Build Your Team Around Teamwork
Over my short “career” as an entrepreneur, there are two traits that seem to play an important role in the success of a startup. The first of these is the track record and network of the founder and the second being a great team. The former is about traction and your Klout. If you have successfully exited a company or founded a company that is well known, the people you engage with in real life and social media are those with a large sphere of influence and can help you expand the reach of your company rather quickly. For instance, when a VC leaves to start a company, he has a much easier time raising funds and getting to launch because his circle already includes those that would fund him and publicize his company.
However, in my eyes, having a great team is more important and has a longer lasting impact on your company and more importantly, you as an entrepreneur. There is no one person that knows everything about business or starting a business. Some people are idea people and others are more process and execution oriented. Some people are great leaders and others can be great employees. Some people are great at design and structure and some are great at programming. Very rarely will two people have a similar set of traits from top to bottom. It is figuring out how to match these skill sets together that make a team successful.
The expression goes “know what you know, but more importantly, know what you don’t know.” I would say that 75% of building a team is understanding this concept and being able to recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Most founders of companies have limited, if any, technical knowledge on how to actually design and develop their website or product. They go out and have to find someone who knows what they don’t and start building a team. As I wrote about in a previous blog post, just because you found a company or have an idea for one, it does not qualify you to be the CEO. Maybe you are a marketing person or a PR person. In those cases, you need to find a salesman and programmer.
Building a team is not just about compensating for missing skills sets; it is about identifying the traits that all team members must have as that will be the glue that holds you together. Maybe it is a love of travel for a new travel website or religious beliefs that you share that create some connection. Whatever it may be, this commonality is your 75% that hold you together and the combined skill sets make up the last 25%. How you assemble this team and use the collective talents will be what makes or breaks your company in the long run and define you as a leader. The team you assemble will be part of the company and set its culture for years to come.
Big reach and access to VC money based on your inner circle gets you to launch. But if your team can’t put out a great product or leverage its collective knowledge and resources to build the company beyond launch, your company will not have a chance to make it to the next level.
