Five Lessons for Early-Stage Founders: Advice From Foxbox Digital Founder and CEO Rob Volk

“I had a lot of misconceptions,” says Rob Volk, the Founder and CEO of Foxbox, a Chicago-based digital agency. “I thought running a startup was all about lifestyle, glamorous parties, and getting picked up by TechCrunch and Mashable. Turns out, that was all a flash in the pan.”

A lot has happened in the last five years for this founder and his award-winning company.

In 2023, Foxbox Digital celebrated its fifth anniversary by ranking number 7 on Inc. Magazine’s Regionals Midwest list. The year before, they took the 121st spot on the magazine’s Inc. 5000 list. And despite the pandemic, the company tripled, growing from 36 team members to over 100.

The journey may appear seamless from the outside, but as Rob reminds us, it wasn’t all champagne, industry parties, and magazine covers.

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or an early-stage founder, keep reading. Here are five lessons Rob learned on the road to building an award-winning company from the ground up.

Lesson 1: Have Doubts? Ask Yourself One Important Question.

When I first launched Foxbox, I had some initial success, but there were several months where nothing happened. I often felt like I was wandering in a dark cave, looking for the light, wondering if I would ever get out.

If you’re in a similar situation, imagine being forced to stop doing what you’re doing. What would you do? Would you start again or be content to do something else?

In my case, I knew that I would do it all over again. So I hung in there, kept talking, networking, and doing everything but giving up.

Four months later, I signed my second client, a huge company from Chicago. I didn’t know when, or even if, it would happen. But I kept doing the work, and it paid off.

So if you’re an early founder who is doubting yourself, stop and ask yourself this question: “What would I do if I had to stop?”

The answer to that question may tell you what to do next.

Lesson 2: You Don’t Have to Be Original. You Have to Be Better.

Think you have an original idea? Chances are that someone is already doing something eerily similar. But don’t let that stop you. This means you’re on the right track.

If you have an idea that’s truly unique and has never been done before, you’re one of two things: a genius or someone who discovered a problem that’s not worth solving.

You found out that someone is already doing what you want to do? Good. Now do it better.

Lesson 3: Don’t Do What You Love.

I was a software engineer before I started Foxbox Digital. I loved my work, but I knew I had to give it up. Here’s why.

When I'm designing software, I’m in my happy place. The trouble is that staying within my comfort zone prevents personal growth and hinders business progress.

Leveraging your strengths is important, but not at the expense of the bigger picture.

Lesson 4: Great Leadership Requires Balance.

I wanted to be a hands-off leader in the early days, so I’d tell employees, “Go, run. You have complete autonomy.” Other times, when I was playing the role of the anxious leader, I’d micromanage and check in constantly.

Both styles created bad situations, and I lost leaders in my company because of it. But I learned from my mistakes.

Leadership requires a balance of autonomy and support, and as bright as my team was, they still needed my oversight and partnership.

Lesson 5: Build a Diverse Team From Day One.

In the early days, we lost a key sales hire who would have been a great addition to our team. But she came in, took a look around, and said, “No, thanks. This is a boys club.”

She was right. We didn’t have any gender diversity, and it wasn’t a safe space for her. We changed that. Ever since then, diversity has been a core part of what Foxbox does.

I want team members with diverse minds and unique points of view—people who challenge each other. That’s what diversity does.

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