On a recent episode of Savage to Sage, FullStack’s VP of Business Development sat down with Box Score’s Co-founder and CEO, Patrick Burke to talk about his entrepreneurial journey and how he took his vision of improving the process of employee and customer feedback and turned it into a business.
Patrick explains that there’s two different types of feedback. Summative – which asks the question, “how did we do?” – is the most widely used form and looks at how a company or employee has done overall – think 6 month or yearly evaluations. Formative – which follows a process – takes time and looks for touch points along the customer or employee journey. For Patrick, he saw a lack of formative feedback at many organizations and understood how valuable learning and utilizing this type of feedback could be for both a company as well as its employees.
This is where Box Score comes in. Patrick and his father Bill founded the company in 2016 and created a formative feedback process to help organizations give and receive feedback from their employees and clients. Their 2×2 questions and comments process allows for the feedback interaction to be short and simple, but still valuable.
So why is formative feedback more beneficial? Patrick explains, “We have these once a year sit downs that are miserable for everybody and it turns into lets talk about the last year but we only remember the last three weeks, so that’s all we really end up talking about.” Patrick knew there had to be a better way to make feedback worthwhile by shortening and simplifying the process and having it occur more often instead of once or twice a year.
Patrick also discussed his journey as an entrepreneur and what he’s learned along the way. For him, the most important thing he has learned has been humility. Patrick explains that not taking yourself seriously and knowing when to ask for help is essential to the entrepreneurial process. “There’s no lifeline to the corporate side.” Patrick mentions – if there’s an issue or problem, its in the owner’s hands to find a solution.
An important lesson about humility Patrick learned when first starting out was that friendliness and personability doesn’t always equal sales. “I enjoy people and its not hard for me – I don’t feel like I have to work to be friends with somebody. I thought that would translate into people wanting to do business with us, but there’s a huge gap between being able to build a relationship with somebody and being able to solve a problem that they have in a way that’s meaningful enough for them to give you their business.”
When things get difficult, Patrick has learned to take things one step at a time and focus on small successes. When Box Score had issues early in its existence, Patrick explained that his focus wasn’t in the right place and he learned from that experience. “When things got tight, I tried to hit a grand slam instead of just hitting singles and doubles. Those take longer, they’re harder deals.” For him, focusing on the next step in front of you is what can keep you – and your business – moving forward.
What advice does Patrick have for new founders? Know why you want to do it. Patrick explains that being an entrepreneur is difficult and not knowing why you’re in it or what you’re doing it all for can make the journey more challenging. He also mentioned the importance of investing in the relationships around you – find people who can give you good advice and share in your successes when they come.
To hear the full interview with Patrick, visit Savage to Sage’s website or download on your favorite podcast platform.