In our Founder Stories series, we interview founders about their experience of starting and growing their companies.
Meet Mike Brown; he is the Co-Founder of rankein, a company focused on measuring and enhancing Emotional Intelligence skills across workplaces globally. We have asked him some questions about him and his company's journey, reflections on challenges and growth, and what the future might hold.
Could you share a bit about your background, your startup?
My background is in finance, where I became fascinated by the impacts that fast growing startups were having on markets. I became more and more passionate about startups so I left finance to get involved. I moved into helping co-create a startup exhibition which eventually led to an opportunity to join a startup. Rankein had been going for a few years prior to me joining; our subject matter expert Bob Rankin completed a PhD investigating the impacts that high Emotional Intelligence can have on workplace performance before creating and validating an assessment measuring EQ in a unique way. Bob, along with two Co-Founders, piloted with the Finnish Government and I then joined to drive the business into new industries.
What about the challenges you’ve faced so far in your startup journey?
Where to begin! Personally, one of the big challenges has been joining a completely new industry. Having no pre-existing network I could learn from or sell to added to the ‘normal’ challenges of setting up a business.
What are you hoping to achieve in the future as your business grows?
I would love to scale the business to make as much of a positive impact as possible across as many industries as possible. Emotional Intelligence is a skill that everyone can work on and get better at. As with all skills everyone has their own level of potential, but if we could help people be more emotionally intelligent, both at work and in life generally, and reach their potential then that would be very rewarding.
Do you have any specific plans around growth and what comes next?
If I’m being honest, Techscaler - through the education and mentoring - has really impacted our strategy around growth so we’re working hard to adapt certain tactics and strategies to allow us to move towards our goals faster.
How has Techscaler membership helped you on your journey so far?
It’s early days so the onus really is on us to capitalise fully on all there is on offer, but I have found the education and mentoring very relevant and high quality so far. I’m looking forward to the rest of the programme and hope the community aspect can continue beyond the course.
Do you have any other reflections on the obstacles and successes you’ve encountered so far?
I think it’s important, especially if you are a solo founder or if you work alone/in a remote first team, to get out of your house and meet people in the flesh. Find likeminded people, people who are interested in startups, people who have been there and done it and talk to them about your problems and listen to their feedback. It’s amazing what talking to others about your problems can do for your morale and confidence.
