Anton on 8 years of entrepreneurship. The lessons learned and the feedback loop of TeamValue

The highs and lows of 8 years in business

Starting with a low point? I really didn't like starting by myself at all! Soon Xander joined and now 8 years later we are a nice club of people together. I am proud of that. Or trotz, as we say in Zwolle. Zwolle is where our office is and where the connection with our sponsorship with PEC Zwolle lies. Furthermore, our colleagues do not live there and our clients are also in other locations (except for a few). A funny story? I went to register TeamValue at the Chamber of Commerce and was told that I could not be called TeamValue on my own. Well, that was a bummer I can tell you. Fortunately, we quickly rectified that. After all, you don't do great things on your own, you do them with a team. A team with enough diversity.  

What I am even more mega proud of is how we got through the corona period. We have continued to grow from our pain. How? We brought focus. On our proposition, our marketing, personal development and desires from our consultants and our clients.  

We have collected all the highlights of the past few years in our closet of dreams. That cabinet is promiment in our open office and is full of promotional gifts from (former) colleagues, clients, family and our network, each of whom has taken us one step further. When we're celebrating or we're having a hard time, that's the place to go.  

The feedback loop and why 'the eight' is so important to us and our clients

A breakthrough. That's what we're going for. And that's what our clients are going for. From the core values of challenge, ownership, change, value and fun as one family. You don't achieve that breakthrough overnight. We are often told that what we do is not necessarily different, but how we do it. And I consider that a great compliment. We owe that to our dedicated colleagues and the way we work. We make a business case where the value is immediately visible, follow our agile scrum process and actively engage in evaluation. Continuous Learning is high on the agenda.  

Working predictably is what you want as a (start-up) entrepreneur and that's why we applied the defense-based "eight" through our neighbors. Internally and externally. Because working hard is something anyone can do, whether you do the right things at the right time with the right people and resources. That's the next question. We often get asked how we apply that ourselves and what our team days look like? This is how we collaborate, connect and deliver value. And very serious all around, but all the lame jokes in the office have also been flying around your ears for the past 8 years, thankfully. And let it stay that way!

So why the "eight" is so important? A good cooperation and relationship needs trust. And trust makes for a safe working environment and also makes you bold. That has nothing to do with whether you work in IT or not.  

Want to know more about the feedback loop? Read Why it is the Golden path of IT and the business or download our BizDevOps leaflet directly via Goldmine Downloads

A goal is a dream with a deadline - Holland to New York learns the Golden Path

TeamValue itself is now in the scale-up phase. Every phase an organization is in brings challenges. After our 5-year anniversary, we agreed it was time for the next phase. The Rockefeller strategy helped us do that and still helps. We make 'boring' strategy more fun, we apply gamification and we make invisible results visible. Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand and so we make everything transparent.

The best-kept secret of a TeamValue colleague? That's the Golden Path. Well, just a hint. In the coming years, we are going to make sure that this one is not so secret at all. We grant it to every organization to walk the Golden Path. Also that they can do it themselves when we leave again. Imagine everyone working 'agile' these days. In 10 years - from the Netherlands to New York - we will all be applying the Golden Path. IT will no longer be a 'black box' and both business and IT will work the same way. That bridge we're building will simply run from Zwolle to the other side of the world. That is our goal. So does anyone have a question about this way of work? "Who are you gonna call? TeamValue!

Need to spar with Anton about entrepreneurship, the Golden Path or just have a question? Contact us.

See also:

• Bizure.co.uk
• Teamnow.co.uk