A VC in Vacationland

I am a big fan of simple business strategies for CEO’s of start ups.

There is an apocryphal story about  Jim McNerney, now CEO of Boeing and formerly of 3M that he arrived three years ago at his new job with a single Post-It note (get it?). The note purportedly listed just three words:  Airbus, energy, and ethics. Not a bad strategy, considering Airbus was kicking Boeing’s butt, fuel prices were beginning their upward climb and Phil, the former CEO, was sleeping with his secretary and possibly defrauding the U.S. government.  It is now clear that, Post-It note or not, Jim assiduously implemented this strategy.  We can now give him an "A" in all subjects on his report card.  Boeing’s back on top and Airbus is looking like an also ran in the race for the next generation of airplanes.

Three words on a Post-It note, perhaps stuck to their laptop, can help keep a new CEO focused on the critical issues they face on a daily basis. This is not to say one should not work hard to fulfill all the promises in the business plan, which far exceed three simple strategies.  Rather, the smart CEO will condense all the thinking in the plan to the key elements that will drive the initial success of the business, just like Jim McNerney did at Boeing.

Cyrus Freidheim, CEO of Chiquita Brands International also had a simple, Post-it note strategy : "Commit & Deliver".  He took over a bankrupt disaster at Chiquita in the early 1990’s, facing huge losses, "banana wars" with the European Union, pressures from NGO’s about alleged employee abuse in developing nations, labor unrest, and to top it off, a shareholder revolt.  Using his simple, but very clear strategy, he turned Chiquita by 2004 into a successful and profitable company, one that has one the respect of many of the same constituents that wanted his head in the early years.

The most interesting Post-It Note strategy I have seen recently in the start up realm is: "sell the right investors, sell the right employees, sell the right customers".

This is not a bad Post-It Note strategy for a start up, one that keeps you focused on the critical elements of building a business that will make you, your team, and your investors proud.