Anton over 8 years of entrepreneurship. TeamValue's lessons learned and feedback loop

November 10, 2024

Anton Cnossen

Directeur & Eigenaar

Table of contents

Who you gonna call?

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The highs and lows of 8 years of business

Starting with a low point? I really didn't like starting on my own! Xander soon joined and now, 8 years later, we are together with a nice club of people. I am proud of that. Or proud, as we say in Zwolle. Zwolle, that's where our office is and that's where the connection with us lies. sponsorship with PEC Zwolle. Furthermore, our colleagues do not live there and our customers are also in other locations (except for a few). A fun story? I was going to register TeamValue with the Chamber of Commerce at the time and then I was happily told that I shouldn't be called TeamValue on my own. Well, I can tell you that was a bummer. Fortunately, we quickly rectified that. After all, you don't do great things by yourself, you do it with a team. A team with sufficient diversity.

What I'm even more proud of is how we got through the coronavirus era. We continued to grow from our pain. How? We have focused. On our proposition, our marketing, personal development and the wishes of our consultants and our clients.

We have collected all the highlights of the past few years in our dream closet. That cabinet is prominent in our open office and is full of promotional gifts from (former) colleagues, customers, family and our network, which has all taken us one step further. If we're celebrating or we're having a hard time, that's the place to go.

The feedback loop and why 'the eight' is so important to us and our customers

A breakthrough. That's what we're going for. And that is what our customers aim for. Based on the core values of challenge, ownership, change, value and fun as one family. You won't easily achieve that breakthrough. We are often told that what we do is not necessarily different, but how we do it. And I think that's a big compliment. We owe this to our dedicated colleagues and our way of working. We make a business case where the value is immediately visible, follow our agile scrum process and actively evaluate. Continuous Learning is high on the agenda.

Predictable work is what you want as a (starting) entrepreneur, and that is why we have applied the defence-based “eight” through our neighbors. Internal and external. Because anyone can work hard, whether you do the right things at the right time with the right people and resources. That is the next question. We often get asked how do we apply that ourselves and what our team days look like? This is how we work together, connect and deliver value. And all very seriously, but luckily all the silly jokes in the office have been flying around you for 8 years. And above all, let it stay that way!

So why the 'eight' is so important? Good cooperation and relationship requires trust. And trust ensures a safe work environment and also ensures that you dare to show guts. That has nothing to do with whether you work in IT or not.

Want to know more about the feedback loop? Read why it's the Golden path of IT and business or download our BizDevOps leaflet directly via Goldmine Downloads

A goal is a dream with a deadline — the Netherlands to New York gets to know the Golden Path

TeamValue itself is now in the scale-up phase. Every phase an organization is in involves challenges. After us 5th anniversary we agreed that it was time for the next phase. The Rockefeller strategy has helped us with that and is still helping. We make 'Stupid' strategy more fun, we apply gamification and we make invisible results visible. Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, so we make everything transparent.

The best-kept secret of a TeamValue colleague? That's it Golden Path. Well, a sneak peek. In the coming years, we will make sure that it is no longer so secret at all. We want every organization to walk the golden path. Also that they can do that themselves when we leave. Imagine that everyone is 'working in an agile way' these days. In 10 years — from the Netherlands to New York — we will all be applying the Golden Path. IT is no longer a “black box” and both business and IT work in the same way. That bridge that we build then simply runs from Zwolle to the other side of the world. That is our goal. Does anyone have a question about this way of work? “Who are you going to call “? Team Value!