“My biggest goal has always been to build the category-defining brand.” – Ben Lamm

 

Ben Lamm has launched his latest venture and he says it will be his last. Hypergiant, his new firm, has a moonshot to deliver internet and data streaming in space. It currently takes eight minutes to send a signal to Mars. Lamm’s goal is eight seconds.

While they chase that moonshot, the people at Hypergiant will stay plenty busy leveraging artificial intelligence to “create emerging AI-driven technologies and develop world-changing commercial products and solutions for Fortune 500 and government clients.”

Pretty ambitious, but the 37-year old Lamm has an amazing track record. Each of his previous four startups has grown into wildly successful companies before being purchased by global organizations. 

Lamm launched Simply Interactive, an e-learning software business, in college. It was acquired by Agile. Then there was Chaotic Moon, an Austin, Texas, creative studio that grew to more than 200 employees and $50 million in revenue before being purchased by the global consulting firm Accenture.

Team Chaos, an online gaming company, was acquired by Zynga. Conversable built the leading AI-driven platform to let brands reach their customers through all major messaging and voice platforms before being purchased by LivePerson.

Lamm knows what he is doing. Despite being an accounting and finance major in college, his primary focus for each of his startups has been building category-defining brands. How does he do it? There are three steps that I can piece together from Lamm’s writings.

1. Know Who You Are: This is the core of every great company. Answer these questions to create uncommon clarity in your organization. Once you have clarity you can hire great people and release them to do great work.

Purpose: Why does your organization exist beyond making money? What would the world be missing if your organization ceased to exist?

Core Values: What are the rules you live by inside and outside the organization?

Vision: What is the inspiring destination your organization is driving to?

2. Make it Bigger Than You: JFK and NASA united a nation behind putting a man on the moon. What is the lasting impact your organization can make on the world? What is your moonshot? How can you involve the greater community in your quest?

Tesla and SpaceX are marketing with purpose by pushing the envelope of technology. Their pushing will eventually lead to commercial space travel, driverless cars and worldwide internet access. Their pushing gets a broad audience excited about what they are doing regardless of whether you plan to buy a Tesla.

More and more brands are standing up for social justice issues. Yes – you will alienate everyone on the other side of the aisle, but they’d probably never be raving fans of your brand anyway. Branding requires us to make decisions about who we are, what we stand for and what we are working to achieve.

You don’t have to go out on a limb on social issues like Nike did with the Kaepernick ad. Chick-fil-A has stepped away from addressing social issues but still stands for quality, service, family values and community involvement.

Ninety-nine percent of consumers want to make a positive impact on the world. If they can make a difference by buying your brand or working in your organization, they are getting a two-for-one deal.

Every time my family buys from Chick-fil-A, we are supporting the charities they support. I like the charities they support and feel good about that. Every time we buy Dave’s Killer Bread, we are helping give a convicted felon a second chance and reducing the recidivism rate in America. I can feel good about that too.

It is a lot easier for most consumers to pay a little more in their daily purchasing habits to support a brand they resonate with than writing checks to all these charities. Allow your customers to feel a little better about themselves every time they shop with you.

3. Hire & Promote for Fit and Performance: Once you know what you stand for and where you are going things get a lot easier. It is much easier to hire people that fit your culture and have the skills you need to get where you are going.

Make sure culture and skills are both parts of your interview structure. Make your brand prevalent in your marketing materials so potential recruits can opt-out if they don’t think they’ll be a good fit.

Once you get the right people in the door, reinforce your culture throughout the on-boarding process. Make culture and performance a part of your review and promotion program. Celebrate what you want to see more of and let your talented people go out and impress you.

If you’d like some great resources to help you on your entrepreneurial journey, you can find them on our resources page at www.valuesdrivenresults.com or call me at (229) 244-1559.

Curt Fowler is president of Fowler & Company and director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey. He is dedicated to helping leaders create and achieve a compelling vision for their organizations.

Curt is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and business advisor. He has an MBA in strategy and entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA, and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.