Tanis George, a distinguished serial tech entrepreneur and esteemed advisor to startup founders, joins me to elucidate the pivotal elements of fostering successful co-founder partnerships. With a remarkable career spanning over two decades, Tanis has co-founded and scaled multiple data-driven enterprises, including her latest venture, Trulio. Throughout our discussion, she articulates the critical importance of establishing a strong foundation of trust, transparency, and shared mission among co-founders, which she identifies as essential for long-term business success. Furthermore, Tanis emphasizes the necessity for leaders to actively shape and retain the cultural ethos of their organizations, rather than relegating this responsibility to their teams. Through her insights, we explore the nuances of effective leadership and the intricate dynamics of entrepreneurial collaboration.

The principal theme of this podcast episode revolves around the critical importance of establishing and maintaining robust co-founder partnerships in the realm of entrepreneurship. I am privileged to host Tanis George, a distinguished serial tech entrepreneur and advisor, whose extensive experience spans over two decades in founding and scaling data-driven businesses. Throughout our discourse, we delve into Tanis's remarkable journey, from her initial foray into entrepreneurship at a young age to her pivotal role in the successful exit of multiple ventures. Her insights illuminate the necessity for transparency, trust, and alignment of vision among co-founders, which she argues are foundational for fostering a resilient business environment. As we navigate the complexities of leadership and partnership dynamics, Tanis offers invaluable guidance on cultivating a strong organizational culture that is essential for long-term success.

In the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast, the esteemed host Jaclyn Strominger engages in an enlightening dialogue with Tanis George, a distinguished entrepreneur and co-founder with a prolific track record in the technology sector. The episode commences with an exploration of Tanis's formative years, wherein her upbringing within an entrepreneurial family profoundly influenced her career trajectory. She articulates how early exposure to the principles of sales and the work ethic instilled by her father laid the groundwork for her entrepreneurial pursuits. This foundational narrative is further enriched by Tanis’s recounting of her first venture, which arose out of a keen observation regarding the disparities in access to credit reports between Canada and the United States, thereby illustrating her innate ability to identify and capitalize on market opportunities.

As the conversation progresses, Tanis delves into the complexities of co-founder dynamics, a central theme of her journey. She underscores the vital importance of alignment in vision and mission among co-founders, positing that such alignment is instrumental in fostering a culture of trust and collaboration. Tanis’s insights into the significance of transparent communication resonate throughout the discussion, as she elucidates how this practice not only cultivates a cohesive team environment but also mitigates the risks associated with misunderstandings and assumptions that can lead to conflict. Her experiences in scaling businesses, specifically her strategic approach to maintaining a small, agile team, further exemplify her commitment to nurturing a productive organizational culture rooted in shared values and mutual respect.

The episode concludes with a focus on Tanis's current endeavors, particularly her work with the Co Founders Hub and her dedication to mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs through innovative educational initiatives. Tanis articulates her vision for providing founders with the tools necessary to establish robust partnerships and navigate the challenges inherent in entrepreneurship. She emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and introspection, advocating for a deep understanding of personal values as a means to inform business decisions. This podcast episode emerges as a profound resource for both current and aspiring entrepreneurs, offering a wealth of practical wisdom and strategic insights that underscore the multifaceted nature of successful leadership and partnership in the entrepreneurial landscape.

Takeaways:

• Tanis's entrepreneurial journey was profoundly influenced by her family's entrepreneurial background and her father's teachings.
• The success of a co-founder partnership relies significantly on transparent communication and shared vision between partners.
• Understanding oneself as an entrepreneur is essential for making informed decisions about business direction and culture.
• Tanis emphasizes the importance of assessing co-founder alignment on mission and expectations to prevent partnership breakdowns.
• Culture within a startup must be actively shaped by founders, as it reflects their values and leadership style.
• Tanis advocates for a thorough due diligence process to ensure co-founder teams are healthy and well-aligned before seeking investment.

Links referenced in this episode:

• tanishdor.com
• linkedin.com/in/tanisgeorge
• cofoundershub.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Thank you for listening

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Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight - Welcome

Welcome to the podcast

Hi everybody and welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast where we hear from influential leaders and their game changing insights. I'm Jaclyn Strominger, your host and today I want to welcome our amazing guest Tanis. Oh my God. Who you guys have.

She has done some amazing kick ass things. So let me just give you a little bit of background on Tanis.

With her long term business partner and she has done amazing work and following a record breaking series D she stepped down from from the board to focus on her co founder advisory work and she remains does remain a minority shareholder in Trulio. Some things that I just really want to put out because then we're going to ask a bunch of questions.

She is Tanis is an author of the Co Founders Handbook. It's listed in USA Today's top 10 business books to scale your business. She's the co founder.

She's the founder of the Co Founders Hub, a platform dedicated to providing entrepreneurs with the necessary tools to to establish, nurture and successfully exit business partnerships.

She has, she advises fast growing startups and leading venture capitalists focusing her work on how co founders can function in an open, productive and symbiotic way to ensure continued and long term business business success. And when she's not doing all those great things and she takes time to mentor students at a private school she founded which is so awesome.

Live Learn Launch Academy which focuses on entrepreneurship, financial literacy and life skills. So oh my God, so many great things. Welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast. Oh my God.

So so Tanis I have so, so many great things you were talking beforehand but tell me a little bit about your journey into entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and leadership and how you know, tell us a little bit, take us through your journey.

Yeah, so I was you know I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs.

My parents were, my dad was a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman for a big portion of his life back in the day when that was a thing and you know when I was growing up my dad really he would often share those sort of sales, sales ideas and sales tactics that he used to teach his guys that were in his sales force.

And so I grew up very much learning like success Principles because he would, you know, he would read books by Augmentino and, and Napoleon Hill and he'd read all those books and then he'd share those insights with me growing up. So I really grew up with a mentality of, you know, life is a numbers game.

That was kind of what my dad would say, just keep working the numbers hun and you'll get it was that sort of, was, was sort of drilled into me. So, and then if it wasn't in entrepreneurship, my dad was in sales. So you know, his, his last portion of his career he sold yellow page advertising.

And so again, you know, definitely into the sales space. And so my dad would just share those things with us. So I think and I was the first person to graduate high school in my family.

Both my siblings and my parents. Everybody sort of left school and became entrepreneurs and so, and no one ever really talked about like, like post secondary education.

It just wasn't something anybody thought about. So I never, it was never really ingrained in me.

So I, I think just growing up in the back of my mind it was always presumed that I was going to probably start a business and whatever that looked like. So I definitely think the nurture side of growing up was a big component in my ability to look at entrepreneurship from an early age.

Wow, that is really amazing and remarkable because, you know, our, you know, we always talk obviously how the influences that make us who we are and, and, and where we come from and it's, I love that. It's like you just never even thought about it. Just I'm just going to become an entrepreneur.

I'm just going to do it because that's, that's what we do, right?

That's what we do. That's what, that's what it is. And so we never did that.

And so my first business I started right, I did start right out of high school was my, with my best friend in high school.

He and I started our first business not too long, just after graduating and, and that sort of began my career in building startups and building tech companies. Even though, you know, neither he or I were technical background, we didn't have a technical background.

So we're one of those unique entrepreneurs that had to, you know, who came up with the ideas but we had to find those tech, the tech outside of, outside of ourselves.

And so yeah, it was, it was challenging, but it just goes to tell a lot of people who think, oh well, I have this idea for a tech company, but I'm not technical. You know, it's Doable. It's not easy.

Right, right.

But it's doable for sure.

So, couple questions. First, first, first I want to ask you about. So you did not go to university?

No.

Okay.

And so, and I was a C minus, which is a very probably good, I was a C minus student. I was at school to basically socialize and, and yeah, I just never saw the point of academics in the same way. I just thought it was quite silly. So.

Right, right.

And, and we talked a little bit about your school, which I just think is just brilliant because it's not.

We're getting, you know, getting rid of the fluffy things that you don't really need in your day to day, but actually doing more things practical, which is really great. Let me ask you, so you leave high school and you're like, I'm gonna start a business. How did you come up with the idea?

Yeah, actually it was Steven, my, my, my co founder. He, he was in the, in the States, actually we're Canadian. So he's in the States and had to get his credit report.

Was basically what it came down to is starting to build a life down in the States and needed to get a cell phone and had to get his credit report and discovered that it was available in an online format in the US but not in Canada. In Canada we still had the old antiquated mail in a form system in order to get access to your credit file.

And so it was like, oh, this is available in the U.S. why don't we do this up in Canada? So that's where the idea came from.

And he approached me and said, hey, you know, I, I, we didn't, I didn't even know what a credit report was. I was like, what's a credit report? We're like 19 years old, just out of school, I don't even know what kind of report is.

And he's like, yeah, it's like a report card for adults. Like, oh, okay. And you know, they can do it in the States. Let's, let's just do it up here. We were totally naive.

Had no understanding of the regulatory, legislative environment. Had no idea about how to, you know, do a back end, you know, technical website, any of that kind of stuff.

But we saw the need and it was like, there's got to be a way to do it up here. So that was, that was the first business that we did. We started it and three years later we were able to have, we were acquired and exited. Yeah.

Wow, that is fantastic.

So I love this idea that, I mean, obviously you started this business, you had a business partner and so how many employees did you have at this company?

Yeah, so all of our first three businesses. So what ended up happening is over the course of 10 years, we built and exited three tech companies.

All very similar in the sense that in the same industry, typically in the credit or identity space. Yeah, but what we did really, really well was, you know, taking an idea and bringing it to fruition.

So in those businesses, the most employees we had was five, five or six employees. And we always sold. Just sort of, just once the business was up and going and we had maybe a year under our belt.

That was when we went for the acquisition. We just were not as excited about scaling companies and we just knew where the niche was and we knew where the buyer was.

And so it was kind of our M.O. to do that until we started truly you.

That was when we made a conscious decision to actually scale the company ourselves and grow it beyond what it was.

So in both small and scaling, you know, Whether you've got five employees or you have 100 or 2,000, what do you think that you did to help bring those people on and help them get behind what you were doing?

Yeah, you know, I think one thing that we did really well was helped people to really understand the mission early on and the vision of the company. You know, we were able to articulate and communicate what we're trying to achieve.

And I think when you have a team that's falls on board of mission, not just in milestones and hitting KPIs and doing all that, it's when they really grasp onto mission and what you're trying to achieve, that buy in becomes so much better with employees and your team. So I think we were exceptionally good at casting that vision.

Even if the mission was to build a company and exit and get it into the hands of a company who could then scale it and grow it, that too was sort of, could be a mission as well. And so I think that was, I think that's what we do.

Well.

When I reflect back on, on, on how we built our team and what made people stay, why would people leave? You know, it would be.

Oh, you know, I think sometimes it might be they just fell out of mission, fell out of the vision of the company and didn't want to move forward. But we were very fortunate to have people who, who really saw what we were trying to achieve and wanted to stick with it.

Yeah, I think I'm a firm believer in obviously that whole vision mission. I think it's so Important to create that and have that with.

Whether you're a five person company, 50 person or 100 person company, it is so important. And so when you're thinking of the things that you've done and then how do you think, you know, if there's, you know, looking at the scaling Trulia.

Right. How do you feel that that evolved over time with your mission?

And how often were you, as I like to say, mma, like measure, monitoring and adjusting that.

Yeah, you know, we always brought our team into our goals. You know, I think as founders, you have a choice.

You can keep the state of your business behind the curtain and, or you can bring people along for the ride.

And so I think we, what we did well was we were able to balance what needed to be behind the curtain, what you didn't need to, you know, strap your employees with the, some of the concerns and struggles that you have, but at the same time let them know, hey, this is a key time in the business. These are, this is a key customer that we need to kind of bring on board. I think that a lot of that was really like an important piece of it.

So I think, you know, adjusting with the stages of your company as you're going through, being honest and transparent where what is important within the company and then at the same time just encouraging and helping people to see what, what, what's coming around the pipeline as well.

Keeping people excited, I wouldn't say a carrot, but at the same time just saying, hey, if we succeed here, this is what's around the bend and just keeping the team informed of what, what's coming around.

I think that was another really important piece to keeping people sticking through because that entrepreneurship journey, especially your early employees, they're along for the ride just as much as you are. And that ride is always, you know, smooth, you know, nice grassy hills that, you know, with the sun shining, it's very volatile.

And so, you know, understanding that they can't just, your team can't always hear the struggles and they can't always just be told, hey, everything's going to be great. So balancing, that's really important, right?

It's that, I mean, it is a roller coaster and there's twists and turns and there's, you know, it is, it's catching the ride and catching that and keeping going. So, I mean, I love this.

And so how do you think that that actually just helped with the culture and the, for lack of better word, morale, you know, of the company?

Yeah, you know, you know, I'm a big proponent.

So in the co founder partnership, one of the, the sort of, the key pillars of a successful partnership is in my opinion, the, the transparency, vulnerability and authenticity. Those three things are really, really important because those three things are what builds a foundation of trust.

And I think in many ways you can always transfer that over to your team as well. Your team has to trust you as founders. I mean, you're their leader.

You're the person who's taking this company, you know, on this ride and they need to trust you. And so again, there is this. We, we were never up on any kind of pedestal. We never put ourselves separate.

You know, we were in the bullpen with everybody.

We were engaged, we really enjoyed, we understood that, you know, we're trading our life, our everyday life for this business and what we're trying to achieve here. And so it was really important that, you know, we enjoyed working with the people that we worked with.

So there was this level of trust and transparency that took place and I think that's where it built trust. Our team trusted us and I think that's a really key, important piece for founders to establish with their team.

Yeah, you know, what you just said, I think is so really, it's so really important. You know, the trust factor, building that.

But the one thing that you said, you know, you said you're in the bullpen with them, you're in the trenches and you're not sort of like on this pedestal. And I think that's something that, that I see. You know, if you were to me, wave that magic wand and you could create great leaders.

Great leaders are in there, you know, the CEOs and people that they're, they're doing the work with the people because they want to see that, that rise. Right.

So if you had a magic wand and you could change like, and give like one massive advice to leaders today that you think would be to, you know, change the trajectory of, of leadership, what would it be?

Yeah, I think today what I'm seeing a lot is leaders sort of relegating culture and, and how the business is going to be built to the team.

I think founders need to regain that responsibility and the trust in themselves to say this is, this is what my company is going to be about and sort of holding on to that, to that responsibility of being the leaders and, and not, you know, passing, letting their team decide.

I think there's a fine line between, I think there's a point where leaders need to retain control of the culture of the business, where they need to be the sole decision maker Letting the responsibility fall on them and then over time you can, you know, pass on. But culture is something that I think founders need to retain for, for as long as they can.

And, and that means deciding, you know, what is the culture within your business.

You know, really making the choices about where your business will go and just really holding on, trusting in yourself and, and being willing to die on that sword. And I think that's an important piece for leaders.

So when you think about that culture, you know, what do you think are the, you know, I think of what I consider what they call the achievement, what I call the achievement code, which is really your, what, you know, your key values, the things that you, that you look for in employees. Not that you want to have everybody, the same personality, because you don't.

But there are certain qualities and values that I think that as a leader you have to decide today, you know, if you're leading a company, what are those values?

Yeah.

And what do you.

So thinking about that, you know, is that something that you would agree and how do you bring out, help your, the co founders and the people that you're working with, even in the hub, figure out what those values are?

Yeah, I think that's, I mean, ultimately having a true understanding of yourself as an entrepreneur is really key.

And I think not enough people really sit down and do that introspective, introspective work to discover who they are as an entrepreneur, what influences will shape the decisions that they make, where are they getting outside influence? You know, that's a big key piece as well.

But really deciding because, because I think one of the things that I often say to founders is your business is actually an extension of you. It's going to follow you forever. You're going to always have this business sitting there on your resume.

It's always, it's truly 100, an extension of you. Almost like a child. Right. So you have to see things through that lens. You know, how you build your business will be how people see you.

So when you look at it in that frame, your business, how you conduct, how you conduct business, how you structure the processes within your business, you know, if it's regiment and maybe you're a regimented person, that might be what you are.

And so the structure within your business is going to be regimented because that's how you learn, that's how you communicate, that's how you take in information. But just really understanding that how your business is being built is a reflection of you.

So if you want your business to be reflected in A certain way. You have to adapt to that in some ways. And so your values need to be understood because that will be reflected.

So, you know, and if you want it to be a place where innovation, you know, it grows, then you need to look at yourself and go, are you the innovator or do you need to bring in a partner who's the innovator?

Then, you know, so it's really understanding yourself as an entrepreneur so that you, you, in doing that, you see that bird's eye picture of what you're about and you'll be able to see what your business is going to be and you can adapt and change that as your business needs it.

Yeah, no, my God, that's. That is brilliant. It's so true, because it is.

And I would almost say, you know, would you also say that it's whether you're the entrepreneur, but if you take that same frame, would you. Does it, does that also lie within a company and somebody who's leading a team?

Oh, yeah, 100%.

You know, again, we always look at these sort of personality tests and we look at these things sometimes thinking they're gimmicky, they're not, they're actually really important. It tells a story about how somebody is going to lead. It's how, how somebody looks at the world. And so, you know, it's really important.

I, I'm one of the things that I put all my, the co founders that I usually advise, I put them through a whole series of tests to find out, like, what's your conflict style, what's your learning style, what are your values? What's. What level of optimism and pessimism do you have? You know, I've come across people who are just off the charts optimistic.

Well, that doesn't necessarily bode well in a business because, you know, you have to be able to see any red flags and sometimes you have to act on those. You can't just, oh, it's going to be fine, and right.

And then you have the other side, where you have people who are so pessimistic in their mind, they have to have every single duck in a row in order to make a step forward, in order to ensure they do it right. And that's not practical as well. So there's a whole series of real deep thought that you have to look in at yourself.

Who are you influence, who's going to make decisions?

You know, so again, same thing, I talk to co founders and find out, oh, you know, one of them goes home and talks to their spouse and Their spouse is just telling them in the background, oh, you got to do this, you got to do that. And they come to the office the next day and they're actually making a decision based on somebody else's recommendation, not their own.

And so there's all these things or just background experiences, the baggage you bring into a business that you might make, you might be less risk oriented if you failed in a previous business, but that's not necessarily what you need to do. So you have to understand all this stuff about you in order to really move forward and make. Make decisions effectively.

Yeah, no, that is. Oh, my God. It's a. And I, I'm a big, huge fan of assessments. Huge, huge fan of them. But it's so true.

And I think it's very, you know, what you just said is, is helping people understand, again, who they really are truly does matter.

And that whether it's, whether you're the CEO or you're a leader of a team, you need to know who you are and then decide how, you know, what, what are those values and of the people that you want to bring in.

Well, the other side of it as well is if you are in a partnership or if you have, you know, a C suite executive and you're on your team, you really need to put those, your personal, you know, your assessment of yourself and your things alongside these folks, because that's where conflict can arise. If you're not understanding, you know, I'll give an example. For me, I am very high level strategy.

I am the person who takes a look at every possible scenario and I can kind of map that out. But when it comes to execution and sort of drilling down into that one single piece, I don't flourish in that space. So I needed to.

And this was a reflection I learned after, when people started to come to me and say, how have you and Stephen built four companies together over 25 years and you're still friends? You know, and I had to really think about that because I knew that was a. That's rare, that's very unique to be in that situation.

And that was one of the key pieces that I came out of, is that I was able to, you know, come in on that high level strategy. Oh, what about this? What about that? What if we did this? What if we dad did that?

And Stephen was able to come in afterwards when we sort of made a decision and to kind of keep me at Bagel. Okay, we made this decision. Let's stick with this until the next, you know, the next piece that has to be made.

And so we worked really, really well in that way. And so, so I think that's an important piece as well.

It's all in great and dandy to find out what you can about yourself but now you have to look at how, how can you make that, maximize that with your partner or with your, with your team?

Yeah, no, that's, that is, that is great. So, so today you've got a lot of great things happening. You, you know, you've got the hub, you've got the school.

So what are the biggest things that you're focusing on right now?

So one of the key pieces that we're focused on right now is really helping venture capital companies, angel investors and such do the due diligence necessary to ensure that the co founder teams that they're bringing on board are in, are healthy and in a good space and making sure that those co founders have talked about the important pieces, that they're aligned on mission, that they're aligned on the vision of the company and the execution plan.

So right now we are really putting together a very deep in depth certification process that allows founders to do all the work necessary ahead of time before, possibly before they go and raise money.

But additionally while they're in a partnership to make sure that they truly have had the conversations that are necessary, that all those expectations they have of one another have been communicated. They're not just, there's not all these assumptions. That's where, that's where it all breaks down.

When a founder says I thought you were going to, well, we're not mind readers and those thought you were going to can be really, really big and damaging to a company. And then when people fail to meet expectations, trust is broken down and then we lose the foundation of the partnership.

So right now that's our key piece is to help founders really build a strong foundation within their partnership so that eventually if they choose to raise money or if they're, or if even just if they're building a business, they're building it on a really strong foundation.

That's great. I absolutely, absolutely love that. Okay, so Tanis, I so love connecting with you. I feel like I could talk to you all day long.

Where can people, people find you and connect with you?

Yeah. So my course spot right now is just on LinkedIn so you can find TanisGeorge J O R G E. You can find me there.

I do a lot of stuff as on my website tanishdor.com if you are looking to you need any advising or consulting, I do do that as well there. And then the co founders hub, we're in the middle of relaunching the site, so that'll be up and running shortly.

It's always good than I thought, but it's coming and. And such. But yeah, those would be the three key paces.

And then of course the book is available at any location, in every format, audiobook, ebook, paperback, hard copy. The Co founders Handbook. Really, it's the starting point.

It walks founders through the entire every stage from whether or not you should even have a co founder to what to look for and then what to do when you're in a partnership. How do you ensure it's strong?

And then finally how do you exit with grace so that you don't, you know, burn that bridge but at the end build an incredible relationship with someone right through to the very end.

Oh my. That is fantastic.

So listeners, if you are in the space of co find co founding a business or you have a co founder, you have a partner, even if it's a partner in your, in your company. Go grab, go grab the book. Read it.

Yes.

And share your insights.

Yes.

And please connect with tanis George on LinkedIn. Go to her website and all those things. And Tanis, thank you so much for being a guest on the unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast.

And guests, if you are listening and you have a great leadership story or business that you would like to share, please just go to leaptier success.com and click on podcast and apply to be a guest. So thank you guys so much for listening and thank you so much for being a guest.