About this episode: Gina Danford is a business coach and owner of Red Zebra Coaching. We talked about the operational and tactical facets of running your business - working with vendors and customers, knowing your numbers and cash flows needs, joining trade associations, books worth reading, hiring slowly and firing quickly, and reading contracts and partnership agreements. We also talked about Gina’s startup experience at Aircraft Shopper Online from 2000-2007. Lastly, we talked about Gina’s cancer diagnosis at the age of 19 and how she beats the odds to be talking with me on this podcast. Podcast Topics & Notes: 3:45 - Mid-growth business growth challenges such as hiring, cash flow & preparing the business to scale 6:00 - Can a good startup founder be a good mid-growth CEO? 7:45 - Incremental growth mindset & skill set 12:45 - Lessons learned from incremental growth companies for hyper-growth startups in hiring & managing teams 18:00 - Biggest mistakes of hyper-growth startups 21:00 - Negotiating payment terms & legal implications of contracts with vendors & partners 22:00 - Importance of partnership agreements among founders 27:00 - Vendor, expense and cash flow analysis 32:00 - Using your startup status to you advantage as a buyer of products and services 35:00 - Pulling the ripcord on a non-paying customer 38:00 - Finding non-cash currency for payment with customers 42:00 - Gina’s startup experience at ASO in a Web 1.0 world 43:30 - Fighting inertia in an industry to prove your product 50:00 - Engaging with your market via Trade shows and competitors 54:00 - Gina fight with ovarian cancer Websites & Resources mentioned in the podcast: Gina Danford & Red Zebra Coaching https://redzebracoaching.com/ Gina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginadanford Gina’s story overcoming cancer: https://redzebracoaching.com/about-us/overcoming-cancer/ American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org [Book] “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown: https://www.amazon.com/Essentialism-Disciplined-Pursuit-Greg-McKeown/dp/0804137382 [Book] "Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration Hardcover" by Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012/ [Book] "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation" by Steven Johnson: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-Innovation/dp/1594485380/ HustleCon: www.hustlecon.com Entelo: www.entelo.com Aircraft Shopper Online: www.aso.com
