On the latest episode of the ventureLab Chats podcast, Mark Miller, Executive Chairman at Volaris Group, discusses how to build lasting businesses and grow as a business leader.
Hosted by Hugh Chow, CEO of ventureLab, the episode reviews Mark Miller’s journey with Volaris and how he helps support the 250 companies under Volaris’ management.
The topics covered in the podcast are helpful for anyone looking to pursue their passion in founding and supporting a business that puts the needs of the customer front and center.
Understand your market and customers
When asked about his beginnings as a programmer, Miller reflects on the importance of learning the art of business by being as involved as possible: “We worked really hard to learn from our customers and learn through making mistakes.”
Miller notes that one of his early lessons came from balancing the desire to create as a programmer with a logical view of how best to achieve success. Although you may be inspired to build out a software dream, building a successful product means making sure the market will support what you’re doing, and that you understand and observe your target market.
He explains that a successful product is dependent on your customers caring about the work you are doing. Miller notes it’s paramount to make sure your products are filling a need that’s clear to your customers: “Don’t assume you know better than they do.” He recommends starting by finding early-adopters and innovators willing to collaborate on creating new offerings.
Understanding your market and customers requires thoughtful observation. Miller elaborates, “One of the things I’ve learned in travelling around the world and visiting our different businesses is even though a market appears to be similar on the surface, it really isn’t when you observe what is happening.”
It is important not to just study the end user of your product – it’s important to study the organization they work for and what the leaders in the organization care about.
Build a supportive community
This preliminary planning also includes securing long-term investors. When founding software or hardware companies, it can take years for plans to come to fruition. Investors that are willing to support you through the journey are necessary: “Make sure your shareholders and investors are in it for the long run.”
Miller continues to explain the importance of community for finding success in business: “People need to realize that it can make a big difference being part of a community that is going through the same challenges as you have.”
This community-based sentiment is echoed throughout Volaris Group as a whole: “We buy businesses, and we hold them forever and focus our time on developing our management teams and having them learn from each other. We do that across the world.”
Through working with the 250 companies under Volaris Group’s management, Miller has invested in a community within his own business. Miller says the strength of the Constellation Software model is evidenced by how he has learned lessons from every company acquired to date and tries to tell the stories he’s learned through acquisitions to business leaders in similar situations.
Find a mentor
To find success as a leader, developer or more generally in life, Miller recommends finding key individuals to provide guidance at turning points in your career: “My best advice on learning is to find a few mentors in life.”
One sole mentor may not last you your whole career – in fact, you will likely need to change mentors as you find new areas for learning or growth. These mentors can vary throughout your career; they may be from different countries or regions and may not be business leaders at all. The most important quality of a mentor is the ability to connect with them and learn from their storytelling.
The best thing you could do as a leader is to find those mentors.
Be prepared to adapt
When you’re building a product or business, be prepared to adapt as your observations and research evolves. There is success in knowing you have a lot to learn.
“Being able to take a very hard right turn or left turn off that path might be the appropriate thing to do,” Miller elaborates. “Challenge yourself to believe that there might be another way to do something than you currently think.”
As a parting note in the discussion with Chow, Miller ends with the following reflection on his career journey, from the early days of Trapeze to his current position: “You never knew where you’d end up. You just keep going and we’ll see what the future holds.”
