Andrew Pek – Build Revenue in Your Startup Before You Build up Cost

<p><strong>BIO:</strong> Andrew Pek is an internationally recognized authority on innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship.</p><p><strong>STORY: </strong>When Andrew started his first business, he hired the best of the best who also came with high salary expectations. The startup could not handle the payroll, and so Andrew had to let almost everyone go.</p><p><strong>LEARNING: </strong>Starting a business from scratch requires you to be smart and strategic. Have the proper organizational structure to support your business model.</p><h2><strong>&nbsp;</strong></h2><p class="ql-align-center"><strong>“Fail fast so that you can keep on winning.”</strong></p><p class="ql-align-center">Andrew Pek</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Guest profile</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-pek/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Andrew Pek</strong></a> is an internationally recognized authority on innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship. From start-up to mature companies, Andrew has helped organizations such as Bayer, Citi Group, Pfizer, and Steelcase become more innovative.</p><p>Andrew has been invited to speak worldwide, and his views on innovative leaders, change management, and design thinking have been featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, The New York Times, Investor Business Daily, and Chicago Tribune.</p><h2><strong>Worst investment ever</strong></h2><p>When Andrew started his business, DXD Partners, a big design thinking and innovation consultancy, he decided to hire some of the most intelligent and most interesting people. He went for people he had a good affiliation with. Andrew believed that these people would take his business to the highest heights.</p><h3><strong>A payroll larger than he expected</strong></h3><p>While his hires were great, they also came with high expectations in terms of salary. Andrew invested a ton of money bringing them on board.</p><p>A bloated payroll combined with the market crash in 2008 created the perfect storm for Andrew. He couldn’t keep u