Tesovic sold the world's largest lyrics site and parent company MetroLeap Media Inc. to CBS Interactive Music Group last year.
As a 17-year-old developer and entrepreneur working to get lyrics site MetroLyrics.com off the ground, Milun Tesovic, now 26, was a one-man show – and liked it that way.
"You start getting into a mindset that you can do all these things and that you're being efficient when in reality you're just tying up your time with tasks that other people can probably do better than you."
Tesovic said it wasn't until he found himself burning out with an "unmanageable" workload that he began to consider a first hire for his fledgling company. But it still took him another two or three years to complete that first hire, and even then he remained skeptical.
"You're now all of sudden giving somebody the keys to the kingdom, and they can basically bring it down from inside," he said, describing his fears at the time.
But Tesovic said that within a week of that first hire, the move was already paying off: the capacity gain was freeing up Tesovic to more actively chart the company's future.
That role, he said, is what being an entrepreneur is all about.
"You need to be the guy determining where's the destination, mapping it out, and then you've got a great team that's going to drive you there."
Tesovic said that after that first hire, he accelerated hiring, expanding to a staff of 10 within a year – each time assessing candidates for "fit" with the company's corporate culture. Having a strong team in place, Tesovic said, allowed the lyrics site and parent company MetroLeap Media Inc. to grow "exponentially." He added that some of the same principles apply to his personal life. He's discovered that the right network of friends – people who "drive [his] ambition" – has helped him find both work-life balance and new inspiration.
Tesovic said entrepreneurs need to find friends who are more than just drinking buddies.
"It doesn't necessarily always mean entrepreneurs, but it just means people that vibe with you – the kind of individuals who you can relax around and who you can throw ideas around and who get you thinking and caught up in the right habits."
He added that entrepreneurs should start networking when they're young.
"There's a big trend in university classes – you have one full seat, one empty seat, one full seat, one empty seat. And I'm like, 'Why wouldn't you guys talk to each other?'"
He said they also need to keep their working goals in proportion.
"Surrounding yourself with the right people really allows you to enjoy the moment that you're in right now and what it is that you currently have – and not so much focus on that one goalpost at the end, which might not be what you're expecting." •
