Adam Kirsch is the Chief Executive Officer of Yorango, a startup focused on developing software solutions for the real estate industry.
Prior to joining Yorango, he launched and sold Beacon Records (now Daily Beat Media), a music marketing and management firm, and worked in consulting and marketing. Outside of entrepreneurship, he enjoys reading, writing and sports, especially fencing.
He is an alumnus of Cornell University, where he studied Industrial & Labor Relations and pursued an MBA.
Here is our interview with Adam Kirsch, CEO of Yorango:
What’s most exciting to you at this point in your career?
At this point in my career, I get excited about doing great things with great people. Right now, we’re working on a new product release. These are tremendously fun, yet challenging, opportunities to do something innovative and bring real value to your customers.
Give me an example of when you inspired people with a vision.
When we launched our first product, a community-targeted sublet site, we attracted a large following of renters and a quality team by going back, time and time again, to a real impact for real people. We lived in the community we built for, and it was our friends who used the product. The vision was reflected in our day to day and the lives of those around us, which inspired us through the entire development and launch of that product.
How do you build “culture” within your organization?
Culture building is a result from a focus on a shared goal and a confidence in the work that we’re doing. By ensuring the entire team is aligned on these two points, culture develops organically.
How would you describe your leadership philosophy?
Lead by example.
What’s the greatest compliment you’ve ever been given in your time as a leader?
It’s not a traditional compliment, but a current member of our marketing team who was with a highly acclaimed public company at the time told me he’d quit his job in a second to work with me.
Tell me about how you’ve scaled your organization. What was a defining moment or decision you made that put you on that path?
Scaling is one hell of a challenge. We’re in the process of gearing up to scale again with our upcoming property management software product release. Scaling requires a deep understanding of customer needs, as well a comprehension of how your product will evolve. We’ve needed to make changes to our technology in order to enable scale and create more formal processes for sales, customer experience, etc., but all of that goes back to really grasping the use cases for your product.
Share with me one of your greatest accomplishments while being incredibly resource disadvantaged.
Despite having virtually no marketing budget in our earliest days, our initial product launch was a huge success. We managed to register nearly 40% of our target demographic in our target market with minimal cash outlay, a feat I attribute to a quality product, a skilled team and a focus on engaging the local community.
How do you invest in yourself to increase your impact?
I invest in myself in a few ways. Going to conferences and networking events has proven beneficial to me, and I also decided to pursue an MBA, a decision that has proven highly useful to me as an entrepreneur. I believe in learning as much as possible, as quickly as reasonable, from as many resources as are available.
How does consistent learning and curiosity show up in your organization?
Learning is a constant in a startup environment, without question. Everything we do has an element of originality to it, so curiosity and a commitment to learning are table stakes for joining our team. We encourage people to go to a number of events in our community, and we also pay for a number for online learning resources for team members if they want to develop new skills.
What’s one piece of advice you have for entrepreneurs who are just starting to hire C-Level talent?
If you’re looking to build out the team around you, think about how you envision the team moving forward, and the difference between your current state as a firm and what the desired state is. How will your new CxO bring you closer to that desired state? If you can’t answer that question, it’s not time to hire.
How do you attract the best and brightest?
Let them know how they fit in to the plan. The best people want to work with the best people, and they want opportunities to do great and impactful things. Create those opportunities and give potential team members an opportunity to get to know you and your team.
If you could go back to when you were just starting out at your organization and give yourself one piece of advice, what would you tell yourself?
Always remember that a product is not, by itself, a business, and you can never do enough customer discovery.
TruPath is an executive search firm that finds mid to senior level executives in mission critical roles at your organization. This interview is part of our executive interview series, where we ask CEO’s a series of questions about their leadership philosophies and practices. Contact us if you’d like to recommend a CEO to interview, or if you’re looking for a leader to join your team.