Handyman

Handyman,

Whenever people, that I am not that familiar with, ask me for my position in the startup I am working for I usually have this answer – I am the Handyman of our company.

Maybe it is the Chinese modesty which overwrite my Israeli nature to brag about my shiny title (Founder and CEO of a young innovative startup) or is it just my subconscious telling me that I am not yet a CEO. Saying that only when I will earn a CEO salary, have the right car and other status symbol that go with the title I might be eligible for the CEO title J, until then I am just the company handyman J

If you think of this, half of the people who ask me for my position in the company actually are more interested in; how much money I earn, or what is my eco status .. in other words they do care if I have or not all the goodies of a successful CEO..

So for now, all of us are good with the handyman definition because, at the end of the day, this is exactly what I am doing in the company.

Issues with the bank – I will be the first one to know about it.

Investor question / requirement – my phone will be the first one to ring.

Patent and IP issues … my full attention will be required both in the high level strategy and in most cases also in the actual wording.

Agreements ? … clients, investors, employees, partners etc… there is no question about it. On the right pile of my desk and as a blinking reminder on my to do list.

A laptop, server, mobile phone or other equipment is malfunctioning … I will be the second one to know (after the owner).

Clients, sales ? no problem, 32A (my favorite seat) in Y – Class and I am on my way to see the client packing all the problems that I will try to tackle on the 12 hours flight (hey, we are an early stage start up!).

These are all among the “clean” work and duties that a young, early stage start-up manager must deal with .. since it’s a white and clean blog I just use the nice jobs and left the ugly shores for your imagination ;-)

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, it is all about the rush !

The title is really not important, the salary is nice, but its main function (at this stage) is to pay the bills.

It is the rush of creation.

Changing the world.

Having a dream and taking it from endless mind games into a working service / product that your average Miss Adams will used on a daily base and that might save Mr. John’s lives in the event of a blizzard or a severe storm.

If in order to take this dream and turn it into reality I need to serve as the company “Handyman” for a while, so I will be the best handyman building the best product yet.