Assembling the ideal startup team

Author: Tactyq Published on: December 7, 2020 Published in: Uncategorized

Assembling the ideal startup team is of the utmost importance as you start to build your startup and craft an awesome experience for your customers. No great company exists without a great team. It is more important than your product. These people are your work family and can make the company a success or result in its downfall.

In the initial stages of your business, you need to focus on building your product and selling it. You need to build a core team. You never want to hire yourself. That is a boring recipe for disaster.

When you build your initial team, look for people who offer a variety of the following types of roles. Every type is important, but acknowledge that it will take time to add more people to your team who demonstrate these qualities. You need people with complementary skills.

If you have a cofounder in mind, who you want to hire do take our cofounder assessment and see if they are the right fit for your startup.

These are the general types of team members who might be some of your co-founders and definitely part of the core team.

The Marketer

The marketer takes the role of lead evangelist and engages people. The Marketer excels at communicating and knows how to engage customers. The marketer serves as the bridge between your products and customers. In a startup environment, a good marketer not only knows different channels to distribute and sell your products but also has experience in driving growth.

The Engineer or the Hacker

Many startups have a technical founder/co-founder. A strong scientific and/or technical background means the Technical Engineer often takes the lead on the development of the product/s. Depending on the kind of startup, an ideal person is someone who has great coding skills or has developed tech skills over their lifetime working for big tech giants and high growth startups. Ideally, they have had a similar role in the past.

The Business Developer or Hustler

The Marketer can weave the message that captures their attention, but the Business Developer closes the deal. Often, this role is played by the CEO. An ideal person is someone who loves selling and to hustle. A charming personality and storytelling abilities drive investors, reporters & customers to the startup.

The Domain Expert

Much like the Technical Engineer, your startup needs someone that knows the space but with a different perspective. The Domain Expert offers experience and industry knowledge other founders lack. The domain expert is the thinktank behind the startup.

The Designer

You might think of marketing when you think of the Creative role, but it goes beyond taglines and logos. The Creative co-founder can visualize the possibilities and translate the vision into wireframes for the Technical Engineer to build or code. This co-founder brings a much-needed design perspective to building and launching your product/service. A designer helps design different aspects of the product.

The Operations guy

The operations guy oversees the whole business and makes sure things are running smoothly. They make sure that the startup has access to necessary resources and also for coordinating the different moving parts in the business. They are responsible for getting the product out and make sure it is reaching the customer without complaints. The operations guy is the backbone of the company and their role becomes more crucial for startups that require more resources in terms of people, processes, and supply chains.

These are the 6 key roles required when you startup.

A note on diversity

“Diversity” is an important topic these days in high-tech, both for the VC industry and the start-up world. And it’s with a cause: there have been a number of researches done and in every case, diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams.

Recent survey data shows diversity pays off in better decisions and improved profitability. Recent studies have also shown that women are at least the equal of men when it comes to efficient coding—and are often superior.

Let’s look at diversity from different angles and look at the different kinds of people you should hire in your founding team.

Psychological Diversity

You need a team of people with different personalities. Usually, a strong team should have an extrovert person (generally, the role of a CEO) and an introverted person (usually the CTO or the product guy). Making this fundamental introvert/extrovert diversity a reality is healthy and will pay off in every step of a startup formation that follows, especially in getting funded and working with press and customers when the company launches. When the founder is a technical founder, it becomes easier for investors to bring in a CEO from outside.

Ideological diversity

What is ideological diversity? Often when we look for people to hire, we want them to fit a particular mold. Look for disruptive thinkers who think out of the box and can build truly unique products. They are not only strong pillars in your team but also different from the typical people big companies look for.

A way to pick such players is to adopt ‘blind hiring’. To combat the biases of hiring managers who tend to hire their own kind (from the same background, university, and geography, for example), blind hiring is a process that omits the biographical information from resumes during the initial screening phase. Some Silicon Valley start-ups are embracing this process as a strategy to accelerate the diversity numbers of their workforce.

Pick people based on how they think and how they do their work rather than look for stars on their resume.

Diversity in experience

A good mix of people with varying experiences is necessary when building your startup team. People with lots of experience and newbies bring in different sets of skills and experiences. A young fresher has raw enthusiasm, is willing to try new things, and change the status quo. They lack direction and perspective and that is where experienced people come in. Bringing in more mature employees, not just those with more start-up experience, but those who come from larger, established companies (and bring their best practices with them), will help you scale, especially in your managerial ranks. Any team with start-up-only experience is too insular.

Decision making assessments for startups

Geographical Diversity

Geographical diversity is becoming a very important topic nowadays. Due to Covid pandemic, everybody is working from home. Now you can hire people from across the globe as required for your startup. The whole idea is that due to the availability of different tools and a digitally connected world, anyone can work from anywhere to get the work done. But make sure that if you go this route, you build in collaboration, communications, and cultural best practices to keep the team in sync, regardless of their area code.

Gender & Racial Diversity

The data is already out there. Teams with gender, ethnic, and racial diversity can solve problems faster, and perform better overall. Analysis of the data from a group of 366 companies revealed a statistically significant connection between diversity and financial performance. This correlation does not prove that the relationship is causal—that greater gender and ethnic diversity in corporate leadership automatically translates into more profit—but rather indicates that companies that commit to diverse leadership are more successful.

Great teams have both hard and soft skills

When we talk about this balance between the experience of team members (hard skills) and things like passion and vision (soft skills) there’s a sweet spot where great teams live.

If team members are intelligent and have the experience, but they don’t apply this knowledge because they don’t believe in the vision or mission of the company, their knowledge is useless for the business. Instead, these differences in passion and vision make teams perform worse.

For example, if the CTO in the startup team has a lot of experience in scaling up apps to accommodate millions of users, that is useful for building the current business, but he/she doesn’t agree with the CEO on the future strategy of the enterprise, they are less likely to share previous knowledge and work hard on the software with the team.

The ideal startup team should have a mix of skills and backgrounds

The ideal startup team should have a mix of skills and backgrounds because it allows them to work together towards a common goal. A team with a variety of skills and backgrounds can bring different perspectives to the table, which can help them come up with better ideas and solutions. Additionally, having a mix of skills and backgrounds can help the team be more resilient and adaptable to change.

One important thing to keep in mind when assembling a startup team is that not everyone needs to be an expert in their field. In fact, it can be helpful to have team members who are generalists or have a wide range of skills. This allows the team to be more flexible and responsive to changes.

It’s also important to have a team that is committed to the project and has a good work ethic. This will help the team maintain momentum and avoid burnout.

Finally, it’s important to make sure that the team members get along well and are able to work together harmoniously. This will help create a positive and productive work environment.

A strong leader is essential for any startup team

A strong leader is essential for any startup team because they provide direction and guidance to the team. They help keep the team focused on the goal and help them stay motivated. Additionally, a strong leader can help the team overcome challenges and obstacles.

It’s important for the leader to have a good understanding of business and be able to make decisions quickly. They should also be able to delegate tasks and responsibilities to team members.

The leader should also be able to build relationships with investors, partners, and customers. This will help the startup secure funding and partnerships.

Finally, the leader should be passionate about the project and have a strong vision for the future. This will help them inspire and motivate the team.

A strong Chief of Staff to help the Founder & CEO scale

A strong Chief of Staff to help the Founder & CEO scale is also essential as they can take on many of the operational and administrative tasks that the CEO is responsible for. This frees up the CEO’s time so that they can focus on more strategic tasks. Additionally, a good Chief of Staff can help with decision-making, goal-setting, and problem-solving.

The ideal Chief of Staff should be organized, detail-oriented, and efficient. They should also have excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Additionally, they should be able to work well under pressure and be able to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.

Technical expertise is critical for any tech-based startup

Technical expertise is critical for any tech-based startup because it allows them to develop and create their product. A startup with strong technical expertise will have a better chance of succeeding because it will be able to create a high-quality product that meets the needs of its customers.

The team should also have someone who is responsible for overseeing the technical aspects of the project. This includes ensuring that the product is developed according to schedule and within budget. Additionally, this person should be able to troubleshoot problems and provide solutions.

It’s also important to have team members who are familiar with the latest technologies. This will help the startup stay ahead of the curve and be able to offer a cutting-edge product.

Finally, it’s important to have team members who are passionate about the project and have a strong vision for the future. This will help them inspire and motivate the team.

Sales and marketing skills are necessary to get the word out about the company

Sales is the lifeblood of any business. Sales and marketing skills are necessary to get the word out about the company because they allow the startup to reach a wider audience. A strong sales and marketing strategy can help the startup attract new customers and increase revenue.

Sales and marketing skills are also necessary for building relationships with customers and partners. This helps create a positive image for the company and can help the startup secure funding.

Finally, sales and marketing skills are necessary for creating a strong brand identity. This will help the company stand out from the competition and be remembered by potential customers.

A finance expert can help keep the company on track financially

A finance expert can help keep the company on track financially by creating a budget and tracking expenses. They can also help the startup secure funding by preparing financial statements and pitching to investors.

Additionally, a finance expert can help the company make sound investment decisions. They can also help the startup negotiate contracts and manage risk.

Finally, a finance expert can help the company troubleshoot financial problems. They can also provide advice on how to improve the company’s financial health.

A good lawyer is a valuable asset to have on any startup team

A good lawyer is a valuable asset to have on any startup team because they can help the company navigate the legal landscape. They can also help the startup secure funding by preparing legal documents and filing patents.

Additionally, a good lawyer can help the company protect its intellectual property. They can also help the company resolve disputes and avoid litigation.

Finally, a good lawyer can help the company comply with regulations. They can also provide advice on legal matters.

It’s also important to have mentors and advisors who can offer guidance and advice

Mentors and advisors can offer guidance and advice on a variety of topics. This can include business strategy, marketing, and financing. They can also provide introductions to potential customers, investors, and partners.

Mentors and advisors can also help the company stay accountable. They can provide constructive feedback and help the startup measure progress.

Finally, mentors and advisors can help the company scale by sharing their expertise and networks.

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