, initially invested his first entrepreneurial spare cash in Blockbuster, which had the opportunity to invest in a then-fledgling Netflix for just $50 million. Blockbuster subsequently went under.
He says: “Entrepreneurs sometimes make the mistake of thinking their business is their core investment when their goal should be to create a widely and carefully spread personal finance portfolio. Profits from those endeavors can be useful cash to reinvest back into your firm when needed.” Having learned his lesson with Blockbuster, Curran shored up his assets by investing widely in profitable endeavors, such as commercial property in Shoreditch in London, long before it became fashionable, Apple stocks, and most recently, Shiba Inu , all providing excellent returns in subsequent years. He says: “Entrepreneurs should never overlook the diversity of personal financial investment.
Following some 360 feedback, it became clear that some of the more senior people felt their experience wasn't as well managed as more junior hires. “Now, I specifically say, ‘stop me if I'm covering things in too basic a manner.’ This allows people to receive the information fresh or as a reminder, without egos being dented.”. In the early years of the business, they had one client that contributed 50% of their revenue.
“We now aim to keep all client value below 20% of total revenue,” Shepherd. “The advice from my mentor was that if we win a big piece of business that's close to or over 20% of total revenue, we should double down on new business efforts to bring that percentage down and eliminate vulnerabilities.”
Sell the business and start over