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ÞORSTEINN YNGVI GUÐ.

An MBA & technology enthusiast. Loves reading good books, but is mostly
interested in photography.

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Economics Education Personal Politics Strategy Uncategorized
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THORSTEINN YNGVI GUDMUNDSSON

RÉTT SISONA / JUST LIKE THAT

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WHEN TO RECRUIT A COO FOR YOUR SOFTWARE START-UP

The question of when to recruit a COO (head of operations, whatever the title
is) depends to a great deal on what you as a CEO need to focus on.

THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF OPERATIONS IN START-UPS

This is probably the most strategic recruiting you will do during your tenure at
the company, so, no pressure. It informs just about everything you will get to
focus on for a long time. Really, there is no pressure at all.

For the sake of this article I will assume two things;

1. The company’s product is (mostly) software based. The outline here applies
regardless of the business model. I.e. SaaS, Term licenses, Perpetual
licenses.
2. You, the CEO, are a Products person. I.e. the reason why you founded the
company was so that you change the world by developing that software
solution that has been keeping you up at nights. You know, the only thing
you are ever able to talk about under EVERY circumstance, with EVERYONE.
(I’m sure you relate).

You haven’t slept properly in months, because you’ve been so excited about how
you might build out that product. You’ve met with a lot of your peers, and
people with more experience than you most of whom have given you positive
feedback and constructive criticism on your plans. You’ve come up with some
funding and you’ve recruited a small team of engineers to help you develop the
solution.

In essence, you are Richard Hendricks of Silicon Valley fame, but hell bent on
not making the same idiotic mistakes as he does on a regular basis.

Congratulations.

The Lighthouse at Flatey at Skjalfandafloa, Iceland

YOUR ROLE

You’re a products guy/gal. Up until the time when you launch the product, the
most important things that you as a CEO can do are:

1. Defining and over-communicating the vision
2. Building the company’s culture
3. Managing relationship with your source of funds (investors)
4. Creating a magical product that will change the world

Why these things? Because the first two things are what will attract the best
talent. Without recruiting superior engineering/creative team you will not
create a world-changing product. The third item means you will have the
wherewithal to develop the product and absolutely everything depends on getting
the fourth item right. Without that, the skies will fall and the world will
end.

And that’s all she wrote, no?

Not so.

So, if you are taking care of the 4 items above. What would a COO be doing
meanwhile? It isn’t necessarily obvious, especially not compared to the person
you will hire as head of marketing, finance, or the CTO you will probably
already have hired.

Weather vane at Flatey at Skjalfandafloi, Iceland

THE COO’S ROLE

The COO’s role, is probably the most varied in all organizational design. But a
good COO is well versed in all aspects of the business.

* They “get” the technology, because operational decisions have to be made that
are to a large extent based on technology. Everything from selecting a
hosting partner to planning support management
* They have a firm grasp of finance and can do the necessary managerial
accounting/reporting
* They may develop the go-to-market side of the company while the product is
under development
* Handle the creation of marketing strategies, segmentation, creation of
collateral and preparation of marketing communication
* Recruiting the sales team
* Ensure enablement happens
* Develop channel partners
* They work on recruiting and retaining the best Talent the organization can
have.
* Select and modify the Systems, Infrastructure and Ways of working, that you
will need to get off the ground and scale with a growing customer base.
* If, and when, you start Series A and B (and subsequent) rounds of finance
your COO is the person that steps into most of your responsibilities so that
you can focus entirely on finding the correct VCs to work with (or any VCs so
that the company survives). Because that, in itself, will become a full-time
job for you.

In short, they set up the rest of the organization and prepare it for running
the product once you are ready to launch. And no less importantly, make sure
that you can handle the growth when you have successfully launched.

SO WHO IS IT?

Someone who complements your strengths. You (probably) know what you are good
at, where you excel. You also (hopefully) know what needs to get done in order
to successfully sell your product and grow the company. Make sure your COO can
carry the load where you fall short.

It goes without saying, so let’s say it anyway. There needs to be trust, full
and absolute, between the two of you. Any-, and everything needs to be on the
table.

This kind of trust almost never happens unless you gel on a personal level. You
will be constantly communicating, taking phone calls at inconvenient times. You
better enjoy each others company. But u u uhh… before you think **Airport Test**
let me stop you right there. There has to be more than passing the airport test.

All this communication means you both need to be able to “tell-all” in a frank
manner. Any communication issues must be dealt with immediately so that the
trust remains.

You have to be able to present a united front and speak in the same language to
employees, customers and investors alike. I like to think of the role as “the
other half” or “the partner”.

Arctic Terns in Iceland

POST LAUNCH

Now that you’ve launched. Get ready for your role to change. You’re not going to
get to focus so much on the product. Sorry. I know you love it. But now you need
to focus on the corporate strategy, where to take the company and expand the
stakeholder relationship to include customers as well.

You will of course also recruit heads of Marketing, Finance, Sales, HR, etc.
But, the diverse experience your COO has means that (s)he can wear many hats and
step into different roles as needed while the company is getting off the ground.
They understand what is important to achieve within each function and drive for
measuring performance towards the organization’s goals.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.s. if you, the CEO, are NOT a products person and would rather have someone
else build the product, manage the Go-to-market, handle the financials and so
on. Feel free to ignore the rationale above. Recruit a COO because it will make
your life easier.

Just make sure you’re not adding another version of yourself (Mini-Me went out
of fashion with the second Austin Powers movie).

You need someone that compliments your skill set. Not (only) to sit with at the
airport.

05/12/2018Yngvi Leave a comment

AF HVERJU FÓRUM ÉG OG STELPURNAR EKKI AÐ LÆRA AÐ FORRITA?

Árið 1998 var ég að vinna í EJS ásamt fleira góðu fólki. Mér er minnisstætt að
vera á heimleið einhvern tímann og rekast þá á Gunnar Inga Traustason sem ég
kannaðist lauslega við. Þegar ég spurði hann hvað hann væri að gera sagði hann
mér að hann væri í hugbúnaðarþróun hjá Tæknivali.

“Forritun”? spýtti ég út úr mér. “Er það ekki alveg ömurlegt”? Sitja allan
daginn fyrir framan tölvuna og sjá aldrei neitt liggja eftir sig í lok dagsins?

Það var þá sem ég var leiddur í sannleikann um hvað hugbúnaðarþróun snérist
raunverulega og að það væri hugsanlega mest gefandi starf í heimi (ásamt
leikskólakennslu). Það var orðað öðruvísi þá – en inntakið var það að það besta
við hugbúnaðarþróun væri að maður fengi stöðugt feedback á vinnuna sína. Þú
skrifar örfáar línur af kóða og prófar þær svo. Ef það er villa í kóðanum
verðurðu þess oftast var strax, en ef þú hefur lokið verkefninu rétt sérðu
kóðann virka og snýrð þér að næsta kóðabút.

Sem sagt, þetta er eins og að leika sér með Legokubba. Þú tekur einn kubb festir
hann við þann næsta og svo koll af kolli þangað til þú hefur byggt hús. Nú eða
búið nothæft forrit/vef.

Leiðir okkar Gunnars skildu þarna á Grensásveginum og ég sá hann lítið næsta
árið.

Ég átti seinna eftir að fara í skóla með Gunna og stofna ásamt honum og fleiri
góðum hugsandi mönnum fyrsta fyrirtækið sem ég hafði raunverulega aðkomu að. Það
var árið 1999 þegar allir höfðu metnað fyrir þvi að taka þátt í internetinu.
Þetta fyrirtæki snérist auðvitað um hugbúnaðarþróun og ég hef síðan þá meira eða
minna haft af því starfa og ánægju að vinna í upplýsinga- og
fjarskiptafyrirtækjum.

Ég held að hluti af vandamálinu sé að börn og foreldrar sjái ekki hversu gefandi
þetta starf getur verið, sjái ekki að þú vinnur allan daginn við að búa til
eitthvað alveg nýtt og spennandi.

Ég veit það, að ef ég stæði frammi fyrir því að velja mér ævistarf núna myndi ég
ekki hika við að læra hugbúnaðargerð. Ég veit ekki hversu oft ég hef hugsað með
mér, “þetta er frábær hugmynd, ef ég kynni að forrita myndi ég framkvæma hana”.

Þess vegna held ég að vefir eins og Code.org séu svo sniðugir og fyrirtæki eins
og ReKode/Skema séu frábær viðbót við menntakerfið. Krakkar fá tækifæri til að
nota tölvuna til að fá útrás fyrir sköpunargáfuna. Ég hef varið smá tíma á
Code.org ásamt 8 ára dóttur minni og séð hana komast á þann stað að vera
fljótari en ég að átta sig á því hvernig best væri að leysa ákveðin verkefni. Ég
lít á það sem fullnaðarsigur, af minni hálfu.

Með smá heppni, munum við útskrifa mun stærri hópa fólks með raungreinabakgrunn
sem getur nýtt sér upplýsingatækni til að búa til verðmæti innan fárra ára. En
til þess verðum við að passa að krakkarnir skilji að þau geta notað
upplýsingatæknina til að ná markmiðum sínum. Best held ég að væri ef krakkarnir
geti blandað saman kunnáttu í hugbúnaðargerð við einhverja allt aðra
menntun/þekkingu. Þá fyrst myndi ég segja Íslandi borgið. Ef þau hafa þekkingu
til að skrifa litlar lausnir til að stytta sér leið, flýta fyrir, skapa sér tíma
í daglega lífinu erum við komin vel á veg. Raunveruleg verðmæti verða til þegar
blandað er saman tvenns konar þekkingu.

E.s. veistu hvernig þú þekkir extrovert forritarann frá introvert forritara?
~Extrovertinn horfir á skóna hjá ÞÉR þegar hann talar við þig. (Stolið og
stílfært)

03/22/2014Yngvi Leave a comment

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IS AN ATTAINABLE FORM OF ETHICS IN BUSINESS

The underlying assumption is that a company’s purpose for being is to create and
return profits to its owners. Therefore, assuming this strategy is returning
profits, anything that supports the company’s strategy should be endorsed for
the benefits of shareholders. But in order to understand this underlying
assumption there are at least three things that need to be looked into;

1. the purpose of business and how to measure business results
2. the ties of strategy to business results, and
3. how to tie the strategic use of CSR to business performance.

There are four basic methods of creating value;

1. increasing price,
2. increasing quantity,
3. reducing costs, or lastly
4. by reducing time used.

If, and only if, any one or a combination of the above is the outcome of any
commitment of resources; value is created. Strategy should generate value
because value leads to a wealthier society. Wealthy societies are in everyone’s
interest. Hence, strategically used CSR should improve the quality of life for
society. Bearing this in mind there are obvious problems one faces when
analyzing the importance of such intangible things like the effect of Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) or Human Resource Management (HRM). These problems
are mostly measurement problems (Kearns). Friedman wrote an often cited article
that interestingly enough addresses social responsibilities of businesses:

> The discussions of the “social responsibilities of business” are notable for
> their analytical looseness and lack of rigor. What does it mean to say that
> “business” has responsibilities? Only people can have responsibilities. A
> corporation is an artificial person and in this sense may have artificial
> responsibilities, but “business” as a whole cannot be said to have
> responsibilities, even in this vague sense. The first step toward clarity in
> examining the doctrine of the social responsibility of business is to ask
> precisely what it implies for whom.

There has been much criticism on Friedman’s view, but one viewpoint is that
there may actually be a way of tying CSR to business performance.

So if it is accepted that the businesses main area of responsibility is to
provide value for shareholders, it goes without saying that there have to be
some means of creating said value, these are the very foundation of the company.
Kearns says that the organization might do well by having a vision of what the
future will look like and a mission of where to go in the future, it then boils
down to the business strategy to dictate how the company will get there.

“What business strategy is all about – what distinguishes it from all other
kinds of business planning – is, in a word, competitive advantage. Without
competitors there would be no need for a strategy” says Ohmae, he goes on to say
“Corporate strategy thus implies an attempt to alter a company’s strength
relative to that of its competitors in the most efficient way”.

Porter and Kramer put forward a pretty persuasive argument that strategic CSR is
the way to go. They point out how companies have, in the past, found themselves
a midst something that seems to be consumer outrage where they are, rightfully
or not, being held accountable for social issues, and some cases even being
targeted for seemingly little fault to further activist’s causes. In their
article Porter and Kramer suggest that the most important aspect of adhering to
strategic CSR is to balance the resources put into such projects against the
value they create. This they claim reduces the risk of changes in the external
or internal environment of the company shaking the foundation of the projects.

In their article Hine and Preuss bring together major arguments of the various
groups, among others they discuss the social responsibilities of the corporation
towards its stakeholders. There among other things they point out that in order
for a corporation to accept any social responsibilities they need to become
‘morale’ agents but that in it self may be difficult as the company’s
shareholders hire a management team to act as the company’s conscience. But what
is very interesting in the article is the claim that while there has been much
discussion about CSR in the past three decades, there is little empirical
evidence showing the positive financial effect that CSR can potentially have on
companies who actively pursue CSR projects. This, in fact, begs the question of
whether the implementation of the CSR initiatives has left something lacking or
whether the fundamental idea behind CSR simply is not viable. At least it seems
clear that CSR for CSR’s sake is not a viable option and that using CSR to
prevent detriment to reputation, a form of risk management if you will, may have
mixed results. On the one hand companies may gain some goodwill, but on the
other, a company of good financial standing may become a “target” for activist
groups.

It is clear according to Hine & Preuss that CSR in and of it self is not the
answer to the question of whether CSR is an attainable form of business ethics.

Porter and Kramer say that “broadly speaking the proponents of CSR have used
four arguments to make their case: moral obligation, sustainability, license to
operate, and reputation”. The moral obligation argument contradicts Friedman’s
view as set forth above and seems a little normative and so does the license to
operate argument. The reputation argument can with a clear set of measurements
be put forth and argued on value creation basis since there is available
research into the differing values of corporate brands, although analyses of
those fall outside the scope of this essay. The sustainability argument revolves
around the firm’s consumption of natural resources and interaction with the
environment. In their article they maintain that it is best when external
sustainability (environmental) and internal sustainability (business) go hand in
hand.

Husted manages to tie together the views of those who believe that CSR is a
viable approach and those who believe in strategic approach to doing business
“To increase a ﬁrm’s competitive advantage, CSR projects must be cost effective
and produce a clear return on investment”. Additionally Husted stresses the
importance of optimizing, that is, creating as much value as possible at the
lowest costs possible.

Porter and Kramer point out that what the current approaches to CSR “focus on
the tension between business and society rather than on their interdependence”,
in a word they are so integrated that neither could function without the other.
They further point out that organizations frequently launch CSR projects
independent of strategy loosing out on the opportunities of using their
strengths to build competitive advantage or creating shared value. The notion of
shared value between the company and society is a key element in Porter and
Kramer’s view. Shared value is value created by use of company’s resources that
benefits the company, but is also seen as beneficial to society. This approach
needs to be totally integrated into the company’s infrastructure to ensure that
the company engages in activity that balances the value created to both in order
to create long-term harmony. They even go so far as to provide a framework, with
good examples, to analyze the prioritization of social issues which breaks
issues into; i) generic social issues, ii) value chain social impacts and iii)
social dimensions of competitive context. With the latter two putting CSR into a
strategic context.

In Porter and Kramer’s view the tighter a social issue is to a company’s
business, the more chances are of creating shared value by leveraging the
company’s resources.

Final Words

It is noteworthy, that while the economist Milton Friedman denounces the social
responsibilities of companies strategists like Michel Porter say there may in
fact be ways of using CSR to further the organization’s cause and create value
for shareholders. Both believe that the ultimate goal for the company is to
create value, but Porter’s point of view seems to open up the possibilities of
integrating whatever methods available to the company to create competitive
advantage and thereby creating value for shareholders.

Imagine if you will an Airline company who subscribes to this notion, it can
fairly easily tie strategic CSR to its business performance by measuring and
announcing the added value its CSR efforts deliver. For example, measuring fuel
usage per flown mile. This would mean that effort spent on reducing fuel usage
has a corresponding value creation in the lowered costs for the airliner. These
would fall under the Value chain social impact in Porter and Kramer’s model.

It must be duly noted that due to the limitations of time and the text’s
relative length, that the counter arguments against strategic use of CSR were
not as actively sought out as an introduction of this type warrants. The best
argument, albeit a general one, was found in Hine and Preuss’ article where they
point out the fact that the causal relationship between tendency towards CSR and
financial performance is equally disputed. It almost is enough to knock the wind
out of the whole debate.

I firmly believe there is a case for saying that CSR is an attainable form of
ethics in business. But sans evidence that having a CSR policy makes the company
more valuable the argument stands on a rather shaky ground. But then it should
be noted that there are different degrees of committing to CSR ranging from the
occasional gift to charity towards a using CSR as a totally integrated strategic
tool to tie CSR to value creation. And, with an admitted lack of hard evidence,
I think that the latter provides the company with a more disciplined way to
spend its resources.

Bibliography

Friedman, M. The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970, accessed December
14th 2008,
http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

Hine, J. A. H. S. and Preuss, L. “”Society is Out There, Organisation is in
Here: On the Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Held by Different
Managerial Groups” Journal of Business Ethics, 2008.

Husted, B. W. “Governance Choices for Corporate Social Responsibility: to
Contribute, Collaborate or Internalize?” Long Range Planning 36 (2003) : 481–498

Hine, J. A. H. S. CSR Lecture. CSR course. Reykjavik University, Efstaleiti
Reykjavik ICE. 27 November 2008.

Kearns, P. HR Strategy: Business focused, individually centred. 2003.
Burlington: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008

Kearns, P. HR Strategy Lecture. HR strategy course. Reykjavik University,
Efstaleiti Reykjavik Iceland. 06 November 2008. Ohmae, K. The Mind of the
Strategist. New York: McGraw-Hill 1982.

Porter, M. and Kramer, M. R. “Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive
Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility,” Harvard Business Review,
December 2006.

11/01/2013Yngvi corporate social responsibility, csr, strategy Leave a comment

REYKJAVIK INTERNATIONAL GAMES

Alma og Aron voru að dansa á danskeppni RIG þann 15. janúar 2011, dönsuðu
ágætlega en náðu ekki á verðlaunapall í þetta skiptið.

Hoppið inn í greinina til að sjá vídeóið almennilega.

01/19/2011Yngvi ballroom, dance, dans, jive, latin, rúmba, rhumba, samba, vals,
vínarvals, waltz Leave a comment

OHH.. SO MOM WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL!

I guess I need to revisit some more of her advice from way back when…

Arianna Huffington’s shares her most recommended advice; “Get enough sleep“.

01/03/2011Yngvi Leave a comment

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