Building Startup teams
Photo by Jannes Glason on Unsplash

Building Startup teams

Building a startup is such a uncharted journey that a tribe of like-minded entrepreneurs sharing what works for them and doesn't makes the journey a lot more predictable. That's why we created Club42. Not everyone who applies gets through - we scrutinize a lot. Of the 196 people who applied, 16 made the cut.


Building a team around your startup is one of the key skills to learn as an entrepreneur. Here are some best practices which will keep your team performing well.

1. Define the style of work early on - are you a goals oriented CEO, activities or tasks oriented CEO. Set that clearly so that the team can work on sharing information on that level with you.

2. Whenever you are making decisions, explain your thought process behind it and the fundamental value system it is anchored on. Document it and put it in the manual - over time, the team will know exactly how to act / react to various scenarios without coming to you for everything.

3. Set a rhythm: Some companies have a habit of having an all hands meeting on Monday mornings - where everyone knows the highlights of what folks are working on, and again on Friday evening to do a quick recap - and feedback is given so that teams can go have weekends with the family without taking work home. Relieve them of work, so that they go home, recompress and come to work next week.

4. As founders we have a habit of waking up in the middle of the night with ideas and I have a habit of firing off emails or posting in the slack channel. Explicitly tell your team that while you post all times of the day / week you don't expect them to read or respond to them immediately. As long as the relevant person reads / responds to the posts that are appropriate during the working day, its all good (unless it is tagged as urgent - in case of that, have a clear escalation scenario).

Use specific tags for the information you are passing on, so that teams know which is FYI, what is a suggestion, what requires action, what requires discussion etc.

5. Commit to a Fortnightly (once in two weeks) all hands meet - where you set a casual environment for the team to interact with you and ask questions. Be approachable and do it as an AMA.

6. There are some things that you can do when you are a less than 10 people team that you will never be able to do after your team grows - pack everyone into two cars and go on a off-site, and work out of there for a day or two once a quarter. The first 20 people will anchor the culture of your org. Build a strong rapport with them.

7. Find a way to pick up things before it becomes issues. One of the things we did during covid was while individual team members sent weekly reports on friday evenings, there was a small field that asked how did they feel this week - there were three emoticons, happy, blearh, terrible. If someone in the team is having a bad week three days in a row, the immediate manager / CEO has to get on a call with them and ask them "what can i do to help to help you succeed?" - it will help you save some fire fighting later on. If someone genuinely cant hope and it is a capability issue, you can find ways to help them upskill. If the person isnt committed, then you know its time to let them go at the earliest.

8. Develop a culture of reading / thinking and discussing them. The biggest risk that you have as an org is that all the thinking is happening just in the CEO's head and when you have a aha moment, everyone else has been so much in the dark, that it is a significant challenge to get them thinking in that direction. Whenever you have an insight or deep thought - share early on, so that the team is evolving along with you and the aha moment is not a surprise.

9. Teach the team early on the concept of linked responsibilities. One person's outcome is input for someone else, and the entire flow has to work well for the desired outcome to happen on a company level. When someone says "oh, that's not my job" - that's a problem. Every resource is a function that feeds into each other to deliver the overall result that is clearly trackable (the OKRs)

10. The key to keeping teams going is "unexpected delights".

What are some of the best practices that you have in your organization?

Tanya Eldred Bhat

Founder at India’s #TheCurlyHairExpert XO Curls Alumni of IIM-B NSRCEL Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women

11 个月

Fantastic article. I really needed to read this

回复
Pankaj Aggarwal

COO & Motherson Group CPO | COO Unibuild.ai | Motherson Leadership | Harvard & Wharton | Automotive | Aerospace | Telecom | Renewable

11 个月

Great perspective.. Well done

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Vijay Anand的更多文章

  • Avoid the TAM Trap

    Avoid the TAM Trap

    TAMs mean nothing. If you are an entrepreneur building a company that is still below the series B stage (less than 10mn…

    4 条评论
  • Wrong Customers, can kill you.

    Wrong Customers, can kill you.

    There are countless articles out there that will talk about how to get your first 100 customers. Somehow there is this…

    8 条评论
  • The Startup Test : Huge, If true

    The Startup Test : Huge, If true

    There is an youtube channel with the name, that is hosted by the amazing Cleo Abram. When I first came across that…

    2 条评论
  • Becoming a company's irreplaceable asset - Must read

    Becoming a company's irreplaceable asset - Must read

    In the knowledge economy, whether it is 10 hours or 90 hours a week that you put in isnt what counts. It is the outcome…

    13 条评论
  • Know the game you are playing - 4 types of systems that define the rules and outcomes.

    Know the game you are playing - 4 types of systems that define the rules and outcomes.

    If one were to pause, observe and deeply think about it, there are multiple systems at play in the universe. And just…

    5 条评论
  • Do You have a great idea. BUT You've done nothing about it (so far).

    Do You have a great idea. BUT You've done nothing about it (so far).

    Do you have an idea / Project that you've been sitting on cause you are not motivated enough to do something about it?…

    2 条评论
  • What makes a founder unique?

    What makes a founder unique?

    I was thinking about what makes a founder different. Perhaps the most distinct trait that stands out in founders is the…

    5 条评论
  • Your fundraising deck will circulate: How to strategize.

    Your fundraising deck will circulate: How to strategize.

    If you are putting together a fundraiser deck, and you are emailing it, you can be sure it will circulate. Working with…

    4 条评论
  • One trait that every successful entrepreneur has.

    One trait that every successful entrepreneur has.

    When I lived in Canada, there was this retired lawyer named James Lyon. I was introduced to him as part of the…

    25 条评论
  • What should your startup fundraise strategy be?

    What should your startup fundraise strategy be?

    The (at least five) different strategies for fundraise. Context: a startup in a great position to fundraise has these…

    3 条评论

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了