Todd Kaufman developed a lifelong passion for software, eventually leading him to co-founding Test Double in 2011, a consultancy focused on improving the broken industry of software development. Test Double has grown to over $14.7M in revenue in 2020, expanding its impact on the industry for 10 years.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Jack Stack Founder and President of SRC Holdings Corp
When business started difficulties overcame:
“fear, published first and foremost. Fear of failure is real and just fear of change is pretty natural for humans. There was a lot of inertia to just staying where we were and continuing to do what we were kind of working for other people and kind of climbing up that ladder. There’s also just a big leap of faith with getting your first customer. Getting your second customer may be even more important. So feeling like hey we were able to draw in enough people with the messaging about who we were and what test double brought…”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Book by Daniel H. Pink
Also mentioned:
- You win with people! Book by Woody Hayes
Favourite Quote:
- “You win with people!” Woody Hayes
Also mentioned:
- “Make fear a tailwind not your headwind” Jimmy Iovine
Recommended Online Resources:
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization – The Entrepreneur Organization enables entrepreneurs to learn and grow from each other leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life
- Vistage is where leaders learn and grow. They help CEOs and business owners grow their business through executive coaching and peer advisory groups
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Jimmy Iovine… had a quote ‘Make fear a tailwind not your headwind’ and I think that’s accurate… Turn that fear into drive and motivation and energy to make your business successful”…[Listen for More]
More About Todd Kaufman:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Every champion was once a contender that didn’t give up.” Gabby Douglas
Other Quotes From the Chat with Todd Kaufman:
- “starting a business is almost like just endless learning from many different aspects”
- “to really improve and scale as a business you need to invest and you need to understand when those opportunities arise and you need to pursue them relatively quickly. I think those things aren’t always clear when you are in the moment but looking back, we can see pretty definitively when this opportunity presented itself, and we said okay let’s do it, it had a drastic impact on our business”
- “I think one of the things that has helped me is I have never shied away from any task. I think a lot of entrepreneurs that are successful have a kind of roll up their sleeve’s mentality, there is nothing below you. Being selfless as a leader and as a founder. So, we jumped in on any challenging project and helped out as much as we could. We try to do everything that we could to make sure that there’s always client success. So, whether that was hard conversations with the client or whether that was working nights or weekends to try and make something hit. The timeline, those with things that myself and my co-founder in and do. And that seems to be a pretty consistent recipe for successful entrepreneurs and leaders I see.”
- “Our business isn’t anything but the sum of the people that we have within it. So, we’ve always tried to strive for people that would be aligned with our purpose but also bringing unique perspective and other great talents that we didn’t have already”
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