Unicorn hubs like San Francisco, New York, Beijing, Stockholm and London are famous for their success stories, especially within tech. Iteration is fast, building is fun, financial backing is available, and the successes line up as a result. Right?
Well, no doubt the people behind global giants (like Meta, TikTok, OpenAI and Klarna to name a few) are highly driven, well connected and ambitious. But the message from Dave Morrissey in our recent Treyd Secrets podcast episode? Everyone starts somewhere.
And, as he argues, growing like a tech company comes down to the culture and the why of brands.
“Because essentially it's not the code that drives these companies, it's actually the people making decisions and how they work together.” Dave Morrissey
And he would know. He spent over 15 years in tech and e-commerce. At Meta (by then still Facebook) he helped build brands such as Huel, Gymshark and many others, and he held a leading position at TikTok.
Long story short – Dave found himself with a lot of knowledge on what sets tech companies up for success. So much so that he wrote the book “Grow Like Tech”. While they’re native to tech businesses, he’s confident these frameworks are not tech-bound.
Instead, there are some common themes – up for grabs, for any growing (or starting) company. We’ve drawn out a few of them, from the Treyd Secrets episode where Treyd co-founder Peter Beckman sits down with Dave Morrissey.
Lesson 1. Serve the human to scale the business
One thing Dave found in his book research was that while being in tech, first off, these companies are human centric. And Dave would encourage any growing company to use the same approach. Culture starts within 👇
Obsess about the customer and their problem. Start there, build your solution and scale. Dave saw in his research this hyper focus on the customer, building in feedback loops everywhere to constantly improve the customer experience. Essentially these companies are building something human and wrapping the tech around it. Not the other way around.
“I really think it comes down to…how do you surprise, delight the human and take a human approach first and then kind of wrap the tech and wrap the finances around it.” Dave Morrissey on Treyd Secrets episode 16.
Lesson 2. Having a why is everything
A human first approach also means having a clear mission. Leaders such as Simon Sinek have long been voicing the importance of why. And growth consultant Dave Morrissey adds to that. You have to be able to answer the question of why. Why are you as a company in existence, beyond profits, and who are you here to serve? Dave Morrissey says having that why is key, and another way to think about it is:
“If you were to disappear, would anyone care?” Dave Morrissey
Lesson 3. The traits that scale your business
Whatever industry you’re in, there’s a lot to learn from tech and the tech approach to scaling. In tech the concept of scaling is always there. And as it comes down to the people and the processes, Dave goes on to explain how there are three traits that stand out. Look for these in yourself, in colleagues and anyone you want to hire.
The three personality pillars to scale up like tech:
1. Constant curiosity
2. Being persistent and proactive
3. Giving more than you take
“A lot of people have loads of ideas. Ideas are plentiful. Ideas are easy. The actual doers, the proactive people, the persistent people, they're key. And the third piece is then the givers. They give more than they take.” Dave Morrissey
Lesson 4. Hire for growth
Besides fostering these traits in your culture, one thing Dave would encourage is not bringing in the specialists too soon. Or more importantly, keeping what he calls “the pirate people” onboard for longer. Dave describes pirate people as the hungry doers who are eager to bring different disciplines together, and to keep on building and to become profitable.
“It's actually a great learning from Google, from Eric Schmidt, that they look to hire smart creatives. So people who are somewhat intelligent, but can connect a lot of dots. I think that a specialist can't do that.“ Dave Morrissey
Final words on tech growth strategies that any brand can steal
Mindset, culture and the right people are key for growing the tech way. Dave has a lot to say on the topic and you can find the full episode on Spotify and Apple Podcaster.
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💜 For more growth lessons from the tech world, here's the full episode with Dave Morrissey.
→ Want to learn more about growing? Lessons from Storehero co-founder Thomas Gleeson here.