6 years, 6 lessons as a founder

I admit, I’m an accidental entrepreneur. I’ve always been creative and entrepreneurial within bigger corporations but with the safety net of a monthly paycheck. However, six years ago my hand was forced.

The company I worked for went through an acquisition. I was in my mid-30s and perhaps a little naïve when thinking about how things might turn out. “We’ll be safe guys, come on….I’ve worked hard for this company for 8.5 years, of course I’ll have a job!” I was made redundant, with a young family to care for and an underwhelming redundancy package that lasted the best part of two months.

During the summer of 2018 (many Brits will remember a glorious, and rare few months of sunshine), I founded Atlantean, built the website on the kitchen room table (quite literally) and got to work.

Six years down the line I've been reflecting on the journey so far. Here’s six untarnished takeaways for anyone thinking of making the leap.

1) Back your future self

The great entrepreneurs I know bet on their future selves. What do I mean by this? It’s the ability to take on projects, or opportunities, knowing that at the current level you don’t quite have the right elements in place to deliver, but knowing full well you can make it happen. Whether it’s hiring the right people, or contractors, buying the right tools and processes – you find a way, come hell or high water to get it done. Of course, it isn’t always successful but most of the successful people I know make sh*t happen, even if they aren’t fully ready at the start.

2) It’s all about the people

I’ve built Atlantean as a creative, hearty crew. The mission is to connect people to water and climate through creative content. For context, we’re a hybrid team: a healthy mix of full time employees supported by a small army of creatives, videographers, designers and web developers. It means we can scale up or down depending on the project size.

Like every founder behind small media agencies, we’ve had mixed results when it comes to hiring. Talent comes and goes and no matter how much you pay, nurture and help to level-up people, heads will always be turned by what are initially perceived as bigger opportunities.

While I used to take this perhaps personally when starting out (it’s a human pride thing – why would you want to work, for them?!), I now see it as an inevitability. Change is constant and people and projects are cyclical. Nobody sticks around in the same role for decades any longer. So long as you treat people how you like to be treated, listen, ensure they are challenged, well paid and taken care of, then it should mean good people stick around. Six years later and I’m really happy with the current team, and culture we’re growing.

On a similar note, when starting out you don’t have the resources to have full-time employees covering every element of the business. Fortunately, there’s armies of independent, and affordable, help at hand. Atlantean wouldn’t be where it is without such companies supporting IT, HR, legal, accounting and payroll. We’re also fortunate to be part of the Freedom Works office network (now 10 locations and counting), so we’re connected to a great ecosystem of small business owners to help each other.

3) Build a brand, not a logo

Ignore the haters and critics. When I first started I had many people question/critique the name: “What does Atlantean even mean – I don’t like it…rubbish name and logo, go for Tom Freyberg Media Services – it’s strong” and the classic “Your logo looks like an old man bending down!” It almost reminded me of when my partner was pregnant both times. Strangers, often without kids, would be the first to offer advice. “Make sure to get your sleep in…that’s definitely a boy from the look of the bump” (turned out to be girls, twice).

It’s a case of listening to 50 different pieces of feedback and advice, ignoring the masses, weeding out the few that resonate, and then trusting your instinct (more on that later). We wanted Atlantean to stand for something in a world where there’s multiple water and climate solutions but a void in communicating those solutions to the market. The Atlantean A, often used by itself in our own content and as a signature sign-off on our work, represents our values: action, courage, curiosity, integrity, simplicity. The strong brand colours are consistent and visible across all the platforms, from social media to the website and other communications. It’s a brand that stands for something and hopefully, transcends that of a single name.

4) Partnerships are the bedrock

Content isn’t a short-term play. You can’t send out a single press release, or Tweet (sorry, X), and expect people to know your brand. It requires long-term planning, investment, results, recalibration, belief and ultimately, consistency. As a result, the business is based on long-term, content-as-a-service and digital media partnerships. From month one, these have been the bedrock behind the company and enabled it to grow, alongside more lumpy project work. A huge shout out and thanks to the Aquatech Global Events team (Annette Bos, Annelie Koomen, Bas Dalm and Daan Bughouts) for betting on me from day one. It’s been amazing to work alongside the team to create incredible experiences (Innovation Forum and the F**K Up night). And others (team Qatium – Jaime Barba Sevillano, Alasdair Bell), FIDO Tech (Victoria Edwards) and of course friend, partner and mentor, Will Sarni. It’s a cliché, but people buy and work with people they like. I know I do personally, and we get to know our partners personally.

5) Gut instinct is real, very real

There are multiple studies around ‘gut instinct’ and how it’s the second brain. The phrase “trust your gut” is widely used, and for good reason. You know that feeling you get when first meeting people, that initial connection, whether positive or negative? It comes from hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, from figuring out quickly whether someone is a friend or a foe. While we’re not meeting other half-naked cavemen and women (well, that can be argued in some cases), today we’re in offices and forced networking events wearing suits and chinos. There’s been a couple of points over the years with potential projects, contracts and partnerships when my gut has simply said, albeit not literally, “Tom, hold the brakes, something isn’t right here." And guess what? It turned out to be true. Never underestimate the power of saying no if it doesn’t feel right. You’ll thank yourself later.

6) Enjoy the dips (the rises will come)

It’s not all unicorns and fairies. Of course, there are times when cash flow dries up and invoices aren’t paid. There was a European project that took over 100 days to pay. 100 days. Imagine if your employer said; "You will get paid, but in 3.5 months – good luck with the mortgage, byeeeeee!" In the early days, every single invoice payment is critical. It’s the difference between debt and liquidity, between paying a mortgage (in my case) and getting calls from the bank, and quickly spiralling into debt. Fortunately, we made it through the early tough times, including the pandemic without taking a dime from the government.

And there are times you have IT issues, travel cancellations, staff leaving and a whole load of things to deal with. Unlike a traditional 9-5, it can be addictively endless.

Finding your Ikigai

Over the last six years, I’ve tried to build a life and culture for the team that I live by (family first, work second). Have I always got it right, balancing deadlines, travel and raising a young family and business? Nope. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

There’s an amazing Japanese concept called ‘Ikigai’ – a recent message exchange with Jim Lauria reminded me of this. The concept goes like this: if you can find the sweet spot between something you love, something you’re good at, something the world needs and something you can get paid for? It’s your personal sweet spot. Your raison d’etre. It’s always worth reviewing your Ikigai every few years to see if a recalibration is needed. I’m certainly going to repeat this process.

And a final note to anyone reading who is tempted to make the leap. Go for it! As a good friend said to me six years ago: think about all the things that could go right, not wrong. We are conditioned to fear risk and seek safety: monthly paychecks to pay a monthly mortgage, with the banks threatening to repossess the house if you don’t.

As a devoted employee between 2005-2018, I had the same mindset. The thought at the time of a life outside of this comfort zone was daunting. Yet, when you have no choice but to make it work, you roll up your sleeves and get it done.

Founder life isn’t for everyone, but I’m convinced that once you can ‘make it work’ outside the system, it can be an incredibly rewarding (and addictive) life.

Personally, I’m super interested in founders’ origin stories - it's worth checking out a podcast I co-host with water legend, Will Sarni (https://shorturl.at/wvwb7) where we focus on this and other topics.

What’s your story and reason for starting a business? Have you found your Ikigai yet? Comments and thoughts below 👇

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