As is the case for many founders, my journey began as a one-person show. I started Digital Voices, an influencer marketing agency that helps brands grow by pairing them with creators across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. With just a shoestring budget of $300 and a background in digital strategy, I launched the company with more ambition than certainty. After—long hours coupled with hustle and self-doubt—it has now evolved into a multimillion-80-person operation spanning the globe.
Here are five lessons about leadership I learned along the way.
1. Get comfortable with constant change
Leadership today is defined by constant fluctuation. On a Monday, you’re making long-term strategic decisions aimed at future-proofing the business. The next day, you’re brainstorming creative ideas for a client campaign. All of this comes as you attempt to balance the business’s progress against your own personal journey. And that’s before you even get to the impact that your actions or a throwaway comment have on your wider team.
In order to grow, your business should be constantly changing. For example, we’ve built new technology that has completely changed people’s day-to-day work, changed roles, titles, teams, opened offices in the United States, and built a team in Costa Rica. One of my favorite business adages is, “If your company doesn’t feel like an entirely new business every 18 months, you’re not scaling. You’re stagnating.”
This puts immense pressure on every leader. That relentless tension means that for real progress, you always have to feel out of your comfort zone.
You need to spin multiple plates—checking that the aspects of the business you used to run are going smoothly, while feeling like a beginner at whatever obstacle you’re throwing yourself at next.
2. Vulnerability is key
I’ve never met a leader who’s gone their entire career without making mistakes. Neither have you. The perfect leader doesn’t exist.
It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve read, coaches you’ve had, how much time or money you’ve invested in self-development, making mistakes is part of this game. The proximity to failure keeps most entrepreneurs motivated.
The polished, superhero, all about the grind, idealized image of entrepreneurship is dead. People want to see the honest version of your struggles and humanity. Sharing your mistakes publicly isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s an avenue towards building trust with your customers and employees.
Try to resist the urge to receive every piece of negative feedback on your backfoot. Very rarely is it a personal attack or a character assassination. Think about it this way: Giving negative feedback and offering solutions is hard. It means your employees care enough to think about how your business can be better. Also, no one likes conflict or enjoys having hard conversations. They are risking discomfort—and at times even their job—to give you insights.
3. Hire for fit
The culture versus credentials debate: We’ve all heard it, some of us have lived it.
The truth is that the “perfect on paper” candidate will always turn your head. According to their resume, they’ve got all the relevant experience, the certifications and qualifications, the recommendations… For all intents and purposes, they’re a shoo-in.
And yet we should all recognize by now that credentials are only part of the puzzle—a vital ingredient certainly, but not the whole pie. You need people who thrive in the uncertainty of a scale-up environment and who believe in what you’re striving for and genuinely want to help drive your business forward. Not everyone will be capable of that level of engagement, or even want it. So don’t let a resume with big brand names mask the fact that someone isn’t the right fit from a culture perspective. Spend the time and hire slow. And then keep the trust of your team by firing fast if they aren’t the right fit.
4. Stay true to your values
Be clear on what your cultural non-negotiables are in the business. Write yours down. Inform your team as they need to know what lens they should view decisions through.
There will be times when protecting your bottom line will clash with your business’s purpose. Principles will cost you money. I’ve been offered multiple seven-figure sums to market gambling or weight-loss brands. And while the business could have used that money, we turned it down.
Why? Because we’re accountable to the business—and not just commercially, but culturally, too. Which means you need to be confident that the experience, grit, skills and team that got you this far, will continue to propel you forward.
I’m not saying don’t edit your approach. I’m saying be careful with the tweaks that cost you your principles and culture. Those decisions are nearly impossible to roll back.
5. Empower your employees
Too many founders lean toward “helicopter” leadership. It’s like the business version of helicopter parenting, a term used to describe the sort of parents who constantly hover ‘round their kids, micromanaging every experience. While the business might have once been your baby, you cannot spin all the plates across all teams. For one, it’s not sustainable. For two, your employees will despise you for it.
You need to create an environment where people are not afraid to put their hands up if something is going wrong. They need to trust that you’ll jump in and help them solve the problem, rather than play the blame game. Hard on the problem, easy on the person.
This isn’t about maintaining total control, it’s about achieving clarity and trust. The most impactful founders move beyond acting as a “boss,” and start acting as conductors—bringing out the best in their team for the collective benefit of everyone.