Founder’s Friday featuring Rob Belcore @ RSA America

Please provide a brief description about your company.
Marketing Analytics software company working with retail grocers and CPG companies.

Two hashtags that best describe you.
#indomitable #lovinghusband

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My family

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Knowing my family is provided for and safe

What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fear is failure. Period. People say it is bad to fear failing but there are in my opinion only 2 real motivators in life. Fear and Love. I fear failing as most all entrepreneurs do because my family, employees, and customers need me to succeed.

Whom do you most admire?
If we are talking about someone I personally know it would be my grandfather on my mother’s side. He grew up in a small town, and made it to the Show (major league baseball) playing for the Detroit Tigers. He had a tragic end to his career, and how he handled that tragedy was admirable.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Leave work at work more. Technology has us so engaged, we have employees working over sees 12 hours ahead of us. So if it is 8 am or 11 pm I have employees I can interact with

What are your top tips for balancing work and life?
Define your “friends and family” very specifically. Entrepreneurs sacrifice so much socially. This sacrifice can be hard and painful but you have to focus in on who is the most important in your heart. Who can you not breathe with out. For me it is my wife and daughters. It is hard as I haven’t seen my brothers, sisters, parents and friends as much as I would like to for 5 years now but as long as my girls are happy I can endure, one day I will be able to expand my circle of relationships once again I am sure.

What is something new that you learned about running a business this year?
This year with Covid I learned (happily) that it is more socially acceptable to do sales calls via webinar than I had previously experienced. I hope this trend continues as it will reduce my travel allowing me to spend more time with my family.

What is your most marked characteristic?
toughness

What is your greatest regret?
Not analyzing information flow in my market. With any new product you have to look at customer education and how expensive this is going to be. Customers of my customers knew my technology well but MY customers did not. Had I analyzed how information on technology like mine was distributed across my industry I would have realized that I had a much larger uphill battle of educating the industry I service on what makes our technology 1. necessary and 2. better than the rest.

What is your motto?
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing. Benjamin Franklin

What is a legal mistake you wish someone warned you about?
Don’t go cheap early. BUDGET FOR LEGAL AT THE START. It only costs you more in the long run.

When running your business, what do you struggle with most?
releasing customer control to new hires. I struggle to accept that I can’t be all things to all customers. We have great account managers I need to allow them to be great instead of inserting myself in their roles

What advice would you give to yourself at 25 years old?
Trust your gut