Navigating Relationships and Success for Early-Stage Founders – Altitude Accelerator

Entrepreneurs shouldn’t and can’t do everything by themselves. This means seeking external funding, partners and vendors in the early stages to gain some competitive advantage.

However, it is important to be intentional and aware when entering new relationships. Ramphal observes that “people tend to go with the money, but that shouldn’t always be the case”. Entering a financial relationship with investors is a serious commitment; it’s a marriage that is going to last the length of the time that the money keeps flowing.  

Ramphal advises new or aspiring founders to not jump the gun on funding. Choosing the right investors for your business can help minimize future business risk. You should look for investors who share your company’s vision and have the resources and connections to support your company in reaching its goals.

“When looking for an investor, what was important for us was someone that was connected in that space. It was that we weren’t just looking for money, we were looking for someone who could make those strategic connections with customers”.

As the business starts to grow there’s a shift in thinking about the future of the company. Protecting both the business and individual interest in the company is critical. Ramphal offers insight into how to deal with this balance, stating that it “takes a lot of foresight.” He adds that recognizing the timeframe you are currently in is imperative;

“Having the foresight of knowing what time frame you’re in and how things could get worse or how things could get better is important for an entrepreneur to know. So much of the time as entrepreneurs, we’re just happy to raise money. Someone’s going to write us a cheque – I’ll take that. But, if you have a good product and good business, someone will give you money. You don’t have to take this cheque today. I think that part is important for [founders]. With my co-founders, we got super excited with the first cheque and were even more excited with the second cheque Ultimately, founders could end up digging themselves a hole for their startup company if you get too excited and carried away with being in that moment with that funding”.

Cameron likewise counsels founders to look at opportunities from multiple perspectives. Whether entering deals for funding or signing contracts for new partners and suppliers, Cameron advises;

“The piece of advice I would give to nascent entrepreneurs is to really read those contracts carefully. It’s so difficult because they can be so dry, but if you can try and put yourself into different frames of mind under different scenarios, it may help to enlighten what you’re signing on to and then give you some latitude to negotiate things that would be more in your favor”.

As a first time or early-stage entrepreneur, navigating the path to success can be long and challenging. Cameron reminds founders to keep their eyes looking forward and believe in the journey. Getting past the hurdles is what will differentiate you and your company from other startup founders. When things get tough, it is resilience that will fuel your vision;

“Having faith is really important. When it’s dark and bleak, which it certainly will be from time to time, you have to have faith. I think that goes circles back to resilience and how much you’re going to hang on in order to make your vision a reality. It’s not about the honeymoon stage, it’s not about when things are great. When the rubber hits the road is when things are really dark, and that’s what you must get through”.

Cameron knows that resilience is essential for early-stage founders. To stay focused and courageous, she looks inward and cultivates a positive mindset,

“I meditate. I do a lot of internal work. I find if I focus on what I don’t want, it’s not helpful at all. I have to keep my “eyes on the prize.” The vision of where I want it to get to and how that’s going to feel – you have to be intentional about your emotional state.”

For Ramphal, he has learned the importance of asking for and accepting help from others. Being a resilient founder doesn’t mean doing everything yourself. Learning from the experiences of others and being open to advice and different perspectives can give early-stage founders the foundation they need to grow both as a business and as a founder,

“It’s lonely at the top as the CEO, but having external advisors was one of the most powerful things for us at Clean Air and all through my entrepreneurial journey…I would be on the phone with these advisors and leveraging them as sounding importance. You’re essentially collecting this data and that allows you to navigate a little bit better as the CEO. Advisors are very critical because there are times when my advisors were saying the total opposite and that would help me calibrate the next steps. I would highly recommend having multiple diverse advisors for anybody growing your company”.  

Entrepreneurship is a rewarding but challenging journey that demands resilience, creativity and altruism. Devin Ramphal and Jennifer Cameron shared their stories and lessons on how they navigated friction between co-founders, partners, investors and vendors. Both founders show, through their experiences, that resilience is the key to overcoming any obstacles and making your vision a reality.