of that, by the way. I'm not bashing the brand. I'm not saying anything negative about where we're going because it's all been very, very good in the past year, generally speaking, like net good for sure. But I think to take it to the next level, this is what needs to happen. So, yeah, that's a reflection of mine. Sunday night, 28th of September. Let me know your thoughts. Let me know what you want to see in here on the pod. I'm actually going to. Well, I shouldn't say this, but I'm probably bringing back the pod in actual form. Guests, Other guests. We'll figure it out. I've got a few new form ideas in mind. There might be something associated with Space Goods as well, because I feel like the midnight pod, the pink lights which have got up here for the first time in a while. Space Goods, it was all one thing initially. It was all linked. It was this eco system that came from me and I think we need to bring them back and tie them back a bit more together again. And yeah, honestly, I want to just do more creative shit again. I think I spent so many years ignoring that and the importance of that, which is kind of exactly a side effect of what I've just been saying and also a cause of what I've just been saying. But yeah, there's some reflections more coming soon. I'm enjoying the process more again for sure, for many reasons which maybe I can get into in a different video. Went through some pretty rough periods, which I think a lot of people have seen on here, not just one, probably quite a few that were maybe quite evident in how I looked and sounded and the things I said. So anyway, I'm digressing and dragging as always. Subscribe to the Pod. If you're watching, I appreciate it. If you're watching from the team, I appreciate you as well. And maybe the pod is a way to get to know me better from the stuff that I probably don't share in Slack as much. But yeah, subscribe to the pod. I'll catch the next video.