Nov 2015: Business In Focus
A closer look at companies executing leadership excellence
In May this year, Stephan Aarstol effectively doubled the per-hour earnings of every employee at his business, Tower Paddle Boards. Yet payroll didn’t budge. Aarsol did this by exploiting the insight that, for startups, time is a more malleable resource than money. So instead of giving his employees salary raises, he reduced the company workday to five hours.
Aarstol, you may recall, is the guy who froze during his 2012 pitch on ABC’s Shark Tank, but still walked off with $150,000 from Mark Cuban. Today, he and his team of nine operate the San Diego-based online paddle-board business.