legal, compliance, and regulatory (build in public)
May 12, 2024
Organization and attention to detail have never been my strengths. Historically, I’ve tried to work around them – surrounding myself with folks who could make up for my deficiencies. That said, as the founder and CEO of a company, my strengths and weaknesses isomorphically permeate the organization. I’m great at crafting a vision and strategy, recruiting A-players, leaning into our mission, and growing the organization. I can connect dots that others don’t seem to, but that all comes at a cost. I’m impulsive and impatient, and once I’ve figured something out in my head, I lose interest in seeing projects through. However, now that we’re a multi-site company with over sixty full-time team members, I'm fully committed to laying a sturdy foundation that will make us anti-fragile and grow intentionally (without stops and starts).
Managing data effectively is notoriously difficult. I’m frustrated on a daily basis that I don’t have the answers I need at my fingertips, nor do many of our team members. We’ve migrated from a Google Drive spaghetti bowl of documents into Microsoft’s suite of services. Now, it’s time for us to lean into an effective data management system that creates a single source of truth and provides folks with the right access (Goldilocks principle: not too much, not too little).
The next few months we are going to get our house in order. I’m approaching this foundational work as if we were preparing for due diligence to sell or we wanted to raise institutional money (neither of which are part of the plan). So, what is this going to entail?
Legal Checklist
Articles of Incorporation/Organization
Bylaws or Operating Agreement
Employer Identification Number
Managed Services Agreements
Lease agreements between RE Cos. & Advaita
Licensing & Regulatory Checklist
Policies and Procedures (NC DHSR & TJC Approved)
NC DHSR License
CLIA Waivers
Insurance
General liability
Malpractice
Real estate
Life insurance
Key man insurance
I will never be in the mood to slow down, update policies and procedures, tidy our corporate governance, and pay attention to foundational details. Expanding from Raleigh to Chapel Hill – buying real estate, adding a new facility to our NC DHSR license, and updating our insurance contracts for the new location – has shown me that a lot of time is wasted when you don’t have things in order. And it’s only going to get messier as we grow. Now it’s time to conduct an audit and gap analysis and then update and revise our legal, licensing, regulatory, and insurance documentation to ensure we’re on a rock-solid foundation for growth.
Send me good vibes, pray for me, or do whatever you will because this is not going to be easy. Thankfully, I’ve got great help.
Action Steps:
Utilize Microsoft Projects for project management
Create a consistent file structure in Microsoft Sharepoint with the appropriate access based on credentials
Provide regular updates to the strategic leadership team.
Timeline
May 13-19: Audit
May 20-26: Gap Analysis
May 27-June 30: Update and Revise
