Hey letter getters ๐
Woo its been a year. I went into this email project with the goal to share a perspective from fellow founders and CEOs. LaunchLetter is a great opportunity for experienced founders to offer advice you'd give your younger selves. And we all get to read your candid thoughts while considering our own daily intentions and weekly tasks. I took a little break from this email to take care of my own family during COVID-19 and to focus more on our growing startup / small business community, StartupNash (join here).ย
Now I'm back and ready to start where the email left off. Let's go!ย
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Startup of the Week: Terralanes
A knowledge management system for freight brokerages. You can follow company updates and learn more about their logistics operations solution here.ย
Terralanes recently presented at StartupNash's virtual pitch event, Startup Hour. This is an ongoing monthly event currently open to pitch proposals. If you're an investor or founder interested in or building new companies in Nashville or beyond, join our communityย and consider sitting in on our next pitch event.ย All are welcome, especially if you're eager to learn.ย
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John Oates, Founder of Terralanes
"Some of the smartest people in the world are the most eager to learn, and they never stop asking questions."
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Terralanes is a logistics knowledge management system designed to help freight brokerages increase their consistency of customer service through visualization, information, and unification.
Recent Achievement:ย
The move from employee to an entrepreneur is a big leap, but John very recently did it to start Terralanes.
"It's one of those big life moments whereย Iย asked myself: 'Am I really doing this?' I came to the conclusion that now is the time, and it's absolutely worth the risk."
I think there is a lot of work to be done in realizing the ultimate workspace for employees at different kinds of companies. I guess the question I have and have had throughout my career is: How can we create an environment where people feel energized, accepted, and excited to give 110% to the company?
And the follow up would be: what are the intangible pieces that on a cost standpoint generate the most ROI without much financial investment (i.e. what are the easy wins, low hanging fruit)? IMO: a positive attitude across the company goes a long way.
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The Dunning Kruger Effect for sure.
I can't tell you how many times I thought I was an expert at something only to later learn I was a complete novice. Socratesย once said: "All I know is that I know nothing."
As you gain knowledge about a subject, you realize how much you actually don't know. It's only after you become a true master of something that you can feel confident in your answers fully.
Some of the smartest people in the world are the most eager to learn, and they never stop asking questions. So I guess I've learned that I should always keep an open mind to new ideas and assumeย I always have something to learn from everyone in a room.
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I think the biggest habit I have a constant battle to achieve is a solid night's rest, a full eight hours. When I wake up completely rested, there is an entirely different edge to what you can accomplish that day. You're ready to solve tough problems, think creatively, and have a good attitude about it. With all of the distractions today, this can be a difficult habit to keep, but there is a noticeable difference in output if you can get a cumulative 56 hours of sleep in a week.
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I've only been in the startup world for a month, so let's go with business haha.
I think my most unpopular business opinion is to empower the employee.
The employee should be the CEO of their business processes and responsibilities within their role. Managers should be there to serve and support those on the front lines and in the trenches. Communication should flow up from the ground level to the C-suite. There is obviously some give and take here, but the majority of information should be going from bottom to top.
I've been a part of two organizations that approached this very differently, and I felt infinitely more devoted, attached, and excited to work for the business that gave me autonomy to do my work the best way I saw fit. Let the employee decide where the bar is, and I bet the top performers in the org will pull everyone else to push past that. That system is fun, and the employee feels very respected.
๐ก I like that John is bringing up company culture and ownership. So many companies right now are having to rethink their internal culture and operations from how they hire to benefits they offer to imposing new policies on remote work and remote flex environments.ย
Here's a small list of news worthy problems/opportunitiesย I've been interested in as our future of work continues to evolve:ย
๐ก Managers have to trust employees working from homeย
I think there is room for new management styles and frameworks here. How is your company currently structuring culture, management, hiring, benefits, etc?ย
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๐กย 865,000 women dropped out of the American workforce in September, compared with 216,000 men in the same age group
This is a huge issue with immediate impact to families, communities, and our economy. Perhaps a first step to helping women back into the workforce is auditing and adjusting hiring processes, offering flexible positions, offering childcare solutions. I think this is also an opportunity to help fund women who are interested in starting new businesses.ย
In high school, I was part of the track and cross country team. I learned to push myself past what I thought I was capable of. It's amazing what you can achieve if you get out of your comfort zone. When I started my first job, the first thing I told my boss was that I wanted a trial by fire experience every single day. I wanted to never stop learning and be put in uncomfortable situations that challenged me.
I think the mix of wanting to exceed expectations and learn on a daily basis has paid huge dividends for me. If you're learning, you're moving forward. If you're comfortable, introduce some volatility into the equation.
John Oates is the founder of Terralanes. His company recently pitched their software at Startup Hour on StartupNash, our Slack startup community for founders and entrepreneurs.ย
Contact:ย
LinkedIn: John Oates - Founder at Terralanes
Twitter: @johnpaxtonoates
I can see the light of a clear blue morning /
Everything's gonna be alright, it's gonna be okay.
- Dolly Parton โจ
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