Polestar IIoT's 20th Birthday!
It’s a sensational feeling sitting down and writing that Polestar has been in business for 20 years. Not many companies can match that, in fact the average lifespan of a company is decreasing and some studies show that its now around 18 years.
Thinking back over the last couple of decades since we started, I mulled over what we may have done to buck this trend and if there were any lessons to be learned from our experiences. There were quite a few (!) but these three perhaps more than others:
“Mutate and survive” - understand that what you start off trying to do might not be where you end up… and furthermore accept it. If you don’t like that, life is telling you to go and DO something else.
“Play the long game” - sometimes, you just need to walk away from business opportunities that don’t feel right or, from people you wouldn’t like to do business with. Good business is all about working with the RIGHT people.
“Don’t be afraid to fail and also, fail quickly (and move on)” - I’ve lost count of the number of mistakes I’ve made over the years at Polestar, but with each mistake, I learned (and continue to learn) something new. Humility is HARD, but the upside is, it makes you more robust. Do not be afraid of any of the following: change, trying something new, or experimenting.
I hope the above is interesting and hopefully of use, particularly to those of you just starting out. Good luck if you are, you’ll need a bit of it occasionally...A big thank you to all the staff and also a big thank you to all our customers for the last 20 years. Here’s to the next 20…
Cheers!
- Julian Smith, Managing Director