Advice and Lessons Learned from an Entrepreneur
Interview with Industry Leaders
Maurice Harary co-founder and CEO of The Bid Lab, an RFP consulting company dedicated to helping businesses find, manage and build RFPs and proposals. Starting with just $1,500, Maurice built up a company that continues to expand beyond the realm of the RFP process industry. Furthermore, he helps countless small and medium-sized businesses win their first multi-million-dollar deals. Helping smaller businesses drives The Bid Lab’s mission!
For those who don’t know anything about you or your work, can you provide a bit of background?
As a middle child in a family of six children, I draw parallels between my upbringing and my love of the bidding process: both require being an expert navigator of complex situations and contrasting personalities.
I attribute this ability to the experiences I had growing up. Born and raised in New York City, I attended New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and graduated with a degree in Business and Political Economy. I knew I wanted to see, learn and experience more than what one city had to offer. So I committed to spending semesters in both London and Shanghai. Living in foreign cities taught me about the intertwining nature of business, politics, economics, and culture, which has been invaluable in my career thus far.
Was any one person who was instrumental in helping you get from where you started out, to where you are now?
Did you know that the vast majority of married couples choose not to work together? My wife and I are the exception. Jordan is my partner in every sense of the word.
Back in 2017, she was climbing the ladder in the automotive industry while I was working at IHS Markit. Jordan was tasked with completing an RFP for her business and hired an outside consultant for assistance. When we saw the final work product, we were shocked by the subpar quality that seemed to be accepted by the industry at large. The formatting was off, the writing was shoddy. The information was not even compliant. We worked through the night putting together a proposal she could stand behind. It was then that we realized combining her writing talent with my RFP knowledge was a winning formula for success.
Since then, we’ve created the world’s leading RFP company, had two daughters and recently launched our own RFP search engine, Bid Banana.
Is there a particular piece of advice you were given in the early days of your business journey that you still benefit from today?
There is an old Japanese proverb: “Fall seven times and stand up eight.” Throughout the years, as we have continued to expand and grow, there have been inevitable hiccups along the way. The key to overcoming these hiccups is to EXPECT them to happen. You have to be prepared for and accept bumps in the road when you are trying to do something great. What’s great is that we always get back up, even if the fall was so hard it sometimes takes a second to heal.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned about leadership in your business journey so far?
Don’t just hear what you want to hear. Listen to the people who have constructive criticism, whether in your professional or personal life. Really take the time to get out of your own way and absorb what someone else is saying. Even if it’s difficult to hear, there is always a benefit to taking that constructive criticism and using it to hone in on enhancing yourself or your company. Avoid hearing the same criticism again by taking the time to learn from valuable feedback.
In your experience, what is the most effective way to build a strong network of mentors and advisors to guide you in your business endeavors?
Focus on your marketing strategy. And if you cannot pay attention to your marketing strategy, hire people who can. Marketing is all in the details. This isn’t something that can merely run on autopilot. Set aside specific time to focus and refine your marketing on a regular basis and ensure you have a team in place that shares your vision and can help you expand.
How do you determine when it’s time to pivot, and what factors should you consider in making that decision?
Fear is the number one aspect that holds people back from getting out of their comfort zone. And for good reason. Being vulnerable and authentic takes work and it is scary. It’s been said many times because it is so very true, you can’t let fear win. Often, we are afraid to be who we are in the world because we fear rejection, but it’s far better to be rejected for yourself than for someone you’re pretending to be. And every failure, every rejection just gets you one step closer to success.
How do you stay motivated and inspired during the business cycle of ups and downs?
Utilizing failure to create resilience: in life, and especially in business, we are destined to fail. So many of us when we fall are simply too stunned to get back up again. We remember the pain and we strive to avoid it again at all costs. But we shouldn’t be surprised by failure, we should accept and plan for it. Failing teaches us so much about ourselves, when we risk failure we learn resilience. Remembering those painful times you got back up again creates a repository of positive memories. Build this resiliency in yourself to know, no matter the obstacle, you will keep going. You will eventually turn a setback into a success.
Looking back, what one thing would you do differently if you could start your journey over again?
I, too, used to go into a 52-story skyscraper in New York City in a full suit every day. But, when I founded The Bid Lab, I remembered that the people I worked most closely with on my previous team worked out of the UK and India. Why couldn’t I work closely with people who weren’t located geographically nearby to me? The Bid Lab has been a remote company. There are myriad reasons why remote work is worth championing (environmental impact, productivity, work/life balance). Our remote arrangement allows The Bid Lab to hire from a unique pool of individuals. I’m looking at you, an amazing writer, living 3 hours outside of Albuquerque who needs to be available to her elderly mother in the afternoons. And I’m also looking at you, a sales superstar who wants to homeschool her kids but can also sell ice to an Eskimo. I’m proud of the fact that The Bid Lab is made up of a team of individuals who have individual needs but also a common ability to log into work wherever they may be.
Link to interview with Industry Leaders: Maurice Harary, Co-Founder & CEO
