“The Role of Founders in Building Teams”
Many founders of new small businesses may have the temptation to do everything themself. There are many reasons why this is the case. When an idea is your own, the founder may believe that only they are able to properly execute their plan. They have spent countless hours thinking and developing their idea. Bringing another person into the business that clearly will not have the amount of passion and knowledge of the business will slow down their growth is what one might think. This is furthest from the truth. While the new business owner is shipping product, sweeping floors, or answering the phone, he could be pounding the pavement and developing sales and customer relationships. One may think that they do not have enough money to bring on new employees. This is also flawed thinking. There are many options that could be considered including hiring part time employees, looking for other founders to share in the startup costs, or even meeting an angel investor.
Once the decision is made that is necessary to build a team, one must decide on what functional areas must be created. The founder needs to take an inventory of their talents that they possess. Most likely a founder has a passion for an idea and a vision for his company, but lacks the expertise in important functional areas. These include may include developing a marketing strategy, managing a sales team, handling the finances of the business. There are many ways that this can be handled. The new founder can be conservative and hire consultants. This would save on overhead costs of payroll and benefits. The disadvantage would be that the new organization would not build a team with forward momentum and a common vision.
It is the founder’s role to decide on the vision for their new organization. This should be done prior to building a team. It is paramount to know where your new startup is headed before bringing others onboard that may or may not possess the same vision. This vision should be put in writing in the form of a mission statement and shown to potential candidates. “Our mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. This what unites Amazonians across teams and geographies as we are all striving to delight our customers and make their lives easier, one innovative product, service, and idea at a time.” That is the mission of statement of amazon.com. It is stated on the top of their job application page. People that are completely focused on the customer and innovators are traits that Amazon is looking for when their team is interviewing. Hiring the wrong candidate who ultimately acts differently from the mission of the company, can cause tension amongst owners and employees alike.
Although it is important to have all employees moving in the right direction, it is also important to have a diverse team. A diverse team provides ideas from multiple viewpoints. It is about cultural diversity and having people from a variety of backgrounds on your team will will increase the likelihood of great ideas coming from their collaboration. The key is again is to make sure that you are hiring the right individual for the organization. Their attitudes and skill sets need to match the vision of the company.
The founder of a new startup will set the tone for the team they create. Will their team will be built on entrepreneurship or micro-management? Will it be based on creativity or rigid procedures? By understanding the founder’s ultimate goal for the company, they can decide who will be their best teammates.
References:
Hiring for Cultural Compatibility, Johnathan Kestembaum, Counterpoint, July 1, 2018
What Are Your Cultural Non-negotiables?, Regis Courtemanche, July 1, 2018
Three Tips to Build a Diverse Team and Strengthen Your Business, Raquel Baldelomar, Forbes, November 22,2016
The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup, Noam Wasserman (2012)
Master of Entrepreneurship Website for Mike Weimar 