Rachael Radford understands that a great entrance depends on a well planned exit. At a young age, she grew a company with partners, learned a lot, and then left. And leaving well is key among the learnings that she applies to her current business, Meira Consulting.
We talked about people’s aversion to technology, the appeal of consulting, how to make decisions, how to leave well, and how to navigate uncertainty.
What follows are lightly edited excerpts from our conversation.
On the leap from concrete form worker to entrepreneur
“I used to be a concrete form worker on high rise towers. And then I got into construction project management. And I just saw, through my experience in the construction industry, such a lack of use of technology. And it led me to ask, ‘what are the things we should be doing to move things forward more quickly?’”
“So I wound up going back to school, and getting into international business management, where I learned about transport and logistics. And there, I saw which industries were really moving forward on software, which weren’t, and why. And that’s how I found my way to starting a consulting firm that specialized in project management for software.”
On what we can learn from the construction industry
“People are resistant to technology. Some of that is cultural within the industry: there’s still this mentality around it being an old industry with old ways of doing things.”
“People out in the field don’t want to use technology. ‘Why would you want me to be on an app on my phone when I literally should be swinging a hammer right now?’ And there’s a fairness to that.”
“And there’s also a viewpoint of the industry from outside, which means a lot of software companies aren’t focusing on building products for them. So I think it’s a miss on both sides.”
On founding her first business
“When I was leaving school, I was really interested in consulting. I love thinking about a solution to a problem, and all the ways that you could solve something.”
“My mentor knew that, and he actually picked up the phone, and called my then-eventual partners, and said, ‘Hey, I know you’ve started a consulting firm. You know, you need another person that’s going to be in on this with you. I know who that should be. You should take Rachael for coffee.’ And that’s how it started.”
“We were all very young. We were very naive. We did not know what we were doing in a lot of ways. But there were things that we did really know how to do. And we just kind of lucked out in finding clients that happened to have that very specific problem we knew how to solve. And that’s how we kind of broke into the industry — sheer luck and a bit of puppet mastery.”
“By the time I left, six or seven years into it, there were four or five partners, and we had a couple of other minority partners, and about 24 or 25 staff. We had a couple of offices in Canada, and we were thinking about starting one in the US.”
On how to make decisions with partners
“At the outset, you have to know how you’re going to balance different voices in the room, some of which are louder, and some of which are quieter. Some of whom view things the same way, and some differently. And what was challenging was that we didn’t have clarity around decision-making authority in a way that would really leverage everybody’s strengths, and pull them into the right kinds of decisions.”
“We definitely had a lot of open communication. But as we added more people to the mix, it was harder and harder to get on the same page. And there came a point where HR events were happening, or companies were reaching out to ask if they could buy us, or opportunities came up to grow into new geographical spaces or service areas – big decisions that would really impact us. And, like, ‘Who’s moving to Toronto to open that office? Who is actually taking that on, and taking ownership of it?’ When those questions would come up, the decisions were not always based on what was best for the business — a lot of the time it came down to personal preferences.”
“When you’ve got a lot of people who want a lot of different things, and you don’t know how you’re going to make decisions, you can wind up making decisions that people don’t agree with, but have to go along with because of voting shares or things like that. And that’s where I think things fell apart a little bit for us, or at least for me, in that business. There was a lot of really great work, but there were also things that I just didn’t enjoy.”
On peaceful exits
“The end of a partnership is usually really tumultuous, but we had a very amicable one with open communication. And I think that the reason is because we were clear enough about what we personally did and did not want, so it was easy to have that conversation, and come to the same conclusion.”
“When we started the business – even just with a couple of partners – there was a lot we didn’t know. So we didn’t have good exit clauses, or even an understanding of how someone might come or leave the business. We did not have that sorted out. So when someone had to bend, it wound up being me, saying ‘You know what, it’s not worth fighting about this. I would rather go off and do my own thing, and have this end peaceably. There are things I might feel entitled to, that I’d like to see go in my favour. But is it worth the fight and the damage it would do, or am I just walking?’ And for me, that’s what it came down to.”
On her biggest learnings for starting a new business
“When I left the previous business, I knew what I did and did not want to offer to clients in the future. In fact, one of my big reasons for leaving the previous firm was that we had become a reseller of specific licenses — we were selling procurement software and implementing the backend configuration. And that’s a great business model to be in, but that didn’t excite me. I also wasn’t able to provide unbiased advice. I couldn’t actually say, ‘I’m going to tell you which is the best procurement software for you because I only sell three of them. I wanted to really support a client in making the best software choice, which is ultimately what I am passionate about.”
“When I left and started Meira, I thought, ‘What is it that’s making me excited to show up to work, and own a business, and run a business?’ And I have to make sure that that is what I’m doing, and that nothing else gets in the way of that. So that I can take on the risk of owning a business, and still have energy at the end of the day after being an entrepreneur. I had to get really real with it.”
On bringing in a new partner
“I started a second company right in the height of COVID, and I decided to bring in a partner. It was a pretty stressful time: I was worried about how the business would survive COVID, and I was having my first baby. And I didn’t feel like I’d be able to handle it all by myself.”
“What I found quickly is that we were not good at making decisions together. The decision-making process was incredibly slow. And when you’re in a really tumultuous time like COVID, and you’re dealing with a lot of crises — that is not the time to be slow on decisions. So, I think the big thing that didn’t work in that partnership was not having alignment about what it takes to move quickly in a business, to meet the needs of clients that are changing on the fly.”
“It was an absolute disaster. It was over very quickly, thankfully, because I had learned my lesson about exit plans in contracts. And I got a lot of great advice and support from people. If you’re going to fail, fail fast.”
On why she likes to be a solo owner
“At Meira, in the seven years now that we’ve been around, what I found is that I really enjoy being able to make the decisions that I know are good for my clients and my staff. And I want to have control over that.”
“Something we talk about really openly across the team is what it is that somebody really wants when they think that they want equity. Is it that they want to take the risk on, which is a large part of what comes with equity? Or do they want decision-making authority? Or do they want to be accountable for something? Or do they want to have a team that reports to them? Like, what is actually the thing that’s going to fill them up – and then trying to find ways to do that.”
“We also do profit sharing, and that leads to some of the benefits that people think that they want with equity. And we do a lot of open decision-making and discussion. What are we trying to accomplish with this? Should we do this thing or not? And we have a lot of that kind of engagement among the staff. I mean, our team is an incredible team. A lot of them have MBAs. They’ve been in business for many years. They’ve had very significant decision-making roles as GMs or other things in their past life. So I have a really strong team to draw on in terms of their business acumen, and how they think about things, and how they can recognize what’s good for a company or not, and apply it to our own.”
“So, my hope is that we all get what we need from those avenues. Without us having to give up, at the end of the day, the ability to make a quick decision.””
On what keeps her up at night
“I spend a lot of time ruminating about the global situation, the economic and political situation here in Canada, and just the impact that those have on us as business owners, and as people that want to participate and see a real and wonderful future and want that for our kids as well. So there are a lot of factors that are outside of my control that definitely keep me up at night.”
“I also think about my purpose. The purpose here at Meira is maturing businesses through software and process. How are we doing that? And are we actually accomplishing that?”
“Right now, we see what clients are going through with high interest rates, we see how economics are impacting their businesses, and what they’re trying to do. And we ask, what is our role, and what should it be in helping them progress given the situations that we’re in, and these external factors we don’t control. What can we still do? What can we still control? How should we be maneuvering, and how can we help our clients maneuver as best they can too.”
“Something that’s on my mind a lot right now, especially with big elections coming up and all of the other stuff, is that there’s so much that can impact business and our business relationships in the next year or so. How do we prepare for that? How do we go through it? And then how do we come out the other end better?”
Rachael Radford is the founder and president of Meira Consulting. In their words, “Meira helps clients select software, as the client’s expert. They streamline processes, help with selection, and oversee adoption, so clients see the end value from their investment.” Meira has been in business for seven years, has a team of ten, and has completed over 150 projects to date involving software across the board, from ERP to permits and licensing.