Fundamentally changing open communication and trust within teams

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1 Fundamentally changing open communication and trust within teams

2 Impraise: Fundamentally changing open communication and trust within teams I ve been told boredom can spark creativity. At least this was the case for the founders of Impraise when studying in Jonkoping, in the middle of Sweden, in the middle of nowhere. Bas and Steffen were discussing previous work experiences, questioning why employees do not share more feedback with each other. They were yearning for constructive feedback in real-time, or even positive for that sake. Steffen had been working at Mercedes and only when leaving the company was he approached with feedback on his performance. With extensive knowledge and experience concentrated within one room, they saw an opportunity for feedback and open communication to help employees learn better and faster. The initial idea was a mobile app that connects employees to share feedback, to understand what they are good at, what to improve and how to progress in their career. When university finished, the founders moved to Berlin, in a large apartment with other entrepreneurs, to build the first prototype. Founders: Steffen Maier, Bas Kohnke, Arnaud Camus, Filipe Dobreira HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Edition of Lisbon Challenge: 2013 Written by Amalie Naustdal Communication Manager at Beta-i The essence of what they do: Impraise makes it dead simple to give and receive actionable, timely feedback from your colleagues. Helping individuals and companies to understand how they can increase performance by real-time communication. Interviewee: Steffen Maier (Co-founder and CMO)

3 Impraise: Fundamentally changing open communication and trust within teams The search for a community After four months in Berlin, a Portuguese friend told them about a programme kicking off in Lisbon. They were intrigued but didn t know if they should leave Berlin yet, so they made a list to compare the two cities. Everything pointed towards Berlin, but their gut feeling said Lisbon. Despite the advantages of Berlin, they lacked the social interaction with other startups. They thought that if they were in a program surrounded by other entrepreneurs it would help push them forward. A community to guide them in the right direction. We had no idea how to start a company, how to build a product, or anything like that. The summer was over in Germany, so we thought: let s go to Lisbon. Let s just do this. Upon arrival in Lisbon, they were looking for a technical co-founder. They created startups meet developers and organised a meetup on the day they arrived, one day before Lisbon Challenge started. The night was a success, they met their co-founder Filipe, who quit his job to join the team two weeks after the meetup. This can-do attitude also manifested itself in their efforts to meet mentors throughout the program. We were extremely proactive with meeting mentors that came in, we were by far the team with most meetings scheduled. If we weren t able to schedule a meeting, we would arrange a lunch or dinner. Lisbon Challenge helped them understand what it meant to build a product, a company, and a team. They made it to the top 10 startups, chosen for an international Roadshow to London, New York, and Sao Paulo. After the Roadshow, they went back to Berlin to continue building Impraise with new experiences and learnings to guide them on their path. The golden ticket to Silicon Valley After a couple of months back in Berlin, they were invited for an interview with Y Combinator. Needless to say, flying across the world for a 10-minute interview was a nervewracking experience. Orankl, a startup from the same batch of Lisbon Challenge, the startup they were most close to during the program, had participated in the previous batch of Y Combinator and could help them prepare. They spent the week with them, getting a taste of life as a Y Combinator alumni. The interview was successful and they were invited to the next batch. The team flew back to Berlin, packed their stuff, and flew back to Mountain View. They spent 12 weeks working their asses off. The concept of Y Combinator is quite different to Lisbon Challenge, as there is no coworking space. Instead, you work and live in the same space with limited interactions with the other teams. It was really intense, all together in a big room, our food was mostly the same and we didn t have time to exercise. That s the environment they want to create because it brings you to the edge. Every Tuesday, there is a dinner where experienced founders share their stories, including Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel and the founders of Airbnb. In addition, regular check-ins would take place with a smaller group of startups from the batch. The aim was to explain what they had achieved that week, putting pressure to constantly perform. The founders in their group were all North American, implying an innate prowess for presenting themselves and selling their accomplishments. Even the tiniest win would sound like revolutionary progress.

4 Impraise: Fundamentally changing open communication and trust within teams Creating their base and expanding the team The Y Combinator demo day went well, raising 650,000 dollars in 3 weeks. As the programme came to an end, they decided that they were not ready to stay behind in the US. However, it wasn t really clear where to go next. The choice fell on Amsterdam, as it combined the laid back vibes of Berlin with a business-driven side, and their early angel investor had a large network there. They started off in the coworking space of Rockstart and doubled the size of the team. After a little while, they opened up their own office space and kept expanding. An addition to the team had previously worked at Google in the US and still had his green card. After half a year with the team, he decided to open up an office in the U.S and hire people there. They chose NYC to keep communication at a high level and maintain shared experiences throughout the workday. Today, they are preparing to open another office, one in Lisbon. Specifically, as an opportunity to find new additions to their team, particularly software engineers. Their goal is to hire 5-6 people to be the core team in Lisbon and expand gradually. Evolving the product and increasing competition In terms of product, it is a continuous journey with big ideas on how to transform from an HR process to a coaching and communication tool. For that to happen a lot needs to change. Many organisations culture is still in the 80s, where open communication, trust, and transparency are not on the level we would want it to be Steffen says while explaining the transformation process they go through with their clients. The customer success team assesses the client s level of feedback maturity and guide them through the appropriate steps. Culture and leadership are becoming more and more important. Companies are understanding that the way they manage people is not working anymore. Our generation is looking for learning opportunities, and if the companies don t provide that, we are gone. The competition is getting more intense, which they regard as positive. Corporate software buyers are becoming more sophisticated and are no longer satisfied with one solution, they want to compare various tools. As long as Impraise is part of that consideration set, they are confident they can prove themselves as the best choice. We look at the competitors, we learn from them, we see how things work for them. But also see it as a big opportunity, as we create the market together. Currently, they have 170 clients, from small tech companies to large enterprises. Their largest client being Booking.com in Amsterdam, with 14,000 employees, many of them using the tool. Practising what they preach Steffen believes that feedback is crucial to their success, as long as we have the team and good communication, we can go anywhere and achieve great things. The team uses Impraise at various levels: for feedback on individual performance, feedback on company values and feedback on new features within the tool. Every Friday afternoon they have an all-hands meeting where each employee chooses one person to recognise, ending the week in a positive manner. Is the secret to the success of the team open communication and continuous feedback? If you are not comfortable sharing your thoughts or opinion with your cofounders or team then something is missing. We focused on sharing things in the moment and discuss things straight away. Steffen s advice to startups is to stay open and curious about the opinions of your team members and to challenge things. If you develop an environment of trust where you can talk about anything, things can be resolved very easily and it s easier for the entire team to move together in the right direction. Challenges of focus and vision Maintaining focus has undoubtedly been their biggest challenge. They are creative people with many ideas of what can be done. However, it can t all be done at once. Thus, it is critical to distinguish between what s important to do today and what is not, by focusing on immediate impact. This typically means speaking to your clients, customers, and

5 Impraise: Fundamentally changing open communication and trust within teams users or keep coding. Everything else is secondary. Another challenge has been to ensure a balance between their vision and the money needed. We want to help people be better, and don t necessarily think of the organisational context. But that s the mindset you need to take on, as you are selling to the company. Initially, it was a tool for individuals, as that was where they identified the need. After talking with companies and HR personnel, they started creating a system that would benefit the company as a whole, as they are the final decision maker. Next steps & final advice At this stage, growth is a priority. To expand the product suite and get new clients. However, it is important that it does not distract them from building the team and culture. Their ultimate goal is to become the best product in the world in what they do. They re seeking to bring in more funding to enable the growth to happen quickly to achieve this goal. If there is one piece of advice you can take away from their experience, it is to get feedback on your product and actions as early as possible. Keep asking questions to your users, work with them and keep testing. If you don t get out there and feel comfortable talking about your product, questioning your actions and killing features, there s no way your product will get where it needs to be.

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