In this week’s Business Unusual podcast, Ralf Fletcher, CEO of Topco Media sits down with Robert Paddock Co-founder at GetSmarter, Executive Director at Hubble Studios, Board Member at Injini, and CEO at Valenture Institute.
Whilst with GetSmarter, Robert travelled to the US to learn about scaling up first hand and he shares his experience with us – a key learning being how, by reading the book on scaling up methodology he understood how businesses can leverage relationships with their existing customer base and business partners.
Together with Ralf he dives into the dynamics around starting up, taking over and running a family business as well as solutions to the common challenges these type of businesses face.
Key takeaways to listen out for in this podcast:
- Pace yourself and your team.
- Create communication rhythms – like daily stand-ups, weekly meetings, planning and alignment sessions.
- In order for your business to evolve, you need to evolve. Reaching a certain point of maturity will have positive results for your business.
- Use your business as a mechanism for personal growth and transformation.
- Maintain a work-family life balance to ensure a healthy relationship between your work and family.
Rob Paddock is a passionate entrepreneur and educator, with a personal mission to improve lives through better education.
After teaching music in his early career in Cape Town, Rob moved to London to assist with the establishment of a corporate team-building company. On returning to South Africa 4 years later, he launched GetSmarter with his brother.
Rob is an advocate for technology-enhanced learning, and speaks regularly at University seminars, conferences and workshops. Rob is Founder and CEO of Valenture Institute, an Executive Director of Hubble Studios, a creative e-learning agency in Cape Town, and an advisor to a number of online education companies in Africa and abroad.
