Who is a leader? In generic terms, a leader is someone who motivates and inspires others to work toward a common goal, while also dealing with crises. Often, in small businesses, CEOs have a huge impact on organizational success, as they communicate with stakeholders, address critical issues, and shape work culture. For startup CEOs, this is especially difficult, as they must also guide the company through its evolution.
Jeff Shapiro of investment group Viola rightly states, “The only job lonelier than CEO is that of a startup CEO.” Startup founders and chief executives are responsible for a changing, global business landscape, and must quickly adapt to customer demands and market volatility.
A survey done by Headspace Health, a digital mental health platform, in 2022 revealed that 83% of CEOs reported missing at least one day of work due to stress, burnout, and mental health challenges. While decreasing valuations and a global economic downturn threaten growth, some startup CEOs are blazing a new trail by providing unique solutions to critical challenges.
Read on to know the three startup CEOs we have on our radar.
Inspiring leaders also invest time in networking, reading books for CEOs, and learning from their peers, to hone their craft.
To achieve success, leaders of startups constantly seek feedback from potential customers to refine their product and invest in developing a high-functioning team. The startup CEOs to watch out for in 2023 are visionaries who understand customer needs and leverage technology to deliver the required results.
Nenad Milanovic – CEO of Clockify
Nenad Milanovic is the founder and CEO of time tracking app Clockify. The startup CEO is based in San Francisco and successfully leads the team that built a time tracking software used by the likes of Disney, Amazon, SAP, and many more.
The app helps in boosting productivity, plugging loopholes, streamlining processes, and managing teams efficiently, all by monitoring where your time goes and how it can be improved upon.
Milanovic is no stranger to the grueling struggle startups face in their initial days. In 2019, during an interview with YouTuber Nathan Latka, Milanovic admitted that finding success has been tough. At the time, he revealed that for two successful ventures, he also had eight failures in his kitty. In a writeup about his entrepreneurial journey, Milanovic divulged that the easiest way to create market-ready products is by identifying gaps in the consumer market. “The most sustainable way to build products that will sell is to adapt instead of trying to innovate. Look for the gaps in the market and fill them out,” he noted. With a five-year search growth of nearly 9100%, the Clockify chief executive is on our list of startup CEOs to watch out for, for a keen market awareness and tenacity.
Clockify is currently the market’s most valuable time-tracking brand, adding over 100,000 new users every month.
Paul Tran – CEO of Manscaped
Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But a little grooming goes a long way in drawing said eye. Paul Tran the founder and CEO of Manscaped believes that the right grooming helps instill self-assurance and confidence in men.
Since 2016, Manscaped has churned out grooming products for men and amassed millions of customers. The company, headquartered in California, attracted investment from Lori Greiner and billionaire Mark Cuban through the hit show Shark Tank.
Tran wants to grow the company into a mainstream lifestyle brand that provides complete solutions for men’s grooming and self-care needs. Last year, Ernst & Young recognized his potential and declared Paul Tran the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Pacific Southwest Award winner. Manscaped clocked a five-year search growth of over 3233% and has thrust the startup CEO into the limelight, firmly placing him on our list of executives to watch out for.
Tran advises entrepreneurs to take failure in stride. “Before one can be truly successful, one must fail. It is in these defining moments where you learn — how to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and come out even stronger than before.” At the end of 2021, the company was valued at $1 billion.
Greg Dvorken – CEO of Return Solutions
There is always room for improvement in business intelligence software. Greg Dvorken can attest to this with his experience. The founder and CEO of Return Solutions Inc., Dvorken built a sales intelligence company that captures unique insights on buyer-seller interactions.
The company is focused on enabling sales and marketing professionals separate the wheat from the chaff, redefining business outcomes. Started in May 2019, Return Solutions has been able to use data to close the feedback loop and help better the success score for sales professionals. In the coming year, the tech startup will be laser-focused on service market segments to drive growth and business.
The Baltimore-based success intelligence company CEO is upbeat about the future. “Our software provides the intelligence to understand what content to share, why to share it and how successful it’s been based on wins and losses. We have found a great collaborator in TEDCO to help guide us into the next phase of Return’s journey,” he shared after the firm raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding in August 2022. With just 12 employees at last count, the startup CEO has been able to break down silos, drive innovation, and make sense of complex data systems.
For a small and upcoming company, Dvroken has managed to use technology to help sellers close deals faster. Return’s success is based on filtering the subtext in customer reviews and feedback with the help of technology.
This year promises to be an exciting chapter for startups, as market disruptions and global changes impact market forecasts. The market is ripe with opportunities and it is up to startups to provide workable solutions for seemingly insurmountable challenges.
