CEO of Playmaker, a sports media brand with 20M+ followers, 50+ athletes under management & 30+ shows on Snap. @Playmaker on social.
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By Brandon Harris, CEO of Playmaker, a sports media brand with 20M+ followers, 50+ athletes under management & 30+ shows on Snap. @Playmaker on social.
Here are 10 of the biggest things I’ve learned while growing Playmaker from seven employees to more than 70 while remaining profitable every step of the way.
1. Test, test, test—then double down. Your plan probably won’t work the first time, the second time or the third time, so it’s all about testing. Then when you have a breakthrough, how quickly and efficiently can you do a lot more of what worked?
2. What got you here won’t get you there. I believe the idea that you will ever “make it” is just a dream. The challenges will change at every level, but they never go away. Don’t ever stagnate.
3. Hiring can make or break a company. It’s well worth getting those references, digging deeper, doing more interviews and really looking for the perfect fit. A bad senior hire can really set you back, so don’t be afraid to make a hire, but don’t jump to hire the first person with an awesome résumé.
4. Hire your target market. Our team is all in our target demographic and can speak to their peers in content and social media. Teaching someone a job is hard enough; teaching them a culture is a whole new challenge.
5. Culture is so key. It helps determine whether you’re building your organization or constantly replacing folks. We are all about attitude and having fun together here. Talent levels are negotiable, but culture fit is not. One bad apple can infect a team, demotivate others and kill momentum. It doesn’t matter how great they may be; avoid hiring them.
6. Process improvement and efficiency optimizations should never stop. It’s never “set it and forget it” operationally, and new levels of scale require new levels of organization. Small percentage-point improvements over long periods of time eventually become massive improvements. Stay the course.
7. Branding and positioning often start out as unimportant, then become essential. I’m a big believer in focusing on the product, content and growth over branding at the beginning. You need to have an awesome product first before anyone cares about your brand. But once you have that in place, your brand really matters, as it’ll determine the kind of partners you can get and how you’re viewed in the market. There’s no need to perfect the branding before you have something great to sell first, though.
8. Trust yourself and your team. Two of the biggest things that stop entrepreneurs from moving forward are impostor syndrome and being afraid to hire. It’s natural to think you may not be capable, and it’s even more natural to be worried about someone else messing things up or stealing from you. But if you don’t trust yourself and give the right people a chance, your ceiling will be extremely low. Shoot your shot.
9. You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. Don’t overthink. Go break things until you find your secret sauce, then put that sauce on everything.
10. Don’t compromise your standards. People will always be afraid of failure, but that doesn’t mean you should set the bar low. That’s a trap. Set the bar high and lead by example. Let your team know you believe in them and that it’s also ok to fail if they give it their best. Over time, the right team members will rise, and a rising tide lifts all boats.
Building a profitable company in this economy is extremely challenging, but it is possible with extreme discipline. If you focus on the principles above and never stop focusing on increasing revenue, you can still build a massively successful brand in 2023.
