Early on, Founder's Gut is your Best Resource!

And more advice from Alice Cheng, the Founder and CEO of Culinary Agents. Culinary Agents has 2.3 million users across the US and supports 55,000 restaurants, ranging from fine dining to fast casual. They have expanded into hotels and work closely with all types, whether small independent boutique ones or larger, multi-concepted chains. Also, food service companies like Whole Foods use Culinary Agents to source their talent for prepared foods, catering, and anything related to food service. Because of how their technology has been developed, businesses and job seekers can use the tool to meet their needs.

1. It's Not About You!

The approach that I've always instilled in the team is hospitality. It's always been to build the technology to support the user, not just to build it. I don't believe in creating what you think should be, and then trying to sell it to businesses. That was never the approach. That is something that I have excluded from the beginning, and I'm proud that we continue to do so. It has helped us differentiate between staying close to our users and clients, the people we are trying to help, and understand their challenges. Build the technology to support it, and then come back to them, have them test it, and give feedback. Sometimes, founders and owners can be so fixated on their vision and what they want that they don't consider what is important to the users.

2. Flexibility with Customers is Key.

Remaining flexible is important. Having your vision and mission will guide you, help you know yourself and your team, and help you focus. However, remaining flexible throughout the process is important because things change, and sometimes your clients don't know what they don't know, and they don't know that they need something because they're just not exposed to it. Helping them through that journey may take time. You need to adjust to what your clients need; you also need to adapt to their timeline. And the more you engage with them and understand, the more you can translate that into your business and how you should manage them. There are certain things you can't rush. Something you know is better or could be done differently may not work for a client who is not ready to make a change. It's okay to take a step back and work under their timeline. Many founders and entrepreneurs are self-motivated; they have their own roadmap. And this push, especially if outside forces encourage them to push faster, whether it's investors or something else, adds that extra drive to shorten that timeline.

3. Don't Get Overwhelmed by Feedback!

   
   

If you are building your own business, you must constantly find your balance. You have to determine outside noise versus your focus. Oftentimes, it's great to get people to solicit peer feedback. Listen to your employees, investors, or other people who support you and want to see you succeed. In addition, listen to your clients and those you're serving in the early days. There's a lot of noise typically. Noise is just part of the excitement, but it could be especially stressful initially. People may be proactively giving you advice and may be giving you opinions that you don't agree with. The balance of hearing, but not necessarily feeling like you need to take some of that advice, is key. Ultimately, you need to determine what you're comfortable with because that noise can be coming from any direction.

4. The Best Investors are the Ones Aligned with your Vision.

Business owners and entrepreneurs must consider what they need and who they need it from at each stage. If you need funding because your company requires it to get to the next step, you may need to take outside capital, whether you need inventory, engineers, or whatever it may be. Think about who you want that capital to come from. If you're not aligned with your investors or if your investors don't have the same vision of you or support you, that could make life a little more difficult. As you get started and continue to grow, you may have a lot of pressure later stemming from your earlier decisions. If you are raising capital, you have every right to ask your potential investors questions about their expectations.

5. Founder's Gut is your Best Resource!

If you take money for money, you may get caught up in situations you don't want to be in. Always do your homework and explore all your options. Make decisions early based on both solid facts and your instincts — what many call the "Founder's Gut." In the beginning, you can rely on the Founder's Gut as a valuable tool. Over time, you'll reach a point in your business where you know you've figured some things out. As you gain momentum, find product-market fit, and build the right team and leadership, your confidence will grow. Then, you'll look at the next set of challenges. You'll have more data and facts, and can start folding that into your strategy and planning. But early on, trust your Founder's Gut. It’s your best resource.

6. Be Prepared for the Journey,

Starting a Company is incredibly Hard!

Looking back now, we're 13 years old and at a very different stage of the company. But taking a step back and celebrating the small wins, I realize I didn't take much time. I went really, really hard for many years. And that's a little bit of my personality in general. You'll find that a lot of entrepreneurs are driving hard. You don't necessarily take the best care of yourself. There were many years when I slept consistently 3 or 4 hours a night, if that. Fundraising is a full-time sport. You're fundraising, but also growing the business and servicing clients. In the beginning, you're also looking for people who believe in your vision, and you can bring them on as team members. Building a team is very important to get the right leadership in place and get everybody steering in the right direction. They need that motivation and the directive because they're buying into the vision and joining something exciting, which will potentially change the industry. So, it's a lot in the beginning. It's a lot always, but at some point, the individual you are as a founder or leader must find a balance. I found it a little bit later.