Team Startup

The core team of a startup is often considered as one of the critical elements and an important parameter in the investment process. Though we have all seen enough how the degrees and the premier institutes of the core team have become more important than the capacity and capability, i guess the bottom line is that the core team - not necessarily only founders, is extremely important with or without the premium degrees and certificates.

The importance is not just from the investment perspective, but more because, they shape the venture, mould the product/service and are the first brand ambassadors.

So, what constitutes "Team Startup"

Co-founder(s), The first few team members, Mentors/Advisors, Investors and above all Family and close friends.

I will talk about my experience in building the team at RDEP

Co-founders are obviously important - they are supposed to take in the responsibility of some of the functions and more importantly be the only other person who knows and will go through all the pains along with you. Entrepreneurs need each other's shoulders to motivate, push/pull and drive the entire organization consistently. The importance of this point has been described, explained and debated by many. I will only share some of my experiences on this topic. This would help me put things in a perspective and perhaps help someone else who could be going through a similar situation.

To start with, my co-founder and I, decided to start this current venture and then we took in a few senior guys early into the system and failed miserably. I would also want to admit that, we brought in a few more senior members much later thinking that it would be the right time and failed once again even more severely to the extent, where my co-founder himself decided to move out. That is when i realized the importance of lean and mean team. I started the process of cleaning up the system and perhaps learnt lot more about business in three months than what i had learnt in my 3 ventures and over 20 years of career.

From a team of around 30 plus, we were just 7 people at the start of COVID. This is when we decided to rebuild ourselves and the product. We reworked, re-strategized, re-branded and started afresh. A team of 7 with an average of less than 26 (not counting me!) was just the right size for us. We managed to do quite a bit in the first few months and then we did the unthinkable - We bagged an international customer sitting here in India. The team of 7 were all sitting in different locations (work from home if you remember). This is the first time we tried something like this. I, personally was very very apprehensive of this methodology, but i guess, i totally underestimated the team's ability. I was always sure of the capability, but i saw the grit and determination which flourished during that period. This is when we decided that "work from home" works and we will not disturb this. We continue to do that till date. The credit goes to the team, who not just ensured that we moved ahead, but kept everyone motivated during that time. Ritesh Matwale Pallab Kumar Sahoo Mohammed Rasheed Madhav Reddy Morshalim Shaikh Sagar Panchamukhi need special mention here.

From the year 2014, when we registered this startup, till 2020, we have had some great guys work with us and then we had some bad experiences with some of them (not necessarily their fault). Over the multiple startups, i have realized that each association has a shelf-life. As an entrepreneur, one needs to form the core team which has similar shelf-lives. This helps in tough situations.

The other important aspect of the core/founding team is the initial team of mentors/advisors or whatever you call them. They are extremely important and help the founder(s) get the right team. I was extremely lucky to have not one, but 3 such angels at the time when we thought everything was lost and gone. One of them was our first angel investor and continues to guide us. Rajesh Venkatesh The other two, senior veterans from the industry, who have themselves gone through the grind of entrepreneurship. Subinder Khurana Raj Subramaniam . I can never be grateful enough and i think, every entrepreneur needs to look for their angels as early as they can. It is not about someone telling you what to do, but someone being there to listen to you and keep pushing you in the direction you want to go.

The reason i talk about the failures is to let aspiring entrepreneurs know that getting the right core team is not a formula to be worked out, but more about experimentation.

The core team - most of the times, i have had some excellent experience of having fantastic people around me. I have to be grateful about that, rather than talking about a few mishaps in that journey. Some of the mishaps have been just monumental, but again, i could come out of that only because of the good team i was with.

I continue to experiment and continue to experience the "Luck" with fantastic team members.

Do share your experiences and thoughts about this aspect of entrepreneurship.