Better Than Average - GRIT Ed. 8 | The Relentless Pursuit - Magazine - Page 26
Better Than Average
Better Than
Average.
ELIJAH MOORE
CEO and Co-Founder Of Collage
Next Founders, 2014
ELIJAH DOESN’T REMEMBER
ENTREPRENEURSHIP BEING
MUCH OF A CHOICE; THIS
WAS SIMPLY WHAT HE WAS
SUPPOSED TO DO.
The goal for Elijah from the beginning was to be the
author of his own success or failure. Beyond that,
he wanted to create something that would have a
significant positive impact for an important market,
for his team that chose to come along for the ride,
and for those who decided to invest financially.
When Elijah started his first business, he came to
entrepreneurship from a business and finance
background rather than a product or marketing
background. So, he could tell a pretty good story
with fancy words on a very nice-looking pitch deck,
much better than he was able to get customers.
While this allowed him to raise an angel round
quickly, Elijah believes he would have been better
off learning how to build and sell something the
hard way.
A certain magic happens when a founder has to talk
to customers, create something that they want to
buy, and learn to sell it in a repeatable way. “I thought
I could hire my way to a successful business, but
unfortunately, I skipped that crucial first stage. This
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MARCH 2022 | NEXTCANADA.COM
That’s one of the sides to resiliency: adaptability could be your
middle name. In a critique of his relentlessness, Elijah pointed out
that he chose to take an acquisition offer when Collage H.R. was
only 3.5 years old. Would a more relentless entrepreneur have done
it differently? Maybe. The entrepreneurial path looks different for
everyone. In addition to the great responsibility of running a business,
the journey involves endless people and conflict management,
sleepless nights, stressful weekends, and the list goes on.
“I think a lot of lessons for startups can be taken from Annie Duke’s
book, “Thinking in Bets.” Startups are a lot like poker, where you have
to make a series of bets without knowing all of the information and
where luck can play a role in the outcome. The key is to know when
to bet heavily and when to fold, and know that not all good ‘bets’
lead to the result you want.”
“WHEN IT COMES
TO BALANCE, I’M
PROUD OF WHAT
I’VE ACHIEVED
SO FAR, AND IT
TOOK A LOT OF
DETERMINATION
TO GET HERE.”
“When it comes to balance, I’m proud of
what I’ve achieved so far, and I think it took
a lot of determination to get here.”
was an expensive mistake. For my second business,
Collage H.R., I completely reversed this.”
After becoming the CEO and Co-Founder of Collage
HR, Elijah Moore participated in the Next Founders
program. Initially onboarding Next Founders with one
venture, Elijah decided to wind the venture down to
pursue a more extensive idea with a more substantial
business model. At that moment, perhaps others
may have joined a company as a team member to
get back on base, but he instead chose the relentless
path to try again with Collage H.R.
Increasingly, researchers are looking at why some
people who face adversity develop resilience while
others don’t. What circumstances make some of the
overachievers.
“I FEEL A POWERFUL
OBLIGATION TO CREATE
A GREAT COMPANY. OUR
CUSTOMERS, EMPLOYEES
AND INVESTORS TRUST ME
TO DELIVER EXCELLENCE,
AND I TAKE THAT VERY
SERIOUSLY.”
Elijah built a founding team with the core
skills needed for their particular business
model; they created a product and launched
it to a few customers before formally raising
money. “Ironically, investors are much more
interested in this type of business, so we
managed to raise V.C. from great investors
early and grew from there.”
Elijah describes himself as a naturally
competitive person who loves to win and
has no problem getting back up after a loss.
“I played a lot of competitive sports when I
was younger, so I was no stranger to getting
my ass kicked and coming back stronger.”
Elijah’s Definition:
Entrepreneurship
[än-trə-p(r)ə-nər-ship]
noun
:Entrepreneurship is creating a business and being
accountable for what happens to it. It is the element
of accountability that defines being an entrepreneur
vs being an innovator or a professional.
COLLAGE IS AN ALL-IN-ONE
H.R. BENEFITS AND PAYROLL
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE PLATFORM
FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED
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GRIT | THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT
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