How Business Savy Are You? Quiz Queston

Who Gets To Run Your New Company?

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Deliguy

Deliguy

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Sep 27, 2006
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Here's a quick quiz question to test how business savvy you are. It's multiple choice and there is a right and wrong answer. I'll explain the answer later, I just want to see how business savvy the wickedfire gang is in general.

The Question:
You have an established medium sized business that you've had for several years. Since the beginning you've had one single employee manage it for you named Jason. Jason started in the business with you when it was small and ever so slowly built it up to the size it is now. You hire a new employee to compensate for the added workload named Brian. Brian is a dream employee. Right out of the gate he takes charge and starts growing the business like a wildfire. He easily becomes the leader and performs way better than Jason. You've never seen your business grow so fast and do so well. You decide you're doing so well you want to start another business completely unrelated to your current one. You have to pick one employee to promote to running your new business and have to leave the other behind to continue his work on your current business. Who do you pick to take to the new business?

Use the poll above to lock in your answer.
 


Right off the bat I'm going to say I don't think I have any business sense, but I'm going to pick Jason.

The way I see it, Brian is doing really well with the current business on his own. He pretty much is the reason why it's taken off and why I can afford to start another business. Jason, on the other hand, performed adequately since the beginning, but only slowly expanded it.

I've already seen that Jason is good at establishing a business and Brian is good at taking an already established business to the top, so why not play their apparent strengths to my advantage?
 
Jason was there from day one with Biz #1 so he knows what it takes to start from zero. Plus the obvious trust factor with him. I say let Jason establish Biz #2, then let Brian work his magic once it's rolling. The formula worked for Biz #1, why fuck with it? :)
 
+1 Jason. Brian's fresh and aggressive so most likely he's banging your wife and will end up with it all anyways.
 
It seems like Jason's fire on this existing business is diminishing due to whatever personal motivations of his own. Since his track record was starting businesses with me and bringing them up to a respectable size, it would be best to repeat that process with him in a new venture. Brian is already into the current business and having him switch companies would be detrimental since he is already manifesting his efforts into that current business.

Why would Brian jump at the prospect of a new, untested venture when he is peforming well already? Furthermore, with me and Jason out of the way Brian could get some more leverage in the current company.
 
Both Jason and Brian fall under the category of "indispensable employees."

Therefore, fire them both.
 
I'd use the golden handcuffs on Brian... and use Jason on the new venture...

I wouldn't risk dropping an employee that's 'growing the business like a wildfire' on something new that might fail...
 
I would go run the new business, and let Brian run the existing business. Thus, Brian can determine the fate of Jason, I am too emotionally tied to our long standing relationship to make a valid assessment of his worth.
 
I'm hiring this guy:

that_guy.gif
 
I voted for me since I am Jason :P

I would say Jason knows how to start a business and Brian knows how to build it. So getting Jason on board first would be the best situation. Plus Brian is still kinda "new" and you do not know what issues may arise.

While Jason is building the business you would look for his replacement at business A. When business is at a top out level so to speak you would then wait until Jason has reached has potential in building business B then bring Brian on over to it.

Hopefully you have found the right person to do Bus A by now. Bus B should have Brian and you can then move Jason on to the next Bus.
 
Brian because he is my favorite cartoon character, next to Bender Bending Rodriguez.
 
I picked Brian for a number of reasons. One it sounds like this would interest him. He likes challenges and he will like this even more becuase he does not hav eto play nice while he makes changes. He can just do them. No feelings to worry about.

But Jason might do ok at it but not take off with it. And if he stumbles you are stuck. You cant replace him there wtih Brian without making him look like an ass and the "old" company as a failure job.

But this might need a little consideration on your part for the logistics and how motivated they both are to the company. Jason sounds a little disgruntled. Maybe he thinks he is underpaid. Maybe he envies or resents Brian. Maybe splitting them up would make him happy.

Brian sounds like the type that might be getting bored or looking to pad his resume by jumping to a big name firm like HP, Google, or something. If he is that good they will want him too. A headhunter might find him or he might put out some resumes.

I would make a slight decision and then try to make a good case in my head why it is good for everyone. But hide my decision and then meet with either my choice to feel them out. Or maybe meet with both to basically ask what they want from their job. That might help you a lot.
 
+1 Brian

Brian showed his strengths to be in growing the first company fast, while Jason has managed well overall, but has not necessarily provided rapid growth. Since this is a new company, I would rather have Brian, who's proved he is adept at fostering quick growth, to run the company. Growth is my number one priority right now.

Also, Jason probably owns a lot more shares of the first company, since he was there so early. I would assume that Brian never got a chance to control as many, and by moving him to this new company you are providing motivation for him to work more by giving him shares, and also bringing him up to the same monetary level as Jason.
 
Most likely Jason is the right employee for a start-up phase. This happens often and explains why so many founding employees end up being replaced once a start-up has reached the point where it's in a stable situation and moving into long term growth mode.

Basically the company converts from entrepreneurial start-up creative phase to a proper company with structure.
 
I'm going to elaborate on my choice a bit more...

my vote was based on statistical probability and risk management...

if you remove Brian from business A, odds are it's growth will slow or be reduced with Jason alone at the helm... also, based on the information given, Jason had become unnecessary to the operation and growth of business A, so he could be removed and it would continue to grow and expand without him...

given the high percentage of failure rates of new businesses, it's highly likely that Brian's time and resources would be wasted on business B if it were to fail... and as noted above choosing Brian for business B would result in a reduced income stream from business A...

by choosing Brian you have a far greater potential for loss than choosing Jason...
 
I'm going with Jason. He stuck with me from the beginning.

Brian is an ass kissing yes man who's going to steal my ideas, start a competing company, and use everything I taught him to crush me.

Brian's a douche bag.
 
Jason's my man. He's the entrepreneur. He know what it takes to prepare the business for success. He knows which risks to take in the beginning. He's going to keep your compnay on the edge of innovation in the future.

Brian's a manager. You need a good one to light a spark and get the most out of what you have. This is what he's good at and he will be valuable once again when the second business is set on terra firma. Later on as projects and businesses grow you'll want him to be your COO while you run the show as CEO.
 
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