Secrets of Successful Companies

Ever thought how such small business ideas make it to multi billion dollar companies? Look at Google, Apple, Microsoft ~ their journey is from Garage to Grandeur. I would like to talk about some simple, but compelling factors that have led to this phenomenal growth. These are even applicable to Small and Medium Businesses.

1. Cheerful Hands Make Thriving Business

Its all about your team!

How your people feel about working at your place is a significant driver of success. A great work place would have happy employees and building a great work place isn't the job of HR department anymore. After you examine carefully, you would realize that even Top management has a hand in building a great work place.

2. Money isn't everything

Business isn't always in need of Vitamin M

From my evaluation i have found that most successful companies have been self funded by the founders during the initial stages. I read somewhere that Scott Cook (founder of Intuit) was turned down by more than 20 Investors. So strong was his passion that he went ahead without any Venture Capital investment during the initial stages. All that is needed is the right vision, commitment to get things done and the right people for the right job. Even Larry Page and Sergei Brin had put in their own money to develop the prototype for Google Search Engine. Later they were funded a $100,000 by Andy Bechtolsheim.

3. Talent is Contagious

Ordinary People Can Do Extraordinary Things

Create systems and processes that would help people grow in what they are doing. Don't look for extra ordinary people to do extra ordinary work for you. Instead, i have seen that its all ordinary people who have achieved extra ordinary things in Successful Companies. As a business owner, all you need to do is create a right platform for your people to grow their talents. I have read somewhere that Google encourages its employees to dedicate 20% of their time on things that are not in their Job Description. Excellent products and ideas like Google Mail, Google Adsense have come out of this practise.

"We built this company hiring who we could afford to hire," said Lee Hein, a regional vice president at Fastenal. "What we found was that the average company today doesn't have a clue what people are capable of if you believe in them."

4. Change with Changing Situation and Circumstances

Its not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

Successful Companies are always open to changes and they have done some critical changes in them (which has mostly received criticism) to be what they are today. They have done things no one could have imagined possible. Look at Microsoft, during the early 90's Bill Gates chose to go on separate ways after IBM decided to work on its own Operating System Strategy. This was a turning point for both IBM and Microsoft. But back then Microsoft was a much smaller company than IBM. But Bill stood by his idea and he had full faith in it. Finally things worked in his favor and IBM's Operating System was shunned away by consumers who instead chose to be with the new Microsoft Windows platform. Today, Microsoft is a much larger company that IBM in terms of Market Cap.

5. Many Roads Lead to Success

Successful companies have had multiple strategies to achieve their goals and they have aggressively pursued all of them with equal commitment and dedication.