Techstars acquires Up Global; 5 Keys Better Meetings; Values Video from Maple Events

"...insights for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Techstars Acquires Up Global -- the global startup community received a major boost this week when Techstars acquired Steve Case's Up Global on Tuesday. Marc Nagel will continue to run Up Global. Congrats Brad Feld, David Brown, David Cohen, and Jared Polis, founders of Techstars, for leading the way. For more info.

5 Keys to Better Meetings -- my latest Fortune Venture column is out (Fortune 500 edition of magazine) and online - reminders for those already running meetings based on Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0):

1. Start on a human note - share a round of goods news
2. Outlaw status reports - use dashboard tech instead
3. Batch your meetings - all management meetings on the same morning/afternoon
4. Ban meandering monologues - practice makes perfect
5. Offer an escape hatch - "Meeting Attendee's Bill of Rights" allows people to leave

For more details, please take 1 minute to read through the five short tips (and spread through social media). Thanks to Bob Hubbard, CEO of Hubbard Swim Schools, and Sloan Gaon, CEO of advertising tech firm PulsePoint, for contributing specifics.

Measuring Employee Happiness -- Barcelona-based Cyberclick was named Spain's #1 SME Best Place to Work in 2014. David Tomas, CEO, wrote a recent piece for Forbes on how they track employee mood and act on the data each week. Firing a customer as a result of employee feedback is just one of many actions they've taken to maintain high employee delight.
Results:

The results we saw in the health of our company were surprising. In 2012, our EBITDA margin was 6 percent. In 2013, the year following the client's departure, we realized an increase in this margin to 10.5 percent. In 2014, it rose to 15 percent. I believe the increase of the EBITDA is the result of our team's motivation to put in their best work and treat each client with the absolute best customer service. Our focus on happiness has also contributed to our high employee retention rate. Only one employee has left in the past three years due to personal reasons.

Take 3 minutes to read the details of how they measure and manage this critical "People" side of the business. And stay tuned for David's book The Happiest Company in the World due out in September.

Maple Event Group Values Video -- Melbourne-based Maple Event Group is growing quite fast and their owners, wife and husband Carly and Eric Cohen, say it's all about their values. Named the 14th Best Place to Work in Australia, they have five values that spell out MAPLE. They've produced a video that serves as a great employee recruiting and customer acquisition tool - worth taking time to watch which details many of the things they do to live their values (and a great example of how to structure a video like this). "Super fans of Scaling Up" they are enrolled in our first online Asia-Pacific Scaling Up class.

3 Reasons to Seek Awards -- Responding to the Tuesday "insight for scaleups" on the importance of finding and applying for awards, Gene Browne, founder/CEO of Ireland-based The City Bin Company, wrote "There are plenty of awards out there once you start looking for them. We have won 15 awards over the past 15 years. For me, awards send distinct messages to three constituent groups:

1. Employees - it lets them know they are with a progressive company that are doing something right
    
2. Customers - it subtly reinforces that they have made the right decision by choosing your company, and
    
3. Competitors - it sends them a message that you have 'pulled even further away from the pack' and they have an even harder job now to catch up."

Have your head of marketing identify various awards you can win and get your head of operations to drive the application process. Hire an outsourced writer if needed to help complete - they can interview you and write up the application.

TECHNOLOGY: Align Software knows before you do when someone needs to re-focus effort on the important. With Green, Yellow, Red pacing capabilities your team will know where they stand even before you do! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com- on your computer and on your phone.

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.