In Candid Conversation with TBF “Paul Guenther” Founder & CEO of Knowledge Hub Media spoke about his professional journey and gave a sneak peak about his life.
Q. Take our readers through your journeys being at the helm of Knowledge Hub Media.
It’s always an interesting journey. Our clients are all very unique – even if they do generally reside in the B2B technology sector. Each client has a specific solution, or group of products, that is targeted to a very specific audience. For example, enterprise software solutions used by IT people, marketers, sales teams, HR professionals or finance professionals. The targeting gets a lot more granular than that, of course. And then not only are the job roles unique, but the types of companies targeted are also unique to each client. So some might be looking for SMB’s, while others might promote to mid-market companies, or enterprise sized organizations with 5,000+ employees. Being at the helm is always interesting because I am faced with a new challenge almost every day. Not just from a standpoint of sales (managing clients), but also marketing (to our userbase), operations, finance and handling our technology infrastructure. There is truly never a dull moment.
Q. How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to entice the target audience?
Similar to what I mentioned before, our offerings are diverse by their very nature. They have to be, really. Our core competencies fall in the areas or demand generation and content syndication. We promote our client’s white papers and webinars to generate and deliver highly targeted, highly qualified b2b sales leads. As each of our client’s have different products, solutions and services, they each target different segments of people (and companies). Our offerings are customized, fully tailored to target folks within the right job roles – at the right companies – who are typically already in the buying cycle for our client’s solutions. Generally speaking, the leads that we generate originate from companies that are, at the very least, currently researching the solutions offered by our clients. In most cases, though, they are in the process of evaluating vendors and getting ready to make a purchase decision. This is where we come in, where we really shine… By promoting to very targeted groups of people, we line our clients up with the perfect buyers, at the perfect time. That is, companies that not only have a need and budget for the products and services that our clients offer, but that are also ready to pull the trigger and make a purchase decision.
Q. What people, what books, what life factors have influenced and impacted you?
I think most of what has always driven me comes from a few different things. First, complete financial independence for myself and those who work for me. Second, total accountability. Third, an unwillingness to make or accept excuses. If you mess up, you mess up. If you are unable to get the job done, you are unable to get the job done… And I don’t really care “why” that is. I hold myself and everyone else to that same standard. Nobody is perfect. Everyone is going to make mistakes. The idea is to minimize mistakes and increase overall efficiencies. A lot of this happens naturally when everyone understands that there is a culture of accountability. When a question needs to be answered or a problem needs to be fixed… It doesn’t really matter “why.” It just matters that we attend to it, and that we do it efficiently and effectively.
Q. What is your vision for the company for the next five years?
Generally speaking, I don’t make any attempt to forecast the future or assume any specific type of growth trajectory. Our industry is inherently based in technology, and as such, it is always changing. For this reason, we too, are always changing and innovating. We have experienced annual revenue growth year over year in 11 of our 12 years running… But my vision of the future is never revenue or sales based. I like to think that in five years, we’ll be at least “five years more advanced” than we are now as a company – just as technology advances each and every year. Optimally, though, I like to think that we’ll be closer to 10 years more advanced in five years… Staying ahead of the curve, just as we have been since our inception.
Q. What are some of the vital attributes that every leader should possess?
If I had to sum up some of the more important attributes that a good leader should posses, I’d probably go with the following:
You have a high level, core confidence.
You are not fearful of pressure. You actually crave pressure and thrive under it.
You understand the importance of fairness and always maintain a level playing field.
You demonstrate logical and efficient decision making. You do not let emotions cloud your judgement or drive your decisions. You demonstrate total accountability and possess an unwillingness to make excuses for your shortcomings.
You do not recognize failure. You know there are other ways to achieve your intended result. You are going to find one of those ways. You do not celebrate your achievements – at least not for too long – because you always want more.
You realize that everyone is different. Or in other words, that not everyone is like you. Most people probably are not like you, actually. For that reason, you have to analyze things from all plausible perspectives. This is something that I hypothesize everyone could probably benefit from trying – leader or not.
Q. How do you maintain balance between your professional & personal life?
Simple enough, they are separate lives. I mean that in every meaning of the definition. I have friends who work for me, for example. My brother, also. My interactions with these people differ immensely depending on whether they are professional or personal interactions. I do not allow the two things to get intertwined in any way. Also, to put it simply, I do not work weekends. I work long and hard hours, all week, Monday through Friday… And to that point, I owe it to my family and myself – to ensure that I don’t get wrapped up in business dealings on Saturdays and Sundays… The weekend is my time for leisure and personal experiences.
Q. As a CEO and business leader, describe the challenges you overcame through your journey.
It might sound simple, but just getting off of the ground was probably my largest challenge. Selling the first client, and then the first couple of clients, on what was still mostly an unproven idea. And then proving that idea to myself and my clients – even beyond my own expectations. Besides that, it is mostly client and campaign fulfilment challenges. Marketing programs that are driven by very niche targeting criteria, and reaching lead volume goals by the campaign’s deadline. But we are very proactive about never “overpromising and underdelivering.” We simply won’t do it. We forecast for lead output and delivery as well as anyone in the industry, and we are usually dead on. Even so, we are typically conservative with the projections that we give clients. This provides another layer of protection that helps to ensure things go smoothly and we keep our promises in terms of goals.
Q. How do you sustain your leadership spirit in this changing technological era?
I do not think it’s very difficult, honestly. It is just the way that I have always done things, still do things. I guess it’s just the way that I am. My leadership approach rarely changes based on wavering circumstances or external forces – including this current era of ever changing, ever improving technology. To be clear, though, external forces could no doubt impact our company. They can sometimes curve our approach or force us to take different paths in certain situations. These changes can have an impact on our strategy, for example, or the products and services that we offer. But external forces have very little – if any – effect on my leadership spirit.
Q. What advice would you like to give to the emerging business leaders?
Make sure you are willing to put in the time… That you are content to miss out on some other things in life when you are running a company. Especially in the early years, where much of your time is spent building the business from the ground up. There have been, and still are, many weeknights where I am up until 4:30 in the morning working… And then back up and going again at 8:30 am the same day. It’s just part of what I do. If you are going to run an effective company, you probably have to work longer and harder than everyone else. You really do not want to be in a position where you are relying on anybody. Even if you think you can (and hopefully you can). Failure cannot be an excuse – because you never actually fail at anything until you decide yourself that you’ve failed. If you can’t get things done one way, you try doing them a different way. If path A is blocked and path B is too cumbersome, you’d better be ready to dig out a path C. Take responsibility for everything, audit your time, and treat everyone with respect. Treat your employees the same way that you would treat your clients. Treat your vendors the same way that you would treat your employees. Everyone plays an important role in the business, and everyone deserves the same level of respect, politeness and encouragement.
Q. Provide one line that best describes your vision and approach to business.
Make money. That’s the name of the game. If you are making money, and your employees are making money, and your clients and vendors are making money as a result of your business process, you are doing a damn nice job.
Q. How do you validate the ideas? How far are you willing to go to see your ideas become a successful?
Sometimes new ideas are the products of a lot of forethought and innovation. At the same time, though, many of our best ideas have spawned from simply listening to our clients… Taking the time to better understand their wants and needs. What they already have, what the don’t yet have, and what the wish they could have. This information is key to innovating and validating new ideas, new products and new services that ultimately drive performance metrics and resonate well with our partners.
Q. What was your inspiration behind your product/service? How are your products/services are going to help those, who are not even privileged to hear about it?
To reiterate, the inspiration for our products and services often comes directly from our clients and partners. Given that we are a B2B company – we sell directly to businesses rather than consumers – anybody who wants to know about our products is usually able to… And anybody who wants to have input as far as out products are concerned? Well they are certainly welcome to offer it up.
Q. What is the biggest problem you want to help solve through your product/service? What are you paranoid about?
Our biggest problems are mostly related to campaign fulfillment challenges, which include very difficult niche targeting criteria, and reaching lead volume goals by the campaign’s deadline. But we are very proactive about never “overpromising and underdelivering.” We simply won’t do it. We forecast for lead output and delivery as well as anyone in the industry, and we are usually dead on. Even so, we are typically conservative with the projections that we give clients. This provides another layer of protection that helps to ensure things go smoothly and we keep our promises in terms of goals.
Q. Describe your leadership style. Do you think it’s more important to know the “written” rules or the “unwritten” rules? Describe an unwritten rule you have discovered?
I think knowing the “unwritten rules” is everything. Being a leader is a very fickle thing, and in a lot of cases, you either are one or you aren’t. I’ve personally never had much difficulty being a leader, but in all honestly, I rarely ever even think about it. I definitely believe that anyone can learn leadership skills and effectively use them in business, social circles, life… In the same way that people can learn business and management skills. To me, though, it’s not about leadership. It really comes down to being an entrepreneur. In my opinion, at least, being a true entrepreneur is not something that you can teach – maybe not even something that you can learn? Entrepreneurship is a burning desire that churns inside of you. It drives your thoughts, your tendencies, and in some cases, your every move. It’s not something that you ask to have, try to have, or in a lot of cases, even want to have. It’s just there. I like to use analogies that draw perspective from people like famous artists, professional athletes and world-renowned musicians… Sure, most anyone can “learn” to draw or paint. Anybody can get better at baseball or football on practice alone. And just about anybody can become a pretty good musical tactician with enough practice and repetition. But for the greats… Pablo Picasso, Peyton Manning, Steve Howe… it’s not just about being a tactician or applying a skillset. It’s in their DNA. People who aren’t predisposed to being as good as these guys (at what they each do)… No amount of practice or learning in the world is going to get them there. They can become rally good – or even exceptional – at something with the right amount of education, drive and practice. But can they ever truly become great? The answer to me is probably “no.” I say that because if things were otherwise, everyone on the planet would grow up to be a professional athlete, a famous musician or a Hollywood actor on merit alone. I have always felt the same way about entrepreneurs and innovators (they are often the same people). The really good
ones have something inside of them. Something that’s always on and ready to take over. The good news? Like everyone else, these people can continue to improve, as well. With additional practice and new techniques – on top of what they already possess naturally – the sky is often the limit. Now, I am certainly not claiming to be one of these “entrepreneurial greats!” No, just a regular old entrepreneur… But you asked the question, and that’s the best way that I can answer it. I do think that deep down, a lot of natural entrepreneurs have a leg up on the competition form the get go.
Q. Tell us what do you value most about your company’s culture as a CEO?
We take a laid-back approach, and are never too serious… About anything. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, we always had an excellent work-life balance. Depending on the time of year, employees were only ever required to come into the offer two or three times per week… and on those days, they only had to be there for four total hours (any four hours that they wanted). Otherwise, everything was done remotely. Now let’s fast forward to POST COVID-19… And believe me, I know that we aren’t there… Not YET. But when we do get there, I think our approach is going to be even more relaxed than it was before the pandemic. Knowing what we all know now – what we’re capable of doing even when working remotely for three months straight – it would be foolish of me not to ease things up even more.
Q. Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
I think the best example of this would actually be starting my company to begin with… Back in 2009. Before Knowledge Hub Media existed, I worked an another B2B focused company that specialized in lead generation services. That was a big factor for me. Once I learned the process of the Industry – mainly sales, marketing, and production – I quit my job and started my own company. Combining what I had learned with what I already knew about web development and promoting content online, which I’d been doing it since I was fourteen, I figured it would be pretty easy. The way I saw it, all I really needed was to find one consistent client, then I could bide my time and build things up from there. And that’s what I did. From an employee standpoint, we have grown year over year ever since the company’s inception. We have also increased our revenue year over year, every year with the exception of one, where we saw a slight dip.
Q. What’s the hardest decision you’ve made so far?
To let a client go. Some might refer to it as “firing a client?” It’s rare and terrible when it happens, but sometimes… Well sometimes revenue and earnings aren’t everything. Sometimes your company and another company just don’t jive for one reason or another. When that happens, though hard to do, it’s possibly for the best that you just go your separate ways. I’ve only ever had to make this decision once on a large scale, and looking back, it was a pretty good move.
Q. What is your approach to motivating and developing talent? How does the company continue to develop, grow and elevate people to be at their very best?
Oh it’s easy. Treat them the same way that you’d treat your family or good friends. When you want to educate somebody that you like, somebody you love… How do you do it? Are you authoritative? Or conversely, are you more consultative? I try to treat everyone with the upmost respect. My rule of thumb is NOT to “treat everyone the same way you’d want to be treated,” but rather, to “treat everyone BETTER than you’d want to be treated.” That can go a long way. In 11 years, now, we’ve never lost a single employee. Nobody has ever been fired or laid off, and nobody has quit, either. I’d like to – and hope to – keep it that way.
Q. What upcoming initiatives do you find particularly exciting? Where do you see your company expanding or focusing its efforts in the next few years?
I think a lot of our initiatives are starting to focus more on big data. Because of data analytics – our own, internal analytics – we have the ability to micro-target audiences that meet very specific criteria. As a B2B technology publisher, we are essentially in the advertising and marketing industry. The products that we offer our clients are all intangible. For that reason, as much as any other reasons that I can think of, our focal point is no doubt the customer experience. Now in my opinion, we deliver an excellent customer experience… end excellent performance metrics, might I add! But maybe you should ask somebody else… somebody who isn’t the CEO and who didn’t start the company from scratch in 2009? We differentiate ourselves in a few very specific, and valuable ways. For one, we have the ability to micro-target ad campaigns – providing leads to our clients that are made up of very specific job titles, company sizes, industries and install bases. These days, the vast majority of our campaigns are also company targeted via account-based marketing and intent data analytics, as well. Adding to this… We can also effectively target just about every country in the world at this point. We have the ability to promote white papers and webinars in various languages; that is, the native languages of the audiences that we are targeting. Finally, we complete all of our campaigns on time. We don’t ever “over-promise and under-deliver,” and all of the leads that we produce are generated efficiently, delivered within a specific campaign’s pre-determined flight dates.
