Operations, Experience, Leadership: Kristi Broom's Triple Threat Approach to Startup Transformation

Stepping boldly into the entrepreneurial arena after a successful corporate career is Kristi Broom, founder of Lotus Transformation Group. With a focus on helping Series A and B EdTech and HR tech startups scale effectively, Kristi combines her operational expertise with leadership development to transform both businesses and the people who run them. Kristi's unapologetic embrace of the "AND" philosophy—rejecting the conventional advice to niche down—showcases her multifaceted approach to entrepreneurship that's helping founders build thriving companies while developing into exceptional leaders themselves.

Hi, Kristi! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?

Lotus Transformation Group is about growth: helping startups grow to scale, helping founders grow into great leaders, and helping individuals grow into the best version of themselves. I focus on Series A and B Ed tech and HR tech startups, providing post-sale operations and customer experience support, as well as leadership development and upskilling. I enable founders focus on building great businesses while I build a great company where people are inspired to do their best work.

Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.

I had thoughts of going out on my own in 2016 as I was transitioning between companies, but the timing was not right. My oldest son was just heading off to college and my two younger children had a few years before they would as well. In 2024 as I was faced with another career transition, it felt like exactly the right time to make the leap into entrepreneurship, and I am not looking back. I am proud of the work I did within organizations and am excited to take all the skills I built to make an ever bigger difference in the world as I navigate my own journey.

Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.

My youngest son graduated from high school in 2023, which was a year of big change for me personally. Around that time, I began looking for my next opportunity, but felt like I didn't have enough time to dedicate to the search. In mid-2024 I experienced a layoff, and suddenly time was no longer a barrier. I searched for a full-time role for about 3 weeks before deciding that it was exactly the right time to take a leap of faith to go out on my own. Without a doubt, the journey has had its tough moments, but I have been both fortunate and strategic in the choices I'm making to create the success I know I can achieve.

Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?

I am a fanatical to-do list creator, and that has been my lifeline. While I will get to the point of using a CRM and automations to help manage for me, simple task management and reminder tools are doing the job today. I always believe technology is an enabler, not a solution, and in this case, it's more about the diligence of planning, and then doing, the work that needs to be done.

We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.

As I was exploring whether to go out on my own, I had two particular people who urged me to just jump in and do it. So many people talked about the importance of doing, and adjusting as needed. There are so many moments when that advice has been spot on: in small moments like resisting the urge to obsess over my logo, to big moments like pushing a prototype product out into the world. That product, by the way, won't go to market in its original form, and maybe not even its next iteration. But one of its derivatives will; I just haven't found it yet.

What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?

I am unapologetically AND, meaning, I resist the advice to niche down, or focus on one thing. I have been AND since high school, and a working, commuting, business-traveling mom while climbing the career ladder. I am not wired to niche down nor focus on one thing. So when I started my entrepreneurial journey, it was by doing multiple things: opening my own business, starting several partnership ventures, and earning a coaching certification. This strategy has helped me clarify what I like and don't like doing in my journey, but has also allowed me to drive harder toward success on my own and with others.

What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?

You can build a great company or you can build a great business, but when you are in the early days, you often have to choose. What do I mean? A great company has all the things: slick website, beautiful logo, great CRM, lots of automations. A great business has paying customers who return and refer others. Those two things are not mutually exclusive, but in the early days when it's just you, your time is precious and you will have to decide how and where you allocate it. And when you have paying customers, you can outsource the things you no longer want to do.

Want to dive deeper into Kristi's work? Check out the links below!

• Visit Lotus Transformation Group's website lotustransformationgroup.com
• Connect with Kristi on LinkedIn: Kristi Broom 🪷