Helen Yu: Scaling New Peaks in Thought Leadership and Mountaineering

Helen Yu, the founder and CEO of Tigon Advisory Corp, host of CXO Spice, and a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, is a force to be reckoned with in the business world.

With her extensive expertise in technology, cyber security, AI risk management, and go-to-market strategy, Helen brings a unique perspective to the boardrooms. Her ability to combine deep thought leadership with a keen understanding of customer experience enables her to deliver insightful questions and drive informed decisions.

Throughout her career, Helen has played a pivotal role in helping CEOs achieve remarkable revenue growth and record profitability, working with startups as well as industry giants such as Oracle and Adobe. As a Board Advisor to fast-growth SaaS companies and a member of the boards of Keenfolks and the Global Cybersecurity Association, Helen has solidified her position as a respected and influential figure in the tech and business communities.

However, Helen's expertise extends beyond boardrooms and also branches out into public speaking, where she has spoken at events such as SXSW, TiECon, DMS, Money20/20 and NAMIC, to name a few.

At the heart of her accomplishments lies her best-selling book, ‘Ascend YourStart-up: Conquer the 5 Disconnects to Accelerate Growth.’ Inspired by her late grandmother, Helen combines generations of wisdom with her own experiences to provide a revolutionary framework for tech founders and CEOs. In this industry-defining book, she identifies the five fundamental growth disconnects that often hinder startups on their journey to success. By offering a thoughtfully architected set of 26 essential questions, Helen empowers readers to self-reflect and navigate the challenges of scaling their businesses.

But the book goes beyond practical advice and also serves as a wonderful source of inspiration. Helen draws captivating parallels between the ascent of a startup and her personal promise to her late grandmother to conquer Mount Everest. This infusion of personal narrative and introspection makes the book a compelling read, allowing entrepreneurs to not only learn from Helen's expertise but also to embark on their own transformative journeys.

This week, in conversation with Helen Yu about all things startups, scaling one’s business, the pivotal role her grandmother played in her life and more…

‍With your extensive experience in digital transformation, what do you believe are the most critical components for a successful transformation?

In most digital transformation initiatives, 20 percent of the job is technology and 80 percent is the change management necessary to get there. It is critical for companies to have a vision, understand where they are at today and where they want to be; then prepare and stay the course (i.e. adapting to changes; upskilling or reskilling workforce or engaging with external partners); and inspire believers through effective leadership and communication.  My blog, Digital transformation: 3 priorities for CIOs facing a tough climb, applies here.  

In your experience, how do you effectively balance the implementation of new technology while ensuring cybersecurity risks are managed appropriately?

Before diving into new technology adoption, conduct cybersecurity risk assessment to understand where you have the most vulnerabilities.

Select a SOC compliant technology partner with expertise to help you mitigate identified risk is important. Educate your employees with the new technology and explain how to mitigate cyber risks.  Having a reliable and secure network with automated monitoring and incident response management is critical.

With your experience working with both early-stage startups and Fortune 500 enterprises, what are some of the key differences you have observed in terms of culture-building and revenue growth?

There are three growth stages of a business: From Idea to Product; Product to Market and Market to Scale. Early-stage startups are those who focus on turning idea to product and looking for product/market fit. Fortune 500 enterprises tend to focus on repeatable scalability and market expansion. Startups founders and CEOs set up the tone for company culture; startups are less structured and under constant pressure to meet their growth target to get the next round of funding. Fortune 500 enterprises have more silos within the organizations and require internal consensus for the most critical business decisions.  There might be inconsistent culture experience depending on which part ofthe organization you are in. Regardless of the size of your company, customer NPS and employee surveys could be a good indicator of how healthy your culture is.

You have had a successful career managing 100+ million dollar P&Ls contributing to multi-billion dollar growth.  Can you share with us some of the most critical financial decisions you have made in the past and the impact they had on the company?

The most critical financial decision I have made was to cut back product and services not creating customer value or leading to profitability.  Realizing what your product and services' unique value is, investing in leadership development, delivering your promise to customers, and making that repeatable are critical success factors.

As an independent board director, what do you believe are the most important considerations for companies when it comes to go-to-market strategy, marketing, customer experience, and operational efficiency?

Alignment and accountability are important considerations for companies when it comes to go-to-market strategy. Getting a common set of metrics for sales, marketing, customer experience and an operation team will drive the alignment. Leveraging technology to provide visibility and track performance will drive accountability.

You have extensive experience working with companies in the tech, manufacturing, telecom, and financial services industries. In your opinion, what industry do you believe is currently facing the most significant disruption?

Manufacturing has been disrupted the most due to volatilities. Besides inflation, there are many other unpredictable variables at play like the pandemic, geopolitics, war, fiscal policies, supply chain disruption, consumer trends and extreme weather, to name a few. The mix of labor shortage and supply chain disruption created a perfect storm for manufactures’ digital revolution.

With your experience in influencer marketing, what do you believe are some of the key factors to consider when working with influencers to promote a brand or product?

Here are 3 key factors to considerwhen working with influencers:

1. If the influencer’s value is aligned with the brand and its purpose.

2. If the influencer's target audience is an ideal target profile for the brand.

3. Do influencers have authentic voices that reach the brand’s target audience?

What advice would you give to emerging leaders in the industry who are seeking to make a significant impact in the world of digital transformation and technology?

Start with what business problem you’d like to solve with digital transformation. Assess your organization’s technology maturity and digital transformation readiness to identify gaps from people, process, and technology perspectives.  Partner with people with experience and expertise to accelerate time to value.

Your book, ‘Ascend Your Start-up’ draws parallels between the journey of growing a start-up and trekking to Mt. Everest’s basecamp. How did your personal experience in mountaineering influence your approach to scaling a business?

Trekking Mt. Everest’s basecamp requires preparation, adaptation to the changing environment, acclimation to the high elevation and celebrating small wins along the way. The same grit and resilience apply to scaling a business.  

In your book, you discuss the 5 fundamental growth disconnects that trap start-ups in the cliffside. Can you share some examples of these disconnects and how start-ups can overcome them?

Start-ups go through three stages of growth: from idea to product, product to market and market to scale. Here are the five disconnects:

1. Product market fit disconnect: Early miscalculations often result in products mismatched to market demand. The match must be perfect. “Slightly off” is still off.

2. Define minimum disconnect: To be at least minimally viable, a product must be marketable – not evidence of technical prowess too impractical to sell. But how to make your vision marketable?

3. Voice of customer disconnect: Customers will tell you what they want. But you’ve got to leave the 'lab' and listen or have someone who does; someone who knows what to listen for.

4. The process disconnect: The steps you take to systematize success. What’s true for a layup is true for a start-up. Success depends on establishing processes to make it repeatable.

5. The measurement disconnect: How to measure each function’s performance so that 'success' is defined consistently across your company? There’s a science to it. It takes more than enterprise logos to turn a start-up into a scale-up.

Many start-ups struggle with scaling and reaching their full potential. In your experience, what are some of the most common mistakes that start-ups make when trying to scale their business, and how can they avoid them?

The most common mistakes are rushed decisions under pressure without understanding the root cause of the challenge, not investing enough to enable a data-driven decision-making process, and an inability to build strong teams beyond the founding team and family members.

Successful startup founders thrive on a strong sense of personal self-efficacy to execute their vision and a keen eye for innovation to identify new products and markets. They are great listeners who turn ideas into actionable insights. They articulate their vision well and inspire devotion in others. Their risk tolerance level is higher and their motivation for achievement is stronger.

Your book is dedicated to your late grandmother. How did she inspire you throughout your career, and how does her memory continue to motivate you today?

The ‘why’ behind ascending Mount Everest was to keep a sacred promise to my grandmother and that was to leave her ashes on a tall mountain. I felt unstoppable. I made up my mind that nothing would hold me back from my climb. My destination started out, not on any map, but in my mind.

Making the decision to write Ascend Your Startup was no different. I felt it was yet another way to honor the grit and resilience Grandma taught me growing up and honor the grit and resilience it takes to scale a start-up. Grandma raised me along with nine cousins. Being the only girl and the youngest, Grandma made sure I grew up strong. As a role model, she taught me the value of hardwork, straight talk and being kind. Her last words to me were; “stay special, make the world proud” keeps me going. Writing to her everyday allows me to reflect and motivates me to stay curious and courageous.

What is your guiding principle in life, Helen?

I am a firm believer that growth thrives at the intersection of technology and humanity. I aspire to be a curious and courageous multiplier who multiplies people’s joy, knowledge, and prosperity.

‍

Photos courtesy of: Helen Yu, iStock

‍