I had a really fun conversation with a founder of a great company with fantastic potential today and we covered many topics, one of which prompted me to write this article. Securing money and investors are not always the biggest issue keeping startup founders awake at night. Assembling the right team from the very beginning can be a much bigger issue. I’ve previously talked about the traits you may want to look for in a possible co-founder and have covered the importance of a demographically and culturally diverse team. Today I will get down to the basics of how to start assembling your team from scratch. There are many perspectives on this subject, but I wanted to share with you what I have seen work.
Let’s start by debunking one common analogy – building a team is not like putting a puzzle together. The number one rule I’ve learned from the best startup teams is that one trick ponies need not apply. In early to mid-stage startups, generalists should compose the majority of your team. There are two kinds of generalists: those who are Jacks-of-All-Trades and masters of one or two areas, and those who are masters of none (general management, which you don’t want).
Here are the rules of thumb I like for assembling a team:
- Until you reach a “comfortable” level of revenue, forget about specialists. (See my separate article on this issue). What makes one an asset versus a liability is the ability to step outside of the proverbial silo and competently get hands as dirty as needed. In addition, many times you can only afford one specialist for an area, which becomes a huge risk that I like to call “what if he/she gets hit by a bus?”.
- Don’t hire titles. Bring in people who are passionate about their areas of expertise and who love your industry. Passion for ones’ craft + love for mission of the company = talent worth their weight in gold. Plus, titles aren’t good for startups anyway.
- When building your team, take inventory of your strengths (even if it is just you), but more importantly, pay extra attention to your weaknesses. The best teams have members who complete each other. I like to build a matrix with the headings: “can do”, “can learn”, “can’t do” for each skill set and team member. Using this matrix allows me to keep better handle on areas we need to strengthen.
- Stay away from the “this is my baby” syndrome. Each member of your core team should be willing to build and hand off – you cannot grow your company if this is not the case. There is nothing worse than a person who micromanages or hogs an area of the business they consider “theirs”.
- Bring in people who have been at the level you want to be at in the next several years. There is no reason to bring on a big shot from a major multi-national corporation if you have no chance of being at the staffing, resource, revenue level that person is used to managing. If you are at $1MM revenue, get someone who has been at $50MM, but not $200MM or more. They will only get frustrated, cost you money, and leave before you know it.
Lastly, remember that there are always exceptions to every rule. I like to say that what makes you an expert is recognizing an exception for every best practice or rule of thumb.
Illustration credit: LuMaxArt
Hi, my name is Apolinaras Sinkevicius, but most call me Apollo. I am the guy who takes care of the day-to-day business and technology of rapidly growing companies. 12 years in managing the "nuts and bolts" of companies and being a steward of corporate cultures makes me a seasoned operations professional and right hand person to founders and CEOs.
Apollo–I particularly like your second point about hiring for passion and shared vision, not titles. It’s amazing how that energy can get you (individually and collectively) through the rough spots. It is not quantifiable but I know it when I see it. I particularly like hearing a person articulate their take on our company in their own words. I learn a lot from that (to help us improve or articulate our mission better) and also learn a lot about the person. Depth of thought/knowlege/creativity etc.
.-= Jules Pieri´s last blog .. =-.
Apollo,
I stumbled upon your blog a couple days ago, and got hooked. Excellent writing on your startup experience. Thanks a lot. Keep it going…
Hi Apollo! I stumbled upon your blog via Twitter (and also noticed that you are in Boston!).
One interesting note to your list, Mint.com followed these exact principles and look where they ended! From everything I have read and heard, everyone on the Mint.com team had experience in Design and UI development. Everybody!!
Another good note for building good, competent teams is finding people that are not jaded/disillusioned from their prior failed startups. Often when I have built teams, many of the candidates brought extra baggage from prior experiences, “looking for something to prove”.
Great article and I look forward to more!!
Patrick,
Thanks for your kind comments.
Re. the extra baggage, being the guy who was in two failed ventures (I was the last guy in one), I actually love people with at least a failure or two behind their belt. Why? If you have been hit in the face hard once, you will make sure to duck next time. It is those, who have not failed before, are the ones who concern me. I am a later stage guy, so longevity of the company is very important to me. Inexperience is the biggest enemy to longevity.
I agree that having experiences with failure will lead to the longevity of the company. You learn what went right, what went wrong, and what to do differently given the circumstance. That, I understand.
From a hiring point of view, people who talk about failed startups and their role in the success/failure is great! I support them talking about it and asking them what they might have done differently. What makes me doubt their capabilities is when they begin taking the conversation down a negative path. Working in startups is not SOLELY based on ability (while that definitely does help). It is also attitude, personality, and spirit. More often than not, I ask myself if his attitude would be a detriment to my team.
Keep up the good blog posts!
You bring up a great distinction between attitude and experience. Experience and those “scars” are invaluable AS LONG AS THE ATTITUDE is positive. Some of us, who are no spring chickens, choose to use our scars to move forward with greater precision and efficiency to our actions. And than there are those who choose to mope around and fail to move on.
core team is best while i think it is very much require for success of any organization.
core team is best while i think it is very much require for success of any organization.
When building your team, take inventory of your strengths (even if it is just you), but more importantly, pay extra attention to your weaknesses while doing proper home work of SWOT analysis is best part of it.
When building your team, take inventory of your strengths (even if it is just you), but more importantly, pay extra attention to your weaknesses and try to resolve it.
Bring in people who are passionate about their areas of expertise and who love your industry and they bring most better work to do.
Stay away from the “this is my baby” syndrome.Each member of your core team should be willing to build and hand off –you cannot grow your company if this is not the case which is quite good to share in the blog.