Where do I want the business to be in 3 years?

Currently, Bermont Digital has five full-time employees and contracts out a single free lance designer. We focus mainly on custom e-commerce stores, and custom web applications that are built and tailored to specific business and client needs. These are our two strengths, we also offer hosting services, and specialise in troubleshooting errors and faults on websites where we come in and aid businesses with the technical difficulties they are experiencing.

We build custom API services and integrations, as well as have the ability to build custom plugins for clients.

Our current challenges are finding talent/employees that fit the culture and quality of work we deliver. This means it is difficult to scale the business offering, we also struggle with the work load, as it fluctuates quite a lot and there is a lot of strain on myself as the developer who overseas everything.

Our successes include being able to solve complex problems and understand business needs clearly, and translate complex solutions to business owners. We have an amazing team chemistry and are able to provide a wholistic solution to complex issues. We are priced very competitively in the international market and we are very reliable and trustworthy. Our clients build long lasting relationships with us.

My main goal would be to expand the team, and increase revenue to over R20 million in the next 3 years. I believe in order to achieve this kind of growth we should pivot to focus more on software product offerings that we can develop and maintain, and be able to scale to a large set of customers. This is a Software as a Service offering, and is attractive to investors.

I believe we could use investor capital to scale the company, however I believe we have built a great base and saved a lot of our own capital as a business. Where Francesco has thrived in guiding the financial direction of the company. I believe by offering software products starting in the South African market we can grow the company to reach the goals I have outlined above.

I think the a good approach to the challenge of finding quality talent, is to work on an outline and process of up-skilling and building great staff members will be of utmost value. I think this is an area I would like to focus on in order to be able to grow our company to the scale I believe we are capable of achieving.

I believe our core values are what will help in building loyal and hard working team members. We value our people and we have a big focus on team work and growth in individuals. Our potentially only limiting factor is the salary we offer our team members.

But in growing we should focus on maintaining frameworks that encourage a healthy team culture. With a bit of competitiveness between teams, and creating strong team bonds, and consistently checking in on staff on an individual basis as well as on a macro basis we can create a thriving team where people will queue to join our company.

With a strong team and healthy company culture from the people I believe we can achieve anything we set our minds to. We can create strong individuals who will be the base of the company. I believe we should implement an incentive system where employees are invested in the company as well. To encourage everyone to work together to acheive outcomes, and to not let eachother down.

I believe the challenges I am facing currently is that I spend to much time working as an employee, and not guiding the company in the direction I believe we should go. I would like to hire another developer to help fulfill some of my responsiblities, as well as being able to guide the junior developers. This will free up time and energy for me to focus on the business at a macro level, and have an overview of where the business is and how we are performing.

This is my purpose for the next 3 years, and there will be challenges that I need to face when trying to transition into this role. There will be tough conversations and politics that I need to resolve in the work space. However in overcoming these problems I believe there is tremendous growth opportunities for all involved in the company. I need to align my goals and values with my business partner and get feedback on what I would like to achieve as well as buy in to the ethos and direction.

I think the company should have a single leader who takes responsibility, this might be difficult with egos involved, but I think it is achievable. I will work on resolving my personal conflicts and issues which may be causing me to hold back and not take charge.

In 3 years time, the company will be bringing over R20 million, and the team will grow to have at least 10 employees. The team will be able to handle all day to day problems and acitivities, I will be able to take a month off from work and know that the company is in good hands. We will be fulfilled as individuals in our roles and contributions to the company.

And we will be compensated accordingly, and there will be new challenges we will face. However we will have a strong framework to approach these problems, both technically as well as emotionally, in order to push forward and excel.

The business will be a highly attractive entity that is highly profitable, an attractive investment for outside investors. At that point I will decide whether I would like to sell some of the company stock in order to step back or if it is worth more to keep growing the business and raising the underlying value of the business.

This is my path and will be highly rewarding, however I will face challenges I have never experienced before. I hope to grow as an individual in this process.

Let's see how it goes :)