F2F #34: Audit yourself

I audit myself every year.

I want to enforce social accountability for my role as CEO of MarsBased, so I share an internal post to my co-founders with my own personal audit.

I do it to:

• Ensure alignment with my co-founders.
• Reflect on what happened and learn from my mistakes.
• Realise what has been left incomplete.
• Benchmark myself against reasonably expected market standards.
• Open up about my vulnerabilities to my partners.
• Share doubts & concerns so they can be dispelled or worked on.
• Celebrate wins.

Here's the one I wrote two years ago, because last year's is too recent and this one doesn't expose anyone (translated from Catalan, obfuscated client names and sensitive information):

Hey,

I’ve been reflecting on the year ahead, and those to come, and I believe we can only grow the company further if we grow both personally and professionally.

Growth doesn’t have to mean more employees or revenue. It can manifest in many other dimensions: knowledge, value, reputation, brand, longevity, business opportunities, account sizes, etc.

If we’re too comfortable, we risk missing market changes and falling behind on what companies want, at the pace and prices they want.

We’ve already made good progress commercially: improving processes, documents, pricing. We’ve regained lost ground.

However, we’ve realized that managing 20 people (+ freelancers) isn’t the same as managing 8. Handling nearly €2M in yearly revenue isn’t the same as managing €100k in cash. Working with clients like Boston Consulting Group and Citadel isn’t the same as with MVPs for early stage startups.

That’s why I have evaluated myself this time around differently, not so much as CEO, but primarily in sales and marketing, my two areas of focus, to see if I’m meeting the company’s needs at this stage too.

Here’s my (hopefully honest) self-assessment:

CEO Role

Leadership: 🟡

Not many moments demanded me to step up as CEO this past year. I did what was necessary, but I could’ve done more in demonstrating our values internally to new hires, communicating proactively in times of conflict, engaging more in team activities like the Martian Tapas or the online coffee sessions.

Vision: 🟢

I stay on top of market trends and where the company is headed. I feel confident outlining a vision for next year, the next 2–3 years, and even 5 years. This is where I feel most comfortable and informed.

Decision-making: 🟢

While I don’t make many decisions as the de facto CEO, I’ve become good at delegation. I focus where I need to and let go of the rest. I’ve improved prioritizing and distinguishing urgent from important. I should perhaps use platforms like Fiverr more to offload tasks I shouldn’t be doing—or that my direct reports shouldn’t.

Internal communication: 🟡

Some years I’ve communicated better with the team. This year I dropped the ball on a few things I should’ve shared, like signing new clients, new hires or some strategic decisions that shouldn't have waited until our get-together.

External communication: 🔴

Postponed too much due to the new website delay. I also should've pushed more to get the website out earlier. It’s my responsibility. The old site didn’t reflect our Python and AI services. Blog was inactive for months. I didn't write any new portfolio in a year and failed to commission this to someone else, too. The podcast had too many interruptions. I missed out on public speaking and podcast guest opportunities. Big fail. The only plus: we were featured in La Vanguardia.

Ethics and conflict resolution: 🟢

Handled the two main conflicts we've had this year well, in timely manner and keeping our reputation above what's expected, with excellent outcomes on both. Ended our relationships with clients and employees we wanted to stop working with also well. The icing on the cake was the decision around not working with a Hireflix competitor and how it was managed overall.

Marketing

Strategy: 🟡

We did what we could despite sales pressure, [employee]'s leave, and poor home office conditions. I’ll step up now that the new website is live and we’re nearing our 10-year mark. Execution is lacking due to being short-staffed. Once we sign ITeC and Nieves as new customers, I’ll push for hiring a growth person to delegate this area to him/her.

Content: 🟡

Despite challenges I mentioned earlier, we published quite a few blog posts on the old site and 4 already on the new one. The new site looks great, the podcast is growing, Startup Grind has improved greatly in the last 6 months, and I’m doing cool stuff with AI. Lots more to do, but we’ve laid solid groundwork for next year. Failed in continuity.

Brand: 🟢

The new site is a major upgrade. Feedback has been overall fantastic. People still think we’re bigger than we are. Ex-clients keep coming back. Companies like HP, Boston, Citadel, and Moody’s want to work with us and that says a lot about our brand.

Website management: 🔴

I failed my part, even if I wasn’t solely responsible. If I’d launched the new site earlier, this would’ve been a yellow flag, not red. But I didn’t.

Task delegation: 🟢

Handled it well. Used a freelancer or two when we needed to. Paused projects when it wasn’t the right time so I could focus on sales (more urgent!).

Cost management: 🟢

We don’t spend much, but I’ve been especially mindful about it this year, cutting costs on freelancers, Zoom, Calendly, etc. so Jordi stops mentioning me in the expense slides in the next Martian Day company update 🤣

Data analysis: 🟡

We agreed to stop analyzing some things like the website traffic and social media performance years ago. But I keep an eye on podcast, newsletter, and LinkedIn content performance because I think those are the three that matter most and we should focus on.

Innovation: 🟡

Would’ve done more with more time. Still, I’ve used AI well—for editing podcast/videos, managing new website content, creating new content, transcriptions, etc. Need to carve out more time for this but it'll come at the expense of something else and we can't afford it unless we sign more long-term contracts.

Sales

Strategy: 🟢

We navigated tough client and market shifts well. Made smart decisions about which clients to keep or change. Only regret: cutting ties with two retainers because we thought we'd grow more through fixed bid projects back in 2022. In hindsight, this has proven to be a big error but that decision belongs to last year, so green sticker because we've actually grown more than expected this year.

Market analysis: 🟢

I’m more informed than ever—talking with current/past clients and key players in the ecosystem.

New business generation: 🟢

This year we got more new clients than ever. Trend looks strong for next year too. I avoided a major disaster in September because I kept some leads warm through the summer, which came in handy when [potential HUGE client that bailed last minute] decided to go with the other agency.

Renewals and price increases: 🟡

Not much done here. Messed up a few proposal dates and price calculations due to being too spread out and lack of focus. All clients renewed on time save for [client name] and [client name], which are still in progress but in advanced stage, pending only their signature. Big win: managed to increase prices to our two biggest customers.

Account management: 🟢

I’ve increased conversations with clients, recovered a lot of in-person meetings, and resumed proactively sharing blogs and cool updates with them to keep them in the loop and increase our top-of-mind-ness. Travelled when necessary and ideal, didn't when it wasn't clear it'd add value to either side.

Negotiation: 🟢

The little that needed negotiating was handled well.

Limits

I don’t think I’ve hit my limit in any area. But managing two areas well is a challenge and a risk for the company - we’ve discussed this already in previous years.

I know the next steps to make each area more efficient as they grow, and I’m not worried about any of them. I can still pull it off alone but if we grow by 5 more people, I will need someone else with me full-time doing marketing (ideally) or sales (alternative plan).

What to expect from me next year

More external communication to highlight our 10-year anniversary and the great work we’re doing with top-tier brands. That will demand more from me in comms and sales, but that’s why I want the marketing person: to level up both areas.

I also want to contribute more internally, both strategically and operationally—maybe even help Jordi with ops if I step away from managing the [client name]'s project.

So, all in all, I hope this helps you, other founders out there, to want to grow personally and professionally. This is a tool that I find very useful to review my professional year. Give it a try this year and let me know if you find it helpful!