In this new weekly column, Marco Greenberg, a long-time PR and marketing jedi specializing in venture-backed start-ups, will share his experience of the most common mistakes young entrepreneurs make that keep them from getting the love—and the buzz—they so justly deserve.
Chapter Five: Because You’re Cheap
I take pride in being a connector, often introducing clients.
Sometimes they really connect over business. Sometimes, they even click personally. Usually, they just say hi, chat for a bit, and walk away glad to have met a fellow professional who may one day prove relevant to their business. But in one case—and one alone—the casual coffee ended up being a total disaster.
It involved a man I’ll call Jason, a good-looking and bright guy in his 20s. He hired me after his hot shot tech company received a generous round of funding, and after we worked together for a bit he asked me to introduce him to another client of mine, a woman I’ve worked with for almost 20 years. He needed her advice as he was hoping to enter a foreign market to which she was a key gatekeeper. I happily made an email introduction, and the two agreed to meet at a Starbucks a week later.
The morning after the meeting, I got a phone call. The gatekeeper said she debated whether or not to call me, and was afraid she might sound petty, but she just couldn’t help it. She and Jason were standing in line to get coffee, she told me, chatting amicably. Then, when the barista finally handed them their grande mochas, Jason turned to my friend and suggested casually that they split the bill. It came out to under $10.
After getting over the initial shock, the gatekeeper, who was taking time out of her busy day to help this kid, replied gruffly: “don’t worry, I’ll get it.” She admitted to me that she was too distracted—and too disgusted—to offer the young technologist any help. I, too, was horrified, as she knew that I am similarly allergic to people who suffer from this particular affliction. I thought about raising the matter with Jason, but eventually just let it go. To this day I don’t think he has a clue of what really went down. And, unfortunately, he’s not alone.
Too often, young entrepreneurs take pride in being shrewd negotiators, smart fiscal operators, responsible executives that keep that burn rate under control. Even though they would never try to save a few bucks while on a date, say, they believe, for some reason, that different rules apply in business. They don’t: in business, like in life, the key thing is to first and foremost be a mensch, a Yiddish word describing a person whose behavior is caring, considerate, and kind.
And too many young business bucks, reared on watching Wall Street repeatedly and idolizing its hard-charging anti-hero, Gordon Gekko, ignore this rule, believing that the less they pay, the more they win.
Don’t get me wrong: I concede that cheap isn’t always bad. Cheap airline tickets or discount clothes can be an awesome find, and being overly generous and ignoring your P&L is no virtue. But most of the time, being cheap is going to come back to haunt you and your startup.
Too cheap: too cheap to recruit the best talent because it costs too much. Too cheap to invest in marketing and PR budgets because you can’t see the immediate ROI. Too cheap to throw a holiday party or do an offsite because it will suck money out of product development.
Any of this sound familiar? As the saying goes, you can’t get there on the cheap. But you can by being a mensch.
I was blessed to learn this lesson from my own father, a star architect in southern California in the 1960s and 1970s. He was generous with his time, with his creativity, with his charity, with his love, and with his spirit. He was generous with his money, too, in good times and in bad. He would often pay for friends who were far richer and yet more reluctant to reach in their pocket.
He also knew that being cheap is usually a sign of much larger trouble ahead. The same entrepreneur, boss, client, partner, or friend who visibly tenses up when the waiter brings the check, will be similarly stingy in giving compliments, more likely to cannibalize the company’s assets and more prone to zero sum thinking, less likely to share the credit when things go right and more likely to point the finger when things go bad.
As we close the books on 2014, and as we make resolutions for the new year, let’s strive to be mensches and give as much as we can afford to, maybe even more. It’s not just good karma, it’s good business.