A New Idea: More New Ideas
Piloting an Internal Incubator
Every other week I write an email discussing what I learn launching and growing Reboot Motion. If you would like to receive it directly in your inbox, subscribe below.
Reboot Motion, like all companies, is only as good as its people. Whenever we bring on someone new, we think long and hard about how that person will fit with the rest of the team.
Yes, their skillset matters. But so do their values.
But Why Would They Chose Us?
Every new hire is hopefully the start of a long-term relationship, so looking for the right “DNA fit” goes a long way in determining if someone should be a part of the Reboot Motion team.
At the same time, we know great talent has great options. Anyone that comes to work for us could likely find a role with a pro sports team, work for a different tech company, or even launch their own venture.
So while we spend a lot of time determining what we look for, even more effort needs to go into why someone would want to spend their days with us.
It’s why we operate differently than most startups, offering:
Profit sharing, and
Great benefits- including health insurance, a 401k match, and more.
Our team’s work should be new and exciting. But their compensation should be predictable- maybe even boring (in a good way).
In a continued effort to create a great working environment, we are piloting a new benefit- an “internal incubator”, which we explain as follows:
Reboot Motion’s long-term vision is to be a backend platform that coaches and tech entrepreneurs build on top of. We welcome our own employees to do the same.
Within their role at Reboot, senior level employees are free to propose a new venture that leverages our biomechanics pipeline in sports, fitness, healthcare, or elsewhere.
If agreed upon with management, a portion of the employee’s time may be devoted to validating the idea. At early signs of traction, Reboot and the employee may spin out a new company with the employee as a significant equity holder.
For the Employee
We do not expect every Reboot team member to take us op on this offer.
People are different. Some may love devoting their time to the core problem of building the world’s best movement analysis platform. They may want to ensure we create the easiest on and off ramps. They may rather focus on honing their craft- whether it be engineering, product design, etc.
And, frankly, we love when that is the case.
However, that is not everyone. And a large part of building a great company is creating a place where different people with different interests will thrive.
So, for those that do want to start their own thing one day, we want to give them the runway to do so.
We want them to explore customer pain points that can be solved via momentum based biomechanics.
We want them to create an MVP and test it in the wild.
And we want them to do it all with the support of the Reboot team.
The Pushback
Rather than explain why I think this is great for 1) employees that take us op on it 2) employees that don’t and 3) Reboot as whole, I wanted to respond to the questions I would expect to get when explaining this for the first time:
Question 1: Aren’t we taking resources away from the main thing?
We don’t think so. In fact, we think spending time building on top of our platform will substantially improve that person’s ability to improve it.
Obviously, more time on a separate problem means less time building the core product. But time and output do not have a one to one correlation.
While this may reduce hours working with our codebase, it will also:
Provide a sample customer Reboot has direct access to, so we can learn how to improve our platform.
Maximize that teammate’s customer empathy, as they now see the other side.
Showcase to those outside of our (virtual) walls what can be done, sparking new innovation and creating potential Reboot partners.
Question 2: While this sounds great for the entrepreneurial team member, what about the person who loves cranking out code or managing a team?
Our goal is to give every team member a great place to do great work. That means different things for different people and that is OK.
Team members that do not take advantage of this perk will still benefit from its existence in a few ways:
Increased learning. As mentioned above, there is nothing better than having a potential partner on our zoom calls, in our slack channels, and working in our code base.
Increased impact. While I do not want to speak for every member of the team, my assumption is they joined Reboot in our mission to “help others help athletes move better”. This program will broaden our scope and deepen our impact.
Question 3: How will this financially benefit Reboot, and more importantly the rest of the Reboot team?
Any spin out will deliver two benefits for Reboot:
An equity stake in a new, validated venture.
A new long-term partner that will compensate Reboot in a similar fashion to other tech companies using our platform.
While this does mean Reboot will be “paying itself”, it also ensures each entity is entering an advantageous deal.
And, for the rest of the Reboot team to be properly incentivized, their needs to a clear path to increased profit, which would come back to them via our profit sharing program.
Question 4: Are these the main benefits?
No.
While we would love for this program to eventually spin out a company that is bigger than Reboot, entrepreneurship is hard. We think our platform, support, and training will give people a leg up, but success is far from guaranteed.
We believe the main benefits come down to attracting, retaining, and growing talent.
Attracting talent. Startups are great places to work for a lot of reasons. The work is interesting, there is tons of autonomy, the comradery is amazing, etc. However, there are downsides in a lot of cases- mostly due to 1) a high burn rate and 2) a large amount of compensation being in illiquid, hard to value equity.
We avoid those problems as a profitable bootstrapped company that pays out annual bonuses.
At the same time, we want anyone looking at Reboot to know we are a place where innovation and new ideas are encouraged…and where major upside exists.Growing talent. From the moment someone starts with us, we want to help grow their career- and do so in whatever way means the most for them.
For some, that is improving their coding skills. For others, it is learning more about product management. It is not our job to say what is important, but it is our job to ensure their growth goals are met- and hopefully exceeded.The internal incubator is simply an extension of that philosophy- both for the teammate trying the new venture and for the rest of the team taking their feedback and improving our platform. Nothing grows talent like solving really hard problems.
Retaining talent. We expect most of our team will join for the “bootstrapped” benefits. However, over time people may evolve in what they are looking for…especially if we meet our “growing talent” goals.
The may want more upside (and be OK with more downside). They may want the experience of starting from scratch. They may want to learn more about product development or operations or something else.
No matter what someone’s future goals are, we want to provide avenues for them to do it with Reboot.
The Quick Pitch
In short, our pitch to team members who may take us up on this benefit is simple: we believe in the power of entrepreneurship.
We also know it’s hard.
So do it with us- where you have people to brainstorm with, a platform to build on top of, connections inside and outside of the sports world, and more.
And for those that love solving the core problem, your teammates having this freedom will make for a better Reboot Motion, with:
Stronger, more empathetic employees.
A better understanding of its partners’ pain points.
Tremendous impact in the sports world and beyond it.
Remember, our goal is not just to build MLB’s best movement analysis platform, but to build the world’s best.
But we need a great team to get there- a team made up of individuals with different interests. And we need to do whatever we can to help them do their best work.