Honestly? Many things, not because the journey was wrong, But because 10 years of creating something real, with people, clients and real results, teach you things that no business book, no mentor and no amount of advance preparation will help you discover. You learn them by experiencing them, Sometimes easily, Often the difficult route.
If iARATech opened its doors for the first time again today, this is how we would have done things differently.
We would have trusted our instincts sooner.
There were times, particularly during the initial years of iARATech, where something felt strange; A client relationship that had a strange energy from the first call, a hire that seemed perfect on paper but did not feel quite right in the meeting room, A direction that the data supported but the gut quietly disagreed with. More often than not, the instinct was correct, however, we simply took too long to listen to it, Experience has taught us that data is important in making decisions. However, an instinct developed through years of developing a pattern recognition ability deserves a place at the decision-making table too.
We would have created the processes before we felt the need to create them.
During the initial stages of iARATech, with a small team and everyone understanding the processes formally, why document what everyone already understands? Teams develop, people grow and change, and the institutional knowledge that only lived in someone’s head leaves the company when they leave. We would have established the systems earlier, not to impede progress, but to ensure that the quality that resulted in the success that existed at the time of writing this article would not break when trying to scale it.
We would have said “no” more clearly and more frequently.
The idea of an early stage of growing companies that say yes to anything, whether it is a new client, or an extra “Can you just quickly…?” that ends up being a new full-time work stream, is a dangerous trap to fall into. That type of yes may feel like growth, it does not always result in growth, It can result in the dilution of the focus, quality, bandwidth and morale of the team. We would have learnt the discipline of saying a clean and respectful no much faster. As a result of giving all of their attention to the right clients, they are worth ten times more than many clients that are being given only a small portion of their attention.
We would have made investments in the professional development of each employee prior to them asking for it.
People grow regardless of whether you invest in them or not. The issue is whether they will grow with you or if they will grow away from you and eventually past you. We have always cared about our employees. However, there were periods of time during the busy days of building iARATech where development discussions for individual employees occurred less frequently than they should have. We would have corrected that immediately upon opening the doors to the company. A team that feels invested in their development will not only remain with the organisation, but will also become the greatest competitive advantage of any organisation.
We would have celebrated the smaller moments more loudly.
This may be the most impactful realisation after 10 years of working at iARATech, There were many quiet wins (the first retainer client, a team member’s breakthrough, and process that finally worked) that went without adequate acknowledgment. As we pursued the next milestone, the current milestone barely got a breath. We understand now that momentum is not only generated from having ambitions, but also from celebrating milestones along the way. The small wins are the foundation that the large wins stand on.
One thing we would not change? The people.
Each and every person that walked through the iARATech door (and remained), who grew, who challenged us, and who entrusted their career to us, was the right person at the right time. The team that currently exists at iARATech is not an accident, it is the product of caring about culture before culture became a popular business trend. Regardless of which version of this story we tell and regardless of which hypothetical starting point we select, the people aspect of iARATech remains the same.
Restarting the business is a good exercise in thinking, but the truth of the matter is, we would not trade the version of iARATech that exists today for any cleaner, easier, or shorter version of it.