Editor's note: This is part of the 2018 Best CEO Awards. Go here for the rest.
Autumn Manning knows better than most CEOs that growth comes in waves, and sometimes when it rains, it pours.
As the CEO of YouEarnedIt Inc., she has built a software company from its infancy to a thriving enterprise on the cusp of more breakout success. In the past two years alone the company has received its first injection of outside capital, closed a series A round and secured the backing of one of the most succesful technology investment firms in the country.
Manning and Kenny Tomlin got working on the idea of YouEarnedIt in 2012, as a beta test within the digital agency Rockfish. Around a year later they spun YouEarnedIt out into its own company, and Manning was named CEO in December 2013.
She raised some seed funding in late 2016, which allowed her to build an executive team and double down on growth, leading to a $6.5 million series A round announced in January 2017. Then in April YouEarnedIt took on an investment from Vista Equity Partners, the Austin- and San Francisco-based private equity firm. While financial terms were not disclosed, the money came from Vista's $560 million Endeavor Fund. That backing has allowed YouEarnedIt to grow inorganically, including its July acquisition of HighGround, a maker of performance management and engagement software.
YouEarnedIt now has more than 400 customers using its tools, which companies use to reward employees and build camaraderie. For example, businesses on the YouEarnedIt platform can reward employees for good work with perks such as getting an executive office for a day or wearing pajamas to work.
Manning has an inside view of what it takes to build a winning corporate culture. But she also is tasked with keeping morale high within YouEarnedIt, which can be a struggle for any company growing this fast. She said the key is to remain open, honest and transparent with team members.
Prior to getting YouEarnedIt off the ground, Manning spent more than nine years at SVI, a professional coaching business in Arkansas. She is a Techstars mentor and regularly participates in panels and speaks at events on corporate culture and female leadership. Manning also received one of Austin Business Journal's 2018 Profiles in Power awards, given to inspiring businesswomen across the region.
As a company that’s raised both venture capital and private equity, what’s your top piece of advice for startup CEOs in search of funding?
The importance of conviction around your vision and the impact this has on your fundraise really settled in halfway through our A round raise. Of course you need to have data that shows you have a strong, financially and operationally sound business model (past and future), a product that sells well to a big market and retains customers after they launch are all critical, but once that conviction kicked in on what we were doing, where we were headed, and the race to win the market, raising money became much easier. My advice? Don't raise a big round until you are have this clarity of vision and the conviction for where you're going.
Once a company raises outside capital, how can it make sure that money is put to good use? Any helpful strategies you’ve employed at YouEarnedIt?
Data and clear operational metrics — both quantitative and qualitative. This is the best strategy to ensuring you spend the money wisely because as it turns out, money goes faster than you think. At YouEarnedIt, we measure everything in our business to know what works, what doesn't, and what is worth more investment or less. Start this early, even when there is nothing to measure. This disciple takes time.
You’re well-versed in corporate culture. While your business helps other companies cultivate and protect their cultures, how do you do that within YouEarnedIt itself?
Culture is the biggest tool in any leader's war chest to employ, when things are great but especially when they are tough. One of the easiest but most powerful tools is communication all the time. What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Where are we going? How will we get there? We do this a lot, and when you add transparency to this communication around the wins and the losses, the culture builds a strong foundation that can withstand really tough times. Sometimes I make the mistake of forgetting this, and because our employees have learned to expect this, they hold me accountable when they aren't hearing these things enough.
What is your top time-management tip?
Part ways with a bad hire quickly. When you know you've made a mistake here, especially in a leadership role, take the hit and let them go quickly. You can recover from the miss here rather fast, and remember to own your mistake to the team; but, undoing a bad leadership hire if you leave them in role too long takes years of recovery. This is closely paired with how you recruit and the importance of constant "recruiting" as a CEO. This doesn't have to translate to slow hiring, but being diligent, thoughtful, and intentional about who you need at various inflection points of growth are all critical. When the team is looking to hire someone and might be struggling because they need someone to fill a role but are on the fence with a candidate, asking if you are hiring for a clear presence of strength vs. absence of weakness is a good test.
Do you use social media? Do you think other CEOs should?
I use social media to share our brand, our content, our culture, and our mission with the world. Sharing these things helps with brand equity (and recruiting!). I believe a transparent and authentic brand is a breath of fresh air for consumers and helps to build trust and a solid reputation with consumers. The choice to use social media for other CEOs depends on why they are using it. My opinion is that using social media purely for sales or biz dev feels inauthentic and won't have the reach and impact you think it should. So it all depends on how and why you choose to use it.