How to create the ideal team for a startup 

The class yesterday was interesting. My goal has always been to own my own company and be my own boss. Bala raised the question what are the right and wrong reasons for starting a startup. Many of you will probably think, I will be my own boss, make a lot of money and have the flexibility of working on my own time schedule, like I thought. Apparently these are all the wrong reasons. Starting your own startup is hard and stressful, you will be working all the time, have no money and be everybody else’s slave. The right reason according to Bala and other entrepreneurs, is that you should have a vision for a different future, a dream that keeps you awake at night. This made sense for me as passion drives me and gives me strength when the times get tough.

It is hard to start a startup and you can’t do it alone unless you’re superman. You will need a team with the right combinationof skills. There are three important components your team needs to be successful; understanding of technology, understanding of customer behavior and operational skills. Technology is everything today and if you don’t understand it or have someone on your team that does you’re screwed. You will also have to have someone that can connect people together and sell your product. If your vision of why your product is great is communicated in the right way the likelihood of your startup being a success is higher. Finally you will need someone to keep everything together, someone that can take care of the operations and makes sure everybody is working together on reaching the goal. When building a great team you will also have to take into consideration that you will be spending a lot of time with your cofounders so it does not hurt if you know them, if your interest align and that you can have fun with them even when times get tough.

The quality of the team also matters when you are at the stage of getting someone to invest in your idea likes Bala points out in his blog post, Framework to build Great Companies. People that are relentlessly resourceful and get things done are more appealing to investors. The team should also think about how good a fit the investor is to the team as the investor often serves as the teams mentor.   

When I was thinking about who I wanted on my team in this class I looked through the student list and spotted out people that I had worked with before and knew shared my passion of excellence. I am optimistic about the times to come and look forward to the upcoming thirteen weeks of blood sweat and tears.