Scaling The Future: Allen Lau to Contribute Insights to INC
Wattpad Co-founder and CEO Allen Lau is one of the newest contributors to INC.com, a leading site for business news, ideas, and inspiration.
His Column, Scaling the Future, will examine the challenges startups face in the innovation economy. It will also outline advice for entrepreneurs rooted in real world experience. An excerpt of his first column is enjoyable below and in full here.
Tips for Startup Money Management
This post is brought to you by Wattpad Co-Founder and CEO Allen Lau.
Thanks to Hollywood, most people think of waterslides and all-you-can-eat snackbars when they picture startup life. While it's true that startups are a fun and engaging place to work, there are many examples that debunk the myth of startup extravagance.
The world's most innovative and successful companies are built on tough decisions, smart spending, and diligent commitments to financial targets, not ping-pong tables.
Why? Warren Buffett says it best: "If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need."
How Amazon and Microsoft Leveraged Resourcefulness
Experienced business leaders know the importance of having extra funds during stagnant economic conditions. Through operational efficiency, you can gain independence from funding environments that bubble and bust while you overtake competitors who spend themselves toward bankruptcy.
Microsoft's infamous shrimp and weenies memo and Amazon's "door desks" tell the same story. We're saving now so that we can make the right investments later.
Here's an example from my own life: when Wattpad's co-founder Ivan Yuen and I travel together, we share rooms at lower cost hotels with free-wifi. It's an inexpensive way for us to get more face time and save money on travel costs--a win-win.
Investing our money and time wisely is so important to us that we've defined 'Resourcefulness' as a company-wide value: You do more with less, and only spend time on things that matter -- this breeds sufficiency and invention. And if you have questions, you ask.
If you make resourcefulness an organizational focus, effective money management creates savings that can be reinvested into your company to create faster growth. Entrepreneurs should lead by example and cut costs where they can.