6 Months - It went by rather quickly. I took a break from the blogsphere to focus on the various moving parts at Newmerix that demanded my attention. During my hiatus, the remainder of the management team was hired and the business went on to have a solid performing 1st quarter. Q2 is also looking very promising, and that's a much bigger target.
As I approach the end of the quarter, it's clear we're entering into that phase of demanding growth that requires scalability in our ability to hire great people and to scale our sales, engineering, and support processes.
Newmerix has been on such a tear since its founding, that it now needs to slow down (just a bit) in order to speed up and scale its operations. Hiring is our #1 effort as the job market in Boulder, CO is a low 4.9% against a national average of 5.1%. With such a tight market, it has been challenging finding good people with which to grow the business. To exacerbate matters, we're currently seeking 10 new staff members - which only makes the search process that much harder.
While the challenges of hiring are what they are, we now have more new customers and even more solid prospects. As with all growing startups the need to increase our "plant capacity" becomes even more acute as customers are added.
So, while slowing down to speed up sounds contradictory, it is a necessary pause in any business if you hope to move to the next level of growth. Just don't slow down too long!
Ed - Nice to see you back blogging!! I do hope you keep it up on a regular basis now that you're slowing down. :)
Posted by: Martha Altman | 29 June 2005 at 16:41
I thought of you yesterday when I opened the pantry here in Homer and saw a bottle of 12-year old Scotch (from Scotland, Brad) that you left here last summer. Definitely consider coming for a visit this year, too!
Posted by: Amy Feld | 30 June 2005 at 23:29
"It's About Customer Service, Stupid"
-- how true.
It is easy to forget to treat others the way we like to be treated.
You wrote this about one year ago...how are you doing with keeping to that philosophy?
Posted by: Yvonne | 19 December 2005 at 16:13
refresshing to read about your hand on the pulse of recruiting/staffing issues in your market. How may I earn the opportunity to forward candidates for your current and future needs?
Posted by: Jane | 16 January 2006 at 14:20