Crowdsourcing Community Projects: Q&A with Michael Colosimo

First of all, how is business these days?

Good. We're growing and learning everyday.

What led you to start your own business?

I was motivated by a frustration I found while working as an urban planner: people wanted and needed an easier way to be involved their neighborhoods, and organizations were investing resources into those communities but missing the opportunity to initiate the involvement of the citizens. We saw an opportunity to connect those stakeholders to create mutual value and build a platform that outputted data about what made communities unique. That data could inform policy and planning so that solutions would truly reflect the needs and aspirations of a community.

What sources did you use for startup capital?

We sourced our capital from friends and family, as well as from an incubator called StartEngine in Los Angeles.

What do you think is your biggest business strength?

My ability to lead.

What do you enjoy most about owning your own business?

I like to think of “enjoy” as a delicate term. The best part of owning your own business is the freedom and control you have over the direction of the company. It makes every win super exciting and rewarding.

What’s your least favorite part of running a business?

Owning your own business is hard; I'd be lying if I didn't say that some days I think back and envy the simplicity of working for someone else. One of the hardest things to do as an owner/founder is to be able to shut it off. You have to make time in your life to be away from the business—otherwise you burn out.

What do you think are important entrepreneurial skills to have?

Being successful at starting and running a business takes a very unique set of skills. Some of the things I’ve found most important are

1. Being confident knowing that you don’t know everything ... and that’s OK.
2. Having thick skin. As an entrepreneur, you hear “no” a lot more often than you hear “yes.”
3. Being able to compartmentalize. You have to be able focus on what is in front of you and not be distracted. There are always a million things flying around, and every one of them requires your attention, but you can't do them all at once. This includes things that aren't related to work like sleeping and spending time with friends and family.

What are some challenges you’ve faced in business and how did you overcome them?

We’ve had times where we didn't have enough capital to make payroll—that's tough. Your company is more like a family when you're small; everyone is invested in the mission, but everyone is taking a financial risk. As a founder, this has been one of the most challenging things to overcome. As a company, when we have been in this position, we have all sat down as a team, and talked about what we were going to do. You know you have a dedicated group of people when everyone looks at each other and commits to taking pay cuts and being scrappy for the sake of keeping the business going.

We have also been incredibly fortunate to have a supportive group of investors and advisors that have been able to rally behind us and help us out when we're strapped. The path to success is not a straight line; we've had to adjust and flex to keep things going.

What do you wish you’d known before you started out?

Whether you like or not, most of life gets put on hold when you start your own business.

What is the smartest move you have made with your business so far?

Hiring great people and letting the not-so-great people go quickly. A team is only as good as its weakest player. If you're not impressed by everyone on the team, and they can't sit in front of you and tell you they are impressed with themselves, then it’s time to let them move on to another opportunity. It’s a hard thing to do, but ultimately the best thing to do for the business and that individual.

How do you find new customers? What do you do to make sure they become return customers?

We develop relationships with our customers. We actually don’t call them “customers,” we call them partners, and we treat them as such. Because of that, we have seen a steady rate of growth in inbound leads. We work in a vertical that is very collaborative, so word travels pretty quickly about new applications and we've benefited from that.

A large part of the relationship development with our partners is service, and we take partner service very seriously. It has allowed us to overcome the challenges of building a technology product in a resource-constrained startup environment.

What’s your management style with employees?

Trust, accountability, and quality. I've had a lot of managers in my life: coaches, military leaders, teachers, bosses, etc. I've learned a lot about what leadership characteristics don’t work, and while everyone is unique, most people (and especially the ones we want/need working with us) don’t want to be told how or when to do something. They want to be part of the decision-making process and be empowered to get it done.

We make decisions as a team, document position,s and support each other in execution. We hold ourselves to a high level of quality; in the end, that’s what most people who come in contact with us experience first. That being said, the best way to create negative vibes is to say you're going to do something, then not do it. We don’t have time for that and it shows disrespect for everyone else. We all wear a wristband that says, “Because I said I would.”

What are some other companies or entrepreneurs you admire, and why?

I admire Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote. I love the story about one of their users investing in less than three weeks when they had no cash left to pay people. They build products with the sole purpose of solving a problem for their users and they listen to them so much that an email thanking Phil for making the product from a random user in Sweden could turn into a $500k check that saved the company.

I also admire Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. This is clichéd and overused, but there are still so few examples of a founder and company built with such clear purpose and focus. As an entrepreneur, if you don’t see brilliance and inspiration in how Yvon has built his company, you shouldn't be running a company in my opinion.

Do you have a favorite inspirational quote?

“It takes a noble man to plant a seed for a tree that will some day give shade to people he may never meet.”

—D. Elton Trueblood

What new initiatives are you working on?

Beyond thrdPlace, I'm working on evolving the conference model. For the most part, they lack inspiration and fun. Just because it’s “work” doesn't mean it has to be boring and dry. The teams at Austin's SXSW, Dublin's WebSummit, as well as FIIS in Santiago are doing it well, but we need more of it. Look for some cool stuff happening in L.A. over the next 18 months.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to start a business similar to yours?

Social enterprises are trendy right now, but as cool as it sounds, it still has to be a business. The basic principles of supply and demand still apply. Don’t get so wrapped in your social purpose that you forget about running the business.

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