When Does A Start-up Stop Being A Start-up?

What better way to start the week (and the festive season) than celebrating with the team who puts “Tribal” into Tribal Impact. On Monday, our extended Tribal team met for the first time in London and it was wonderfully civilised - afternoon tea whilst touring London on a vintage Routemaster. It was the perfect time to reflect a little.

As our tribe grows I’m beginning to understand, first hand, what it takes to engage a team, listen to them, appreciate their specialist skills and provide an opportunity for them to bring their best to work.  

What I’ve also come to learn is that we’re not a sales led company. Now, for someone who has spent an entire career working in sales led IT companies this feels slightly odd to me but I'm learning.

The more I’m discovering our Tribal values, the more I realise that we aren’t about selling stuff, winning deals and pitching for business. That language just doesn't feel right.

One of our customers recently told me “you guys feel like an extension of our team” and that’s when the penny dropped. I know, it sounds cliche, but when I look at how we work alongside our customers today, that is exactly what we are!

Start-up Growth: From Empathetic To Systematic

A couple of weeks ago myself and Tribal member Rachel Ranwell presented a content workshop at the Women of Hitachi Summit. The keynote was delivered by Jane Cunningham & Philippa Roberts from Pretty Little Head and it focused on the difference between Systematic and Empathetic organisations. Fascinating stuff.

If you’re new to the concept (as I was) it discusses the how start-ups tend to be Empathetic - agile, resilient and embrace the human side of business. As start-ups grow, they tend to adopt more processes, structure, and hierarchies, moving them towards a Systematic approach. Interestingly, HBR listed the most Empathised and Systemised businesses in 2015.

I feel we’re creating something quite special at Tribal Impact. We aren’t an agency. We aren’t a consultancy. We’re on a mission to help organisations understand how they can transform the way they use social media within the context of their unique business model. 

Better still, we’re here to partner with them on that journey. We’re building a social business support network that our customers can lean on as much or as little as they want. 

At the same time, we’re living the social business model that we’re advocating. 

Our business is firmly rooted around an inbound model. Our talent, our customers and our partners seem to be attracted to our tribal vibe and I love that. 

After all, your tribe attracts your vibe!  You attract the people and companies you want to work with. It’s very special and I’m proud of it.

I’m also proud of our 100% virtual business model. We’re doing business the Tribal way. We source the best talent to support our customers social business journey, no matter where they’re located. 

I want flexibility for both our customers and our team. We all bring our best to work when our work and home life are balanced.

Growing Up But Young At Heart

Monday was the first time our team met each other. We shared our achievements, learnings and the strategic vision but what struck me most was how it inspired everyone to think big. To think beyond their current contribution and explore the possibilities - to think about what could make the Tribal experience even better.

This has been such a year of transformation for Tribal Impact. We’ve grown and we’ve grown up but we’re still young at heart. 

I hope we never lose our start-up mentality. I hope we keep our little tribal touches and the ‘human at scale’ approach to doing business.

We have so many new adventures planned for 2018 - I simply cannot wait to get started and neither can the team! Watch this space :-)

As we're nearing the end of the year it seems a great time to say "Thank You". Thank you to our team, our customers, our soon-to-be customers and our amazing network of partners. It feels great to be part of YOUR tribal network so thanks for inviting us in.

Finally, I'd like to wish you #SeasonsGreetings from my tribe to yours.