Achieving company alignment is hard enough when you\u2019re a small company and everyone\u2019s in the same building. But when your business expands to include hundreds of employees across four time zones, you risk losing the communication, spirit, and values that inspired you to start a company in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keeping her company\u2019s communication and culture in place across continents\u2014and knowing whether she\u2019s doing it right\u2014keeps CoverWallet<\/a> cofounder and CEO Rashmi Melgiri<\/a> up at night. CoverWallet is the first online platform where small businesses can buy insurance online. But leading a fast-growing company has plenty of challenges, as Melgiri explained to host John Henry in Episode 3<\/a> of the Up At Night<\/em> podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Melgiri started the company four years ago in New York City<\/a>, and it has since grown to 300 employees and four offices in three countries, serving tens of thousands of customers. But whether the remote office is in Australia, Spain, or in Rochester, New York, the same question sticks in Melgiri\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow do we manage keeping everyone connected and on the same page about what we\u2019re trying to do?\u201d Melgiri said. \u201cSo that we\u2019re not becoming a series of franchises in different markets, but it\u2019s all the same CoverWallet look and feel and principles in each one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer is made more complicated because it\u2019s not the same each time. For the one company executive based in Australia, the biggest challenge is keeping him from burning out after working 14-hour days to support regions around the world. For the rest of her company, Melgiri has to figure out how to disseminate information to local teams and empower them to get stuff done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Even when an office is relatively close\u2014Rochester is a five-and-a-half-hour drive from CoverWallet\u2019s New York City headquarters\u2014maintaining company alignment can still be challenging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How do we make sure that they don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re out there alone?<\/p>Rashmi Melgiri, Cofounder<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow do we make sure they don’t feel like they\u2019re out there alone?\u201d said Melgiri, who chose to expand CoverWallet\u2019s agents and sales team to Rochester, not only to escape the high cost of real estate in New York City, but to take advantage of Rochester\u2019s existing insurance talent. \u201cWe try to be diligent about making sure there are senior people that go to these offices on a regular basis. They\u2019re part of the original group that lives by the culture and can speak about the highest things that are going on. Even with as many teleconferencing tools that we have, there\u2019s no replacement for an in-person visit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is one secret weapon that Melgiri has found to unite all the locations and keep that thread of communication going: a daily meeting with the entire company at 8:30 a.m. ET. Nearly everyone at CoverWallet is either in the room or on the phone at the same time every day. (The executive in Australia, where it\u2019s the middle of the night, gets a pass.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The meetings cover the usual material: celebrating birthdays, work anniversaries, promotions, and company announcements. But the biggest chunk of time is devoted to covering key metrics from each part of the company. Looking at metrics on a daily basis, rather than weekly or monthly, lets CoverWallet diagnose and solve business problems quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re not looking at [metrics] for a week at a time or a month at a time, then you’re not actually working on it, right?<\/p>Rashmi Melgiri<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe visibility on those metrics gives you the chance to actually improve them,\u201d Melgiri said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not looking at it for a week at a time or a month at a time, then you\u2019re not actually working on it, right? So as soon as the number is very off from where we think it is, people are addressing it that day and they have an answer to it the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Transparency drives every topic at these meetings. Melgiri said the company often hears about company strategy before CoverWallet\u2019s board does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery time we have a board meeting\u2014all the big topics that we talk about, the big strategic questions of the company?\u201d she said. \u201cWe actually have those discussions [first] with the whole company. Usually the day after we present to the company, it will be presented to the board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That level of openness with 300 employees takes a lot of effort. Melgiri compared the daily morning meeting to exercise: She doesn\u2019t always want to do it, but she\u2019s always glad she did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sometimes ask myself would I do it all again? Would I start another company knowing how much work this was? My answer right now is yes, I would do it all over again.<\/p>Rashmi Melgiri<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n But also like exercise, you want to know whether it\u2019s working. And in the blur of daily meetings, multiple time zones, and tens of thousands of customers, it can be difficult for Melgiri to see what ultimate success looks like in terms of maintaining company alignment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI never have an answer for that. I sometimes ask myself would I do it all again? Would I start another company knowing how much work this was?\u201d Melgiri said. \u201cMy answer right now is yes, I would do it all over again.\u201d Listen to Melgiri’s <\/a>Up At Night<\/a><\/em> podcast episode here<\/a>, and read the full transcript here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\nManaging rapid expansion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Transparency as a tool for alignment and accountability<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n