Ian founded Keylu (Formally named Once I’ve Gone) in 2015 after the sudden loss of both his mother and sister in the space of 2 years.

This difficult period was made only harder by the challenges he faced when trying to organise their estates without direction. So he decided to take matters into his own hands and develop a platform that would remove this extra stress for others who have recently lost loved ones.

Ian now lives in Cornwall with his wife and kids- where he founded Once I’ve gone. But after growing in popularity, the team noticed a rise in users who were interested in the day-to-day uses of the platform, and they wanted the name to reflect this side of the company.

So, after adapting and evolving their product to suit their user-needs, they rebranded as Keylu. A name taken from the Cornish word for family, Teylu.

Keylu allows users to capture and securely store important documents, memories, and moments for themselves, and for their loved ones to access after they’ve gone.

Alan recently sat down with Ian to hear his insight into growing a startup team- and his advice for founders going through similar business journeys.

If you want to listen to the full podcast, click here.

Here are our key takeaways:

Hire people who believe in your core mission

Your early hires will make or break your company.

You need to build a team who believe in your core mission- whatever that mission may be.

For Keylu, this mission is to build a platform that makes a difference. Everyone, from the team to their investors have sadly lost loved ones. This drives the sense of importance and value in building a platform to help alleviate extra stress and give people time and space to grieve.

A team who believes in what you’re doing will go above and beyond- something that is integral to an early-stage company.

Startups are often time-poor, and you and your team will find that the job is rarely a 9-5. But when you have a team that are aligned with your values, people will pull together to help your company grow.

And remember, these core values will change as your company scales. What connects a team of 5 may not connect a team of 50.

Covid has changed a lot of people’s perspectives on life. Now, more than ever, people want to work for, or with a company that strives to make a difference.

People want to care about what they do. Prioritise hiring with a purpose, and you’ll see the positive effect this’ll have on your retention levels.

Hire people who have a hunger to learn

People are drawn to startups because of the valuable experiences they can gain.

A startup learns as it grows, just like you, and just like your team. This opportunity to learn new skills is attractive to candidates, and the ability for an employee to define a role or position in a company is rare.

Upskilling has become a bit of a buzzword in the tech world. But you don’t need to have a big company to hire and upskill your team.

Sometimes a candidate may look perfect on paper, fill all of your job criteria, have all of the relevant experience and skills and still be a bad fit for your team.

So instead, focus on hiring the right people for your team. At Keylu, the team has worked remotely since the word go, and all employees have been recommended or referred by someone in the company.

With regular calls, meetups and one-to-ones, Ian ensures that his team work well together, saying, ‘A company is only as strong as the relationships between its team members’

In an early-stage startup, roles are flexible, and everyone needs to be willing to roll their sleeves up and get their hands dirty.

This allows people to learn about different areas of a business. Someone you bring into a marketing role may find that they love the sales side more and vice versa.

And maybe you’ll meet someone who isn’t quite right for your team now, but 2 or 3 years down the line they could be a great fit. Start building up your talent pool before you scale.

Offering room for personal development is a great opportunity to upskill your team members and allow people to find their feet within your company as you scale.

And, as Ian puts it, you should ‘bring on people who are hungry to get to the next level.’

Inevitably as your company scales you will lose people along the way. But as a leader, the best thing you can do for your team is to understand what motivates and excites them, then to provide them with tools to learn and room to grow.

It’s easy to become blindsided by people leaving- and it’s difficult to deal with, especially when you have invested so much time and effort into your employees.

But you can’t hold on to people forever.

Instead, hope that the people you invest in now will stay with you for a long time, and that if and when they leave, you’ve equipped them with the skills they need to get ahead in the workforce.

It’s lonely at the top

As a leader, it can feel like you’re alone in your challenges. But whether it’s speaking to advisory boards, contacting founders on LinkedIn, or reaching out to mentors- there’s a rich network of founders and business leaders who are in very similar positions in their own startup journeys.

It’s easy to judge yourself against successful founders of unicorn status companies. But sometimes you need to take a step back and speak to people at the start of their journey.

This might help you to answer a question, or it might help you to realise how far you have come.

Ian speaks of the benefits of having a mentor- especially in your early days. ‘A good mentor will save you a huge amount of time and mistakes going forward.’ Ideally this mentor is someone who has gone through the same process in a similar sector.

When you’re trying to bring your vision to life, it can be scary to say no. But not every avenue needs to be explored all at once!

‘Time management is one of the hardest things within any startup. And the ability to say no.’

This decision making can seem ruthless, especially when you’re in the position to call the shots. But having someone to talk these decisions through with- whether that’s a co-founder or a friend, will make it easier.  

It might be lonely at the top. But you’re rarely alone.

To listen to the podcast in full, click here. 

If you’re a startup founder and have insight to share, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Co-Founder and CEO Alan Furley for the chance to be part of our Scaleup Diaries series.