A customer sent me an email the other day. It was an application form for a Cool Company Award - which is run by venture-capital focused innovation publisher Anthill. We naturally took it as a compliment and in some small way it validated a feeling that we had actually been around for longer than we have. You see, it is a rare thing in Australian business to find an award, a grant, or an accreditation for successful businesses who have yet to move past 24-months of operation... 

In fact cynics would say that the application processes for some awards and grants actually takes up to two years so by the time they are awarded the need has well passed. Not that it's a worry for us or for other new faces. I have spoken with many entrepreneurs who have lost count of the guarantees against their property in the first few years of operation not because their business is going bad but rather because it is going from strength to strength. All have said that they can't believe how fast the first 5-years went.

My take is that corporate entrepreneurial awards such as Anthill, BRW or even government grants provide a signpost for business. So rather than be a negative, as contracts get bigger, commitments higher, capabilities deeper, and staff happier, companies can have a strong guage of how they are travelling and when and where even more dilligence and commitment to the plan are required. Many companies prefer to fly below that radar.

Assuming things are going to plan, as a company moves from its first year of operation into its second it enters a great period of exhuberance. The shirt seems to fit a bit better than it did in the first year, you've had the chance to wear it on a few jobs, people have not only liked your work they've asked for more of it, your brand is available in more companies around the country, and even when it isn't stocked, people are starting to ask for it by name. Even Google notices the difference. (You will always remember the time your new company returned a Top 10 search in a key focus area).

Right about now confidence is growing and that original plan, rejected by many, seems right on the money. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It has been a long road to get here and truth be known if you have survived year 1 then year 2 is even harder - but no less fun. Heck, you haven't even embarked on the sales stages of the business plan yet but that hasn't stopped customers driving new products and sales channels into the model.

Having succeeded in cracking the market and successfully competing against large competitors in key accounts the expectations are higher but external support remains the same. As the months approach for key account renewals anticipation is high that the true measure of success is not winning business but renewing it. In football they call it the "premiership" quarter. It is that time in the game when you know you can hold your own against the competittion, the end is in sight, yet the odds still seem long. Will you have what it takes?

Your supporters are starting to believe, your team mates are starting to believe, clients already do. So with the knowledge that with greater effort comes greater reward, Year 2 becomes about the journey from self belief to "can't quite believe" and then it's just a matter of getting on with the job.

Thanks team - Harvey