COVER
UNTANGLING the CHAOS of START-UPS Words by Rachel Zammit Cutajar Photography by Julia Boikova
The rapid growth that is associated with a start up – or scale up – often comes with a certain amount of chaos. Managing that chaos is what determines the survival and ultimate success of the new company. Rhi Burns, Chief Commercial Officer at Zimpler, has been a part of the company that has overseen growth of up to 1000% in a single year, and she attributes her success to a system of structuring and planning, creating healthy habits that lead to success in both her work and personal life.
At a glance, the life of Rhi Burns, Chief Commercial Officer at Zimpler, seems very rigid, with calendars and spreadsheets ruling the day. But Rhi believes that the success experienced by her Execution Team (known for their ability to get any job done) is down to these same structures. They untangle the chaos, freeing up time and energy for the things that are most important. “Start-ups are usually created by passionate individuals who want to change the world, and by that very nature, forming the right structures ends up falling by the wayside,” Rhi said. When she had joined Zimpler in 2019, it was a small fintech company with 25 employees, offering instant banking products geared towards the iGaming industry. In the last three years, they've experienced rapid growth, expanding their workforce to 150 people, with a sales team that has increased by 375%, from just four people to 30. The sales, account management and business development department that Rhi leads grew by 57%, whilst keeping efficiency and productivity high. “We're not perfect, but we are an incredibly well-oiled and slick machine, considering the growth we've seen and how new most of the team is. Having an organiser at the helm has helped steer people towards more efficient habits!”
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“It’s not that I'm afraid of chaos and disorder, but it's not sustainable in the long term and not conducive to growth. This is why setting up structures is so important in the early stages.” So how does she do it? Rhi leads by example, and encourages her team to adopt more efficient schedules, but she does not impose her system on anyone. “I use my calendar religiously. If it’s not in the calendar, then then it’s not happening. I do this for both my work and personal life. This allows me to maintain boundaries, not allowing work to spill over into my personal time. I schedule working hours with auto-rejects for people requesting meetings outside working hours. I don’t take meetings on Fridays and use that time to catch up, reflect on the week gone by and plan for the following week. I encourage my team to do the same, to book lunch and not allow people to talk them into moving it around and block off vacation days with auto-rejects. Setting working times is important for everyone, but more so for people who are working less than 40 hours a week.” Unproductive meetings are generally blamed for the largest bottlenecks in workflow. According to Forbes, up to 70% of meetings are considered unproductive. Elon Musk recently urged Tesla employees to forego excessive meetings in a company-wide email, calling them the "blight" on large companies.
