6 Rules for Startup Execution | Networked Distribution | STORD 10/8/19, 10(13 AM

6 Rules for Startup Execution: How

to Turn Your Great Idea Into
Business Success
STORD Marketing

You have a great idea for a startup: now what?

To reach your goals, you need to prioritize execution, or how you carry out
your plans. Itʼs not enough to have a great idea: you have to implement it
effectively.

That was the topic of Sean Henry, CEO of STORDʼs, ‘Building Your Dreamʼ
talk at TEDxEmory 2019 on February 23. What follows are the 6 rules he
shared for how to execute on your big idea.

1. Force yourself to take action

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You have to take the first step, even when the destination is unclear. Itʼs too
complicated to say “just do it,” so “just start” is the only route that makes
sense. And as you move forward, piece by piece, youʼll find that you
compound success over time. In STORDʼs case, taking the first step meant
calling warehouses and shippers to see if our solution aligned with their
needs. Today, we move over $200 million of product each month.

2. Listen to your customers and the market

Itʼs important to realize you donʼt have all the answers and research the
problems you want to solve. The best companies are built on listening to
what their customers want, not on knowing everything from the beginning.
Early on, we went through the Dynamo Accelerator in Chattanooga, a
program that connected us with big brands so we could better understand
the problems they struggled with. We used insights from that experience to
pioneer a new model of warehousing and transportation: networked
distribution.

3. Leave room for iteration

Obsess over the problem youʼre trying to solve, instead of a specific

solution. And keep listening to your customers as you grow, so you can
adapt to what they tell you over time. When we started STORD, we originally
had a warehousing solution that was similar, but not identical, to the one we
offer now. We pivoted to our current model based on customer feedback.

4. Commit to your vision

Moving a large-scale problem takes consistent effort over a long period of

time. Itʼs so easy to get pushed off course, or to lose focus. But if you want
to create a great customer solution, you have to show up every day and put

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in the necessary hours and work. When we raised our seed funding in April
of 2018, we knew we couldnʼt let that achievement take away any of our
motivation. We used the investment to keep building and growing.

5. Grow strategically

You have to be willing to scale with your customers, sometimes even ahead
of their needs. Then, as your business grows, focus your energy on the
things that youʼre the best at and hire the right people for everything else.
Expanding your team over time and building an organization are much
different than early-stage growth because they require more strategy and
planning. Thatʼs how we quadruped our headcount in 2018: based on
customersʼ needs and the roles we wanted to fill to enable future success.

6. Be patient and plan ahead

Build for the long term. Donʼt ever short-change your ultimate goals, no
matter how tempting it is to optimize for the immediate future. The best
companies plan as many as 30, or even 100 years ahead. That kind of long-
term thinking is a core value at STORD. Weʼre proud of the volume weʼve
moved, the awards weʼve won, and the relationships weʼve built, but we have
even bigger plans for the future.

People have big dreams every day that never pan out: plans to innovate,
solve meaningful problems, or create something new. Recognize that you
have the ability to drive change, and then execute your idea.

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