Half the challenge is having the appropriate beginning team. Investors are interested in your idea, but they also want to see how your team works together. As connecting with people who share their ambition and passion is part of their work, startup owners should place more emphasis on quality than quantity.
Several local startup mentors from the [Add Client] Institute previously presented a workshop on how to choose the best team members for your firm. For your advantage, we’ve selected some of the most insightful quotes from that presentation below.
Choose a Co-Founder:
Should you look for a co-founder or go it alone? This dilemma is one that all business owners eventually encounter. Even though there is no one right solution, hiring the right individual can be crucial to the success of your startup.
“If you choose to work with a co-founder, keep in mind that they should bring to the team complementary skill sets and aid in keeping you motivated and focused. Investors are more willing to back a founding team than a solo entrepreneur because so few profitable companies were started by a single person.” Says Sukhy Dhillon, Brand Director at e-Careers
It’s crucial to establish the appropriate chemistry because the founding team will be working hard and facing challenges together for a long time. Consider your partnership to be a business marriage.
- So how do you go about it?
Determine the gap in your business first. Associate yourself with someone who provides that expertise to the startup, whether it is in a particular procedure or a whole business area. Keep in mind that you need to support and benefit from one another. The creators of Intel, Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce, are wonderful examples. Noyce had an understanding of Physics, while Moore studied Chemistry.
- Once you’ve determined what is needed, start with a person you are already familiar with. A fantastic location to seek possible co-founders is inside your network. Sometimes it makes sense to team up with someone you’ve previously worked with because you’ll be more familiar with their work style and have more regard and trust for them. In addition to getting married, Kevin and Julia Hartz were already married when they founded Eventbrite.
- Share your concept with that person after that. Your co-founder must share your degree of zeal, enthusiasm, and dedication to creating something revolutionary. Years of hard work go into building a successful business, so having a partner who shares that commitment is crucial. Enhancing online information search was a joint objective of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The same is true of Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Max Levchin; they desired to design a distinct method of receiving payments, which resulted in the creation of PayPal.
If you find someone who meets these criteria, you’ve got yourself a strong co-founder.
Here are some other considerations:
- Keep the lines of communication open at all times. Since running a startup is rarely simple, go above and beyond to make sure that you and your co-founder are prepared to settle disputes fast.
- Your firm will benefit greatly from having access to industry leaders, decision-makers, and resources, hence it is advantageous to have a co-founder with a wide network.
- The easiest way to put it is this, according to Startup Wise Guys’ managing director Calum Cameron: “You can’t outsource these founder jobs.” Co-founding a firm with someone who is far away is not a good idea since the proper individual needs to be participating in the daily startup hustle.
Making Your Team Selection
Your startup’s chances of success will skyrocket if you choose the ideal co-founder. Nevertheless, if you want your business to grow significantly, you’ll need a team of motivated people to handle the many facets of a startup, like marketing, operations, development, and more. Just having a co-founder on your team won’t cut it.
By starting with these steps, you can create a team:
- To quickly pinpoint the skill sets needed to meet your startup’s demands, first pinpoint the gaps in your business.
- Then, begin assembling your crew. To ensure that you’re employing the best applicants, be as clear as you can when describing your needs. Be picky without fear!
- Ask questions to have a better understanding of the context during the interview process. Information about routine jobs, particular circumstances, and their involvement in developing a product or service should be gathered.
The following points should be remembered:
- Seek strong team players that enjoy problem-solving and overcoming challenges. Typically, they are accustomed to facing challenges.
- The head of the smart specialization at the Estonian Development Fund, Kristjan Lepik, advises searching for team members who fit three descriptions: a designer, who creates a product or service; a hacker, who is the brains behind a product or service; and the hustler, who makes it happen.
- Include consultants with expertise in particular areas. Get them fired up and interested right away. You can show them your respect by giving them some stock in your company, which will also increase its value.
Things Not to Do While Putting Together Your Team
Putting together the ideal team might be challenging at times. We make errors in the hiring process and hire the incorrect candidates. The startup suffers as a result. Even though not all processes are foolproof, there are steps you can do to reduce risks.
The following information will be useful to you along the road.
- Don’t hire someone based just on their title or presumption of knowledge. It’s possible that their experience and your startup don’t mesh.
- During her discussion, Riina Einberg, a former general manager at ZeroTurnaround, introduced the word “generalist.” This is a team member without a particular skill. They are all over the place rather than providing a single function, which makes your team less effective.
- A prospective employee must have a broad perspective. They’ll not only comprehend their part in your startup, but it’ll also keep them interested and motivated.
- Respect for one another is essential, but do not give in. Speak up when something is wrong and have civil discussions about these matters. You’ll be able to steer clear of significant disagreements, miscommunications, and even divisions in the future.
- Startups are self-funded, and the team members are typically dispersed across the world. Reach out to them every day, even if it’s just for a short while. Communication is the key.
Establish a Joint Scoreboard:
The creation of a shared purpose by having a straightforward strategy also helps to counteract people’s propensity to associate with smaller groupings. Consider a football squad, for instance. A team is made up of several “tribes”: the offense and defense, the line and the receivers, the running backs, and the defensive backs. Nonetheless, the team has a stronger sense of “us” than the “us and them” dynamic that frequently divides coworkers in workplaces because the team’s aim is clear and there is an external scoreboard to monitor success.
According to Holly Darani, SEO Specialist at The Wealth Point, “Metrics are the way that you can harmonize a large number of people, whether it’s dozens or even thousands.” In this way, he continued, “They can be empowered to make those decisions when they’re on their own and making their own decisions because they know they’re aligned with the rest of the organization.”
Effective Recruiting Isn’t Enough
“When asked about their leadership style, many top executives will probably respond, “I recruit the best people and get out of their way.” It’s a good statement that, on some level, makes logic. Of course, the most crucial step in creating a good team is hiring the proper individuals, and giving others greater liberty through delegation is a great way to motivate others. Yet, leading a team is not that easy. To ensure that the team gets along well and stays focused on the proper goals, leaders must take a far more active role.” Says Mark Osborne, Managing Director of Windows Doors UK.
There are six primary factors that, when done correctly, have a significant impact on developing a strong culture of teamwork. The findings also apply to any team or organization, whether it has five members or 500,000.
Conclusion
Keep your staff small for as long as you can because your startup will go through different phases as you expand. Find the appropriate person to handle such tasks by learning to recognize these phases. Even if you have the next big idea, having a bad team dynamic at the beginning of your startup’s journey could spell disaster.
