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Mutual Funds are investment schemes professionally managed by financial experts. Many investors, individuals and entities, invest money in these schemes or funds to generate better returns.These investment schemes could invest in Shares/Stocks (Equity), Government and Corporate Bonds/Securities/Debentures (Fixed Income) or a mixture of the Equity and Fixed Income Securities.Mutual Funds are bought and sold in Units. Mutual Fund units are allocated to investors basis the proportion of their investments and value of these units is tracked as Net Asset Value (NAV) which is daily released by the Fund houses.The Securities and Exchange Board Of India (SEBI) regulates the Mutual Funds industry, and there are around 45 different Mutual Fund houses and more than 12000+ Mutual Fund Schemes.Mutual funds today are the only category of investment products that a retail consumer can use to effectively beat inflation while growing his wealth.Also, investing in equity Mutual funds through SIP is a good strategy as it can help you in averaging out any market ups and downs in the long term. This is especially true when markets are in expensive or moderately expensive zones.In the last few years, Mutual funds are becoming increasingly popular in India. More and more investors are realizing the benefits of investing in Mutual funds through either Lump Sum (One time) or Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) investments.A smart investor must look at his/her Risk taking ability and willingness, Investment Horizon, existing market conditions and the applicable tax structures while deciding on his/her Mutual Funds investments to maximize his/her returns.Today Mutual Funds provide you the option of investing in various Asset Classes like Equity, Debt, Gold etc to achieve that goal. You can thus diversify your investments and strike the right balance in your portfolio.Benefits of Mutual FundsMutual Funds, historically, have proven to be much better investment avenues than other products available to investors. Investments in MF have proven to be more effective because of the following reasons:Managed by professionals: Financial experts invest in equity and fixed income products invest on your behalf. They are supported by large teams which assist them in analyzing data and dissecting nitty gritty of the markets (macro and micro economic environment, GDP rates, Interest rates and its future outlook, fundamental analysis into each company that they invest or not invest in) which clients as individuals might not be able to do themselves.Better taxation structures: The government of India offers incentives to customers to invest in mutual funds by providing tax structures. So while your fixed deposit returns are completely taxable, Investment in debt mutual funds come with tax indexation benefits (which can lower your taxation burden to almost as low as 2% as opposed to as high as 30% in Fixed deposits).Better Flexibility: Mutual funds are held in units. So you can always redeem your investment partially while keeping the other investment intact and untouched. This is unlike fixed deposits where you have to fully withdraw your investment and pay pre-mature withdrawal charges on the entire amount.Better liquidity: Open ended mutual funds can be sold anytime. This is unlike investment like Insurance, PPF, NSC, etc. where you have long lock-in periods and large pre-mature withdrawal penalties.Better Diversification: Mutual funds invest in multiple securities. This diversifies the risk for you much better than other investments.There are a multiple factors that need to be analysed before investing in a fund, to name a few:Fund PerformanceInvestment Objective and Type of the FundFund Manager and his/her expertiseExpense RatioExit Load and many moreIn addition to these, you first need to understand your own risk profile, investment horizon and whether or not your investment objective is in line with the fund objective.Therefore, if you are wondering if all this is easy to monitor and implement, then the answer is a NO, unless you have all the time and expertise to do so.I recommend you invest through a platform that would help you invest in the funds that would exclusively suit your requirements and monitor them for you on a regular basis and suggest timely changes.Choose the right platform that would help you set-up a goal specific investment portfolio. The steps to get started are fairly similar:Get your KYC doneSelect a portfolio/ advisory platform that helps you select the right fund(s)Invest regularly - ideally monthly in an SIP.You can invest in Mutual Funds with as low as Rs 100 per month through SIP.Yes, that’s true and you’ve read it right. With as low as Rs 100, you can now invest in top notch funds.However, the minimum amount varies from fund to fund. There can be funds with minimum SIP amount of Rs 500 or Rs 1000.For lump sum investments, minimum amount is Rs 5,000.Risks in Mutual FundsEquity Mutual funds carry the risk of stock market fluctuations as they are market linked instruments. This is called market risk. The value of its investments decline because of unavoidable risks that affect the entire market.Risks in debt mutual fund:Credit risk: If a bond issuer can’t repay a bond, it may end up being a worthless investment. This usually happens when the companies who issues the bond defaults payment. This risk is also known as default risk.Interest rate risk: The value of fixed income securities generally falls when interest rates rise. This risk usually affects the long term investors of debt funds. The interest rates in the short term for fixed income securities doesn’t fluctuate much.Mutual funds are less prone to risk than stocks. Mainly because they are professionally managed financial instruments, very liquid in nature and are diversified instruments.Despite the disadvantages, mutual funds remain to be the best investment option in the market for all types of investors (short term, medium term and long term).Now is when you need to turn your game on. It is important to stay on track and be disciplined. Here’s what you should do to stay on track:Don’t give up in a bear phaseA lot of long-term investors get scared by a sudden market drop and redeem or stop investing their mutual funds. You shouldn’t fall of that trap. Moreover, since you should be investing for the long-term, you shouldn’t allow yourself to get affected by short-term volatility.Increase your investment amount every yearYou might start with ₹1,000–5,000 a month, but as your income goes up every year, you should increase your investment amount as well.Check your funds’ performance annuallyIt is not wise to invest in a mutual fund and forget about it for 20 years. It is also not wise to check the fund’s returns every week. An annual check would be more than enough for someone investing for the long termMap your funds to goalsConsider allocating a fund to a specific goal. This will allow to track the funds individually and analyse their performance on the basis of the goal they are for. Goal-based investing has the potential of turning out to be most fruitful.Keep your account fundedOnce the SIPs are set-up, it is important to make sure that you have money in your account to support them. It is easy to slip. Just keep your account funded and you are well on your journey of becoming Upwardly mobile :)These are some simple but powerful things that you can easily do to make your investments work out for you.Read my answer to Is it good to invest in mutual funds through upwardly.in?Hope this answers your question. Happy Investing!

Visit this website if you're looking for the Perfect Startup Team. It contains all of the necessary details about the Right Startup Team.There is no universal plan for assembling the perfect team for launching a startup. Conventional entrepreneurial wisdom dictates that all perfect startup team need for your company’s starting lineup are a designer, a hacker, and a business person, or anyone who calls themselves a ninja at something. And while there is nothing wrong with having these types of people help perfect startup team get your company off the ground, putting together a winning combination should not be taken lightly. After all, who perfect startup team employ early on has a considerable influence on your startup’s prospects.In this syndicated blog post, lean startup coach and advisor Tristan Kromer shares his insights on what comprises the complete startup team and what startups should look for in team members.Tristan is also a Mentor for the Istanbul Founder Institute.The article, “The Complete Team”, originally appeared on Grasshopperherder and has been republished below with permission.The Balanced TeamSome of this perfect team concept comes from the Balanced Team paradigm and perhaps Ideo, who even gives a nice venn diagram showing the origin of it on their about page. (I don’t know who came up with it.)The Balanced Team works great in many situations. I love how Janice Fraser explained it to me:The designer is responsible fordesirability of the product. Talking with customers, understanding their needs, making sure the experience doesn’t suck.The engineer is responsible for thefeasibility. S/he must determine if the product can actually be built, how, and for how much.The business person is responsible for the viability of the business model. S/he acts as the scales of justice when feasibility conflicts with desirability. The business person also takes care of the profit & loss statement and often manages the personalities involved.Incomplete TeamsThe thing about abstract concepts is that they’re abstract. Reality often disagrees.The balanced team paradigm falls short when it is directly translated from concept to person. The important thing is the role.Tech folks assume that feasibility belongs to the engineer. Not always.Remember, there are four parts to any MVP: Customer, Value Proposition, Channel, and Relationship (If this sounds weird, read my post of the Four Parts of a Minimum Viable Product)The MVP is not just about building the product. What about thefeasibility of the channel?If we’re selling an enterprise CRM, the feasibility of building that channel belongs to our enterprise B2B sales person. The person with the big rolodex and crazy hustling skills.Don’t have one? Then we have an incomplete team.Tristan’s Incompleteness TheoremAn incomplete team’s iteration velocity is limited by its missing pieces and its budget.That is to say, if we’re missing a key skill or role, we’re stuck. We will be unable to learn or make any progress in experimenting until members of our team are able to acquire that skill.OR… perfect startup team can hire someone to fill in a gap. That gap might be a team that is:Selling an enterprise CRM with no sales person.In Ukraine selling to the German market with no one who speaks fluent German.From Vietnam creating an eCommerce site for American consumers where the designers has no experience with U.S.(Note: Really, this happens. I’ve changed the countries to protect the innocent/guilty.)The Complete TeamThe complete team is able to complete the Build-Measure-Learn loop, including all Four Parts of the Minimum Viable Product.1 They will have to build the sales channel and measure product progress via the customer relationship.Often the Hustler (a.k.a., Guy Who Can’t Code) takes on these other responsibilities and wears many hats. Sometimes, others can perform more than one role, playing designer half the time and managing to get some sales calls in on the side.It’s not about the number of people, but if there is a skills gap.No ConstantOne of the most infuriating things about a Complete Team is that the definition changes over time.At the beginning of a project, we might not need an engineer. We just need to go talk to customers.We might not need a designer for a backend B2B application.We may need an outbound marketer to run a Google AdWords campaign, but we only need a few hundred visits to run our landing page test, so it’s hardly a full time job!Temporary CompletenessOften the solution to these gaps is part time staff. It’s often a dissatisfying level of quality, but better than nothing!Mediocre part time help is often better than trying to multitask.One of the great advantages that large corporations have over startups is a vast reserve of human capital. Which is what makes it even funnier when they fail to utilize it.Many corporations are underfunding their startups by insisting they “be scrappy” instead of just giving them the budget to hire someone to run a Google AdWords campaign.There are certain skills that every team member in every startup shouldlearn. Everyone should be able to talk to customers and have an insightful customer discovery conversation.But does every startup need to learn AdWords from scratch? Is that a critical skill?No.This is where more advanced accelerator programs like 500 Startups (who, unlike most accelerators, have an actual business model) have a massive advantage. With a specialized “Distribution” growth hacking team available to help their portfolio companies, they are able to complete teams with notable skill gaps in marketing, user acquisition, and channel strategy.In addition, their “Distro” growth hacking team gets to hone their craft at a radically accelerated rate with the experience of working with literally hundreds of startups. So, sorry Y-Combinator, perfect startup team’re awesome in many ways, but I know where I’d put my money.Key TakeawaysThe team needs complete skill sets to go around the Build-Measure-Learn loop quicklyA complete team composition will change over timeGeographic boundaries affect team needs in terms of sales, marketing, design, and language abilityStartups: Consider outsourcing for completenessCorporations & Accelerators: Consider shared services for completenessNo element will impact your startup more during its crucial early growth stages than the members of your team. Their personalities, values and actions will influence the direction of the company in ways both active and passive. So choose them wisely in order to jumpstart your chances of success.Prioritize CommunicationThere is no room on a startup team for people who shut down and keep things to themselves. This kind of behavior creates a toxic environment and leads to suspicion and the erosion of trust in the partnership. People who avoid confrontation because they hope the problem will go away are never going to be a good fit for your startup team, no matter how many other positive qualities they bring to the table.Your team must understand that communication is paramount for the success of the organization. When it comes to the matters of the organization, perfect startup team really can't be too open with your partners.Work With People You Enjoy Being AroundFirst of all, perfect startup team don't have to be best friends with the people on your team. In fact, they don't even have to be people that perfect startup team necessarily want to have a relationship with outside of a professional setting. Many successful business partnerships remain squarely in the realm of the professional for their duration.That being said, it is crucial to surround yourself with collaborators who perfect startup team have a friendly rapport with. You're going to be spending a lot of time together out of necessity, and if every interaction is a struggle, it will wear perfect startup team down over time.Understand Your Competencies and Work From ThereEven visionary leaders understand that there are only so many skills that they can bring to the table. They recognize that they have a unique opportunity when they are constructing their startup team to complement their own skills and mitigate their limitations through the qualities of their collaborators.Consider how Michael Gerber detailed the three personalities of the entrepreneur in his seminal work, The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work And What To Do About It. Gerber outlined the tendencies of entrepreneurs to gravitate to the paradigm of the technician, the entrepreneur or the manager. You can see how a team composed heavily of people who all skew toward the technician would get bogged down in the daily details without anyone to lead with vision, and so on with each of the categories. First, understand what perfect startup team do best and what skills perfect startup team lack, and then look for team members who will strengthen the organization accordingly.Find Partners Who Love to LearnEvery new startup is a massive exercise in education, even for people who have been a part of the birth of dozens of companies. That's because every situation is so unique that it inevitably brings about new and unforeseen experiences. If perfect startup team take advantage of what's available to perfect startup team, perfect startup team're going to benefit from a wealth of knowledge and learn from your mistakes as perfect startup team navigate your company through its early life.Your partners must be prepared to get as much as they can out of these experiences, as well. There are certainly some times where perfect startup team will all need to put your heads down and get the job done, but it's vital to choose people who are constantly curious and will look for ways to improve the experience for the organization's stakeholders, employees and customers.Look for Collaborators Who Are a Good Fit With Your Company CultureYou may think, "My company is barely off the ground yet; it doesn't even have a culture." You would be incorrect. Your culture will absolutely evolve over time as it is influenced by the people in and around the organization, but it is present in some form from the moment perfect startup team decide to start a company.Culture fit is one of the most important principles for every position perfect startup team hire, and your founding team is no exception. As the leader, perfect startup team get to decide what values your company will ultimately operate by. It's important for the other members of your team to both share those values and understand why they form the core of the business' mission.Picture yourself in an elementary school classroom. Cue the student quietly practicing his multiplication tables in the corner. Now, cue the student filling his or her notebook with eccentric doodles, paying little attention to the world around. Finally, cue the charismatic student in the center of the room during recess surrounded by classmates laughing at his or her jokes.Three characters in completely different worlds, yet when put together in a few years, the beginnings of a great startup.It should be noted, however, there are no real formulas in life, and this applies to startup teams. When putting your team together, strive to find people in different worlds, so that each can contribute their unique perspectives.Important noteYou're probably wondering who we are. Tallyfy is a product that simplifies and automates your business processes. It's the secret to running smooth operations. Instead of creating process diagrams (which nobody looks at), documentation (which perfect startup team can only read and never action), emails, chats and chaos - perfect startup team can create and run any process in your company within seconds.Settling for basic and cheap project or task management tools is the biggest mistake perfect startup team can ever make. You get what perfect startup team pay for. If perfect startup team try to save a cent - perfect startup team will lose a dollar. Wasted time (at $40/hour) is far more expensive than the cost of software. There's a huge difference between process management and project or task management. Processes relieve stress, make things predictable - and help perfect startup team grow and become efficient. Projects and tasks are just ad-hoc, unpredictable chaos.It's important to understand that context before perfect startup team carry on reading. Successful people are smart enough to fundamentally change the way they work "right now" and amaze themselves and everyone else with new ideas. You can stop fighting uphill battles every day immediately - and drive more personal success in your career by introducing the modern way of creating, tracking and even enjoying tasks with your coworkers.Anyway ... sorry for the interruption! Let's resume the rest of the article.If perfect startup team want a framework to go with, however, perfect startup team can try making a team of the three following archetypes. Refer to the image above for a visual clarification of the different worlds each type belongs to.Three Archetypes For The Perfect Startup TeamThe Idealist: This is the student with never-ending ideas, doodling in his or her notebook during class. This is the adult with an idea they are so passionate about they pursue it as a career.The idealist is necessary for the perfect startup team in order keep interest and confidence high among the team. His or her creativity will inspire endless options for your product.The Businessman: This is the popular student who is excellent at persuading his or her parents to let him or her sleepover at a friend’s house this weekend. This is the adult who has pursued a career with a focus on financial and business functions because of his or her exceptional social skills.The businessman constantly keeps the customer in mind. He or she is often responsible for making sure the product solves the problems of the consumer and then selling the product to the consumer. His or her charisma also becomes vital when seeking connections within the workplace, such as potential investors.Side noteAre perfect startup team interested in truly useful analysis of the latest trends in business tech and ops? Talking from the Trenches is published once every 2 weeks by Tallyfy and it's unmissable. You'll be smarter and better informed automatically. So - don't leave this page without subscribing to it.The Technician: This is the intellectual and often introspective student who enjoys playing video games or reading books in his or her free time. This is the adult who has extensive knowledge of technology- the type of technology dependent on the kind of startup.Let’s say your product is software. You’re going to need a great programmer. Or maybe your product is a physical object. You might need someone with engineering skills to build the product and even create your web page. Without the technician, perfect startup team have no product.For more input on building the perfect startup team, check on this article on Business Insider. Finding the right people is only the first step, however, the next is to build a fantastic team culture. Have perfect startup team worked with such people before? Did it work out well for perfect startup team? let us know in the comments!8 Steps to Hire the Perfect Startup TeamBuilding a great startup team is something every small business owner must do before they can succeed. Startups need to ensure that they hire the very best employees to ensure that their company runs smoothly. According to research from PwC, talent mismatches cost the global economy a staggering $150 billion. Imagine how much time and effort it takes to find applicants, interview them, screen out candidates, and onboard someone only to find out that they are a lousy worker. Circumvent this problem by following these tips:KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FORWhat kind of team do perfect startup team need? What will your company culture be like? How much will perfect startup team be willing to pay? You must answer all these questions so that perfect startup team know what to look for in interviews. Try creating a checklist that lists all the things perfect startup team need in an ideal employee. Match this checklist against each applicant after each interview to see how well they stack up.WRITE A GOOD JOB DESCRIPTIONThe more specific your job description, the better. Applicants should know precisely what your company is looking for. Make sure to detail how many hours employees must work, the skills and experience they need to apply, and how much they will get paid.REACH OUTEstablish a presence on LinkedIn, Monster, Craigslist, Angel List, and other websites. Know where your talent resides so perfect startup team can go out and find them. You can also utilize your network and reach out to partners for referrals.SELL YOUR VISIONWhile your applicants must sell themselves, perfect startup team must also sell your company. Why would experienced employees want to work for an upcoming startup? What can perfect startup team offer that other companies can't provide?ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONSFind out everything perfect startup team can about the candidate. Ask questions about their work experience, motivation, goals, ethics, and skills. Make sure that they will fit your company's culture and work ethic. Ensure that they'll work well with your other team members to bring the company success.CALL THEIR REFERENCESAsk their references about the candidate's work style. Find out how much they have contributed to their past employers and ask if they believe the candidate would be right for your company. Prepare a refined list of interview questions beforehand so that perfect startup team can weed out the good applicants from the bad ones.CONSULT OTHERS FOR ADVICEYour startup team might not be built quite just yet, but if perfect startup team have co-founders, perfect startup team can ask them what they think of the applicants. Your cofounders should participate in the interviews, if possible. It is much easier to make decisions when perfect startup team have others helping perfect startup team. If your company has no other founders, try asking partners and other close associates to help make decisions.CONSIDER ALTERNATIVESCan an applicant's job be outsourced or replaced with a robot? Can perfect startup team do it yourself? Perhaps perfect startup team should hire them part-time instead of full-time. Or maybe one worker can wear multiple hats. Think carefully about all the options perfect startup team have.When venture capital investors are doing due diligence, they focus carefully on the financial side of the business. Does the company have an interesting business model? How big is the addressable market? What are the growth plans of the company? They hire expensive experts and use advanced data tools to answer these questions and ensure that every financial detail is on the table.But when it comes to evaluating the startup team, gut feel and intuition tend to be the main due diligence instruments that come into play. This isn’t a great approach. Data shows us that 60% of new ventures fail due to problems with the team.What makes a successful startup team?One common answer is that prior startup experience, product knowledge, and industry skills predict the success of a new venture. But is prior experience sufficient for a team to work well together? In a recent study of 95 new startup teams in the Netherlands, we explored that question.You won’t be surprised that having a ‘strong team’ is an important factor for any startup. But what makes a strong team? In this post we’ll share our most important research findings with perfect startup team.Golden Egg Check’s research suggests an ideal startup team is composed as follows: the startup has 3 founders, with master degrees and experience from 4 prior startups. They all work 45-50 hours a week and throughout their careers they obtained 4-8 years of industry and managerial experience. To enable the best possible business decisions, they support their decision-making with customer metrics and with a rich network of helpful mentors.Over 95% of the studied venture capitalists (VCs) in the Netherlands, regards the team as one of the most important factors to predict whether a startup will become successful. However, very often VCs assess the entrepreneurial team on mere gut feeling. Golden Egg Check, together with the University of Twente, conducted research towards quantifying startup performance from a wisdom of crowds perspective.According to our sample of nine experts, with backgrounds in venture capital, business incubation and acceleration, business development, and entrepreneurs, the top eight of the most important team criteria are shown on the right. Prior startup experience is seen as the criteria with the most predicative power for success. Obviously, not every prior startup is a successful startup. However, some VCs said that they like to invest in startups consisting of founders with experience from failed startups “because these are the entrepreneurs who have seen the pitfalls of entrepreneurship”.It’s not surprising to see level of education as the least predictive of the eight, “entrepreneurship is a trial and error process and is not necessarily learned in school”. The third place finisher, number of founders might be a bigger surprise. The number of founders determines what is in reach for a startup. Two or three founders can do a lot more than a single founder, and can complement each other in skills and network. Especially for startups it is important to be fast. But the more is not always the merrier; watch out for conflicts of interest. Investors find it often difficult to realize an interesting investment opportunity when many individuals have a stake in the startup.It’s of course nice to know that prior startup experience contributes the most, but on its own it’s not enough to make a quantitative model. For a quantitative model we need to know for example, how much prior startup experience is best. That’s why we asked experts to score different levels of performance for their utility. With this method one has to rate each level on their relative contribution. The worst level scores 0 and the best level scores 100. The individual utility functions are subjective estimates but the median of a group is a lot more accurate. This phenomenon is referred to as “the wisdom of crowds”.#1 Prior startup experience – Having at least a little bit of experience helps a lotAs mentioned before, experts regard prior startup experience as the most important criteria. They identified four prior startups as the best level of performance (utility of 86.3) and no experience as the worst level of performance (utility of 3.9). The step from no experience to 1 prior startup (utility of 66.5) is a huge leap forward. The utility function is declining after the fourth prior startup, indicating that experience after the fourth prior startup decreases the probability that a startup becomes successful. We were somewhat surprised to see this. Some experts might think that, when it takes 5-10 years to make a start-up successful, these entrepreneurs are relatively old or are giving up easily when the tide is turning against the startup.Concluding, some prior startup experience has a huge benefit to the probability of success. But, too much experience decreases this probability.#2 Industry specific experience – Think outside of the boxFour to eight years of industry specific experience is the most desired level of performance (utility of 91.1), while no experience scores the worst (utility of 4.4). On first sight, the function looks linear, but the scale on the horizontal-axis is logarithmic. After four to eight years of experience the function declines, 16+ years of experience (utility of 64.1) scores worse than one to two years of experience (utility of 65.2). Striking is, when an industry guru is the founder of a startup the probability of startup success is not better than with one to two years of experience. Experts might associate an industry guru “with an older person as a founder” or as being “crusted in the industry and not being able to ‘think outside of the box’”.As is the case with prior startup experience, some industry specific experience adds a lot of utility while more is not necessarily better.#3 Multiple founders – Three founders perform better than fourNow it becomes even more interesting, the shape of this graph is very insightful. Three founders is the most optimal founding team size (utility of 91.9), while 8 or more founders is a “recipe for disaster” (utility of 7.8). From a single founder startup (utility of 43.2) to a two founder startup (utility of 78.8) is the biggest possible improvement while from three founders (utility of 91.9) to four founders (utility of 59.8) is the biggest possible decline. In the end the utility function seems to flatten out.It is very clear that three founders is the most optimal startup size. With 95% certainty it can be said that three founders perform better than four founders. So better think twice when adding a founder after the third to the team.#8 Level of education – A doctoral degree is not necessarily bestFounders with a master’s degree perform best (utility of 94.8). But, the biggest improvement is from an associate’s degree (utility of 41.7) to a bachelor’s degree (utility of 84.9). Striking is that a doctoral degree (utility of 63.1) scores significantly worse than a master’s degree. Experts might think that “Entrepreneurs with a doctoral degree are too analytic”, that “they are not leaving their basements/labs” and that “they think that their product is never good enough to enter the market”.Concluding remarksAlthough the answers of the experts were remarkably consistent, to be fair we should emphasize that the sample size of nine experts is relatively small. The results that we presented are probably not something revolutionary new but more something that confirms what perfect startup team already knew. The next step is to proof whether these characteristics will actually lead to startup success. In order to do this perfect startup team need to create an extensive dataset in which perfect startup team follow startups for years. We did not do this, but we do think that the methodology used in this article leads to a great indication.So what should startups and investors do with the information just provided? Well, as a startup perfect startup team can study the criteria and the performance levels and perfect startup team can immediately see how perfect startup team can improve your team. If your startup consists of one founder, perfect startup team might want to look for one or two extra founders. If your startup lacks experience perfect startup team might want to add some experience to the founding team. As an investor perfect startup team can grade every proposal with the information we just provided as a baseline. You could also develop your own quantitative approach with some similar methodology.Want to learn more?We gave perfect startup team some insights into our team model, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Golden Egg Check is developing quantitative models and tools for many entrepreneurship related aspects. For example, we can check whether your business case is likely to succeed.Golden Egg Check offers software and services to entrepreneurs, incubators and VCs. Our software is used to support the creation of investor ready venture propositions. Our services include research about business development structures, financial ecosystems, startup progress, and market analysis for (high) tech companies. Send us an email if perfect startup team are interested in learning more.A startup can have all the potential in the world, but nothing can derail things faster than its “people problems.” In a study about startup performance, venture capitalists attribute 65% of company failures to problems within the startup’s management team.Make no mistake, more than anything else, startups live and die by the people that bring them to life.Ideas can pivot and evolve as they grow, funding can always be found somewhere else, the market will always change with a never-ending supply of competitors. But the team that brings it all together forms the company’s DNA.So, let’s get down to it, let’s break down what makes the perfect founding team!Why You Need a TeamWhile there’s nothing wrong with being a solopreneur, perfect startup team have to realize that perfect startup team’re playing with a handicap from the get-go.According to the Startup Genome Report, solo founders, on average, take 3.6 times longer to scale when compared to startup teams of two or more. It also found that teams were more likely to attract investors and experience success in comparison to solo founders.Why is that? Well for one thing, to investors, it’s a vote of no confidence.It doesn’t matter how hard-working or talented perfect startup team may be, or how brilliant your idea is. To investors, it looks like no one else but perfect startup team believes in your idea.But most importantly, perfect startup team won’t have a partner to help pick perfect startup team back up when things go wrong. In the startup world, the highs are high, and the lows are low.When perfect startup team inevitably hit the trough of sorrow, it’ll hurt, and picking yourself back up is a hell of a task. Having a friend to talk to, who understands exactly what perfect startup team’re going through, to be there when perfect startup team need it makes all the difference in the world.It’s not impossible for startups to become successful with just one founder; Foundr itself is a testament to that. But have perfect startup team ever noticed how there are only a handful of successful startups out there that were founded by only one person?While undoubtedly the most famous, Steve Jobs was not the only founder of Apple. It took the collective efforts of Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ron Wayne to get Apple off the ground.Bill Gates had Paul Allen, Richard Branson had Nik Powell, and while Arianna Huffington may be the editor-in-chief and face of The Huffington Post, it was a team of four founders that brought it to life.It’s not impossible to go solo but a startup is hard enough, so why go it alone?READ MORE: 7 Legit Methods to Teaching Yourself Any SkillThe Magic NumberHere’s an interesting bit of information. After analyzing a handful of successful startups, apparently, the perfect number of cofounders is 2.09. Others will argue that three is the perfect number. But it’s generally agreed upon that four is pushing it, and any more than that is just inviting chaos.The reason is that a founding team should be as lean as possible. Two is good because it allows perfect startup team to distribute the necessary workload and trust is high. Three allows for more diversity of skill and specialized roles but introduces more opportunities for unnecessary drama. Four means perfect startup team can, theoretically, get even more work done, but trust is generally lower and politics come into play.Any more than four means perfect startup team have a committee, and perfect startup team’re more likely to be focusing on power plays and egos rather than working together to build a great product.But whether or not perfect startup team choose to have a founding team of two, four, or eight, what really matters is the diversity of roles, experience, and responsibilities. Because if your cofounder is just a carbon-copy of yourself, then perfect startup team’ve got a big storm coming.What a Founding Team Should Look LikeThe last thing perfect startup team want your founding team to be is a collection of skills and abilities that don’t complement each other. At the end of the day, the size of your team is nowhere near as important as the qualities that each individual member brings.The perfect founding team will have these three roles: the visionary, the hustler, and the hacker. Together these three make up the golden triangle, the foundation of every successful founding team.Regardless of a team’s size, perfect startup team need to fulfill these three roles if perfect startup team want to succeed. Any other roles, while helpful, are unnecessary in the early stages. If perfect startup team have someone on your team that isn’t fulfilling any of these following roles, then cut them—they’re not useful right now and will only slow perfect startup team down. Remember perfect startup team want to be as lean as possible.Here’s a breakdown of each of these three roles and why perfect startup team absolutely need them.The VisionaryOften, but not always, the CEO, the visionary is the beating heart of the team. While everyone understands the overall goals and objectives, the visionary is the one with the stars in their eyes, the one who sees into the future. They have that unique ability to articulate that dream to others. To convince the skeptics among the customers, market, and investors, and inspire the rest of the team. Their job is, at all times, people-facing.While not always the best at the detail-oriented stuff, the visionary is all about the big picture. Whether it’s coming up with the overall strategy, recruiting and hiring the best talent for the company, or making sure that the right people are kept happy. They have the responsibility of working on their business, not just in it.Visionaries keep their eyes on the prize and are always looking to capitalize on even the smallest of opportunities.They’re always looking to grow and expand the business, and are ready to adapt and pivot if the circumstances call for it. Even if it’s through sheer force of character, visionaries refuse to let setbacks hold them back, and barrel forward, rallying the rest of the team as they go.It’s the visionary who organizes the rest of the team, and perhaps most importantly, inspires them.The HustlerIf the visionary is the heart of the founding team, then the hustler is the arms and legs.The hustler is simultaneously the doer and the taskmaster of the group, setting the pace and making damn sure everyone else keeps up. What they don’t know they’ll learn, and what can’t be efficiently done they’ll put in the hours to hammer it out. The hustler is not defined by position or title, but by attitude.While hustlers can see and understand the bigger picture, instead they focus on the smaller scale of things.All those detailed bits and pieces, the day-to-day operations that need to be done in order for the grand vision to happen. The visionary may set up the board, but it’s the hustler that moves the pieces.A background in either marketing, technology, business development, or financials would be ideal. But the hustler ultimately walks the middle road, they’re the jack-of-all-trades competent enough to fill whatever role is necessary until a more suitable replacement can be found.Bear in mind, that does not mean that the hustler is replaceable. In fact, finding someone with that right combination of driving force and willpower is rare in and of itself. Hustlers make sure that the visionaries and hackers stay grounded and working together. They keep their eyes on the bottom line and make sure the ship keeps driving forward.The HackerThere is only one thing that the hacker focuses on: product, product, product.The brains of the operation, their entire job is to make sure that the required tech and hardware is up to scratch. If it’s a tech startup perfect startup team’ll need an amazing programmer; if the business is a restaurant then perfect startup team need an amazing chef; if perfect startup team’re running a VC firm then perfect startup team better have someone who knows the market.Whatever your business is, perfect startup team need someone who lives and breathes the product.From the get-go, the hacker should be able to conceptualize what the design of the product should be like—what people should expect and why it’s amazing. From there, they need to have a problem-solver mentality and always be looking for different ways to develop and improve the value of whatever it is they’re working on.In the early stages of a startup, the product is incredibly important, simply because without a product, there is no business. How well-made or valuable a product depends solely on the expertise of the hacker.Make sure perfect startup team choose your hacker carefully because the product starts and stops with them.As perfect startup team can see, each role is vitally important, and one cannot exist without the others. This demonstrates again why going solo is so difficult. It’s almost impossible for one person to fulfill all three roles effectively.That said, while it is better to have one person dedicated to each role, it isn’t mandatory. For example, it isn’t uncommon to have founding teams of two where one cofounder has the dual responsibility of being the visionary and the hustler, or startup teams of four where the role of the hacker is shared by two people.Some founding teams favor more technical prowess, while others prefer having more business-oriented members. Overall, it depends on what kind of business perfect startup team want to run and the agreed-upon priorities of the team.Here’s another interesting bit of information from the Startup Genome Report concerning the make-up of founding teams.“Business-heavy founding teams are 6.2x more likely to successfully scale with sales driven startups than with product-centric startups. Technical-heavy founding teams are 3.3x more likely to successfully scale with product-centric startups without network effects than with product-centric startups with network effects. Balanced teams with one technical founder and one business founder raise 30% more money, have 2.9x more user growth, and are 19% less likely to scale prematurely than technical or business-heavy founding teams.”What Kind of Founding Team do perfect startup team Need?When it comes to figuring out your perfect founding team, Steve Blank recommends using the Business Model Canvas. It’s a simple tool that allows perfect startup team to focus on the nine essential elements of a business model, all arranged to represent how they influence each other.This surprisingly simple tool is all perfect startup team need when it comes to finding the best founding team for your business.First, the Key Activities box defines your product and how it’s delivered to your customer. Then compare that to your Key Resources, where perfect startup team’ll list everything that’s needed in order to execute those activities. Don’t just list physical resources like money and infrastructure; be sure to note the expertise needed as well.If there’s a massive gap between what perfect startup team can bring to the table and the expertise needed to get your startup off the ground, then perfect startup team need to start looking for a cofounder to fill the need.Before perfect startup team start picking up people left and right and asking them to share equity with perfect startup team, be sure to take a good, hard look at your resources. Ask yourself whether or not perfect startup team can get by with a consultant or a contractor.A lot of founders run into this dilemma when it comes to expanding their teams. On one hand, perfect startup team can get a cofounder who will stay with the company long term, but perfect startup team’ll dilute your own equity. On the other hand, perfect startup team could pay someone to do a specific job for perfect startup team, and once the job’s done or the money runs out, they’re gone.Some entrepreneurs don’t want to share equity with anyone, so end up breaking the bank with contractors in order to fill the holes in their expertise. One of two things usually happens—either they lose it all in the early stages, or when the business starts to scale they realize that the contractors were only there for the short term and that they really needed a dedicated person.Other entrepreneurs might panic and immediately share equity with someone, only to discover that in the long run their cofounder’s skills aren’t needed anymore. So, what do perfect startup team do?The short answer is, if there is a key resource that is absolutely irreplaceable, not just at the early stage of the startup but throughout the entirety of your business, then get a cofounder. If there are skills that are ultimately replaceable, take a look at your budget and figure out what perfect startup team’re willing to pay and for how long.It’s a tough decision, but remember, a founding team needs to be lean. Take full use of the Business Model Canvas and get your bearings. Just remember to surround yourself with people smarter than perfect startup team.The Perfect Team Has:As any sports fan will tell perfect startup team, even if your founding team is made up of first-round draft picks, there’s no guarantee that your team will succeed. After all, what makes a team great isn’t the individual talent of each member, but how well a team works together.As talented as your team of founders may be, it won’t get very far unless it has these three essential qualities.Trust and RespectThese two are the defining principles of any great relationship, let alone a great business relationship.If perfect startup team don’t trust or respect the person perfect startup team’re working with, the one who perfect startup team’ll likely be seeing day-in and day-out for as long as your startup exists, then that’s not a cofounder perfect startup team need.One thing startup founders hate with a passion is relinquishing control. Something many young entrepreneurs tend to do is micro-manage.I’m sure we’ve all had that boss who somehow finds the nitpickiest of things to nitpick. It’s annoying as hell, and perfect startup team get mad because it feels like they don’t trust perfect startup team. That they don’t respect your skills enough to leave perfect startup team alone to complete your task.Build a culture of trust and respect by listening to each other, really learning how to value their opinion if it’s different from yours, and respect each other’s contributions to the team. It’s a two-way street, perfect startup team can’t get if perfect startup team don’t give.DiversityIf perfect startup team’re in a startup team where everyone else is just the same as perfect startup team, then congratulations! You’ve managed to multiply your weaknesses by the number of cofounders perfect startup team have.Make no mistake about it, diversity breeds success. Don’t make the mistake of creating a team that looks just like perfect startup team. Talent is talent, but perfect startup team’ll usually need to consciously seek out people who are different from perfect startup team to make sure your team is well-rounded.According to this study by the Journal of Business Strategy, there are three major ways in which cofounders can differ from each other: opinion, expertise, and power. The study concludes that winning teams are moderate in diversity of opinion, high in diversity of expertise, and low in diversity of power.This means the perfect founding team consists of people willing to challenge and push each other, are not carbon-copies of each other in terms of skills and experience, and all are treated equally.CommunicationThe perfect founding team’s members are always talking to each other. It’s not enough that cofounders agree to communicate, but they actually follow through with it. Open communication is the single most important factor in creating a positive working atmosphere and culture.However, communication is more than just simply talking to someone and assuming they’re listening. What perfect startup team need is a proper conversation, where all parties feel like they’re being listened to, rather than just being talked at.The two words “information” and “communication” are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through. – Sydney HarrisWhere to Build Your Team of FoundersYou’ve probably heard this analogy before, but your relationship with a co-founder is a lot like a marriage. Why? Because perfect startup team’re going to be dealing with that person day-in and day-out for as long as your startup exists. The stress and pressure will make perfect startup team want to tear your hair out, and possibly each other’s throats. Sounds a lot like marriage doesn’t it?A startup will take over your life, there’s no way around it. So the person perfect startup team choose to have as your cofounder better be someone perfect startup team’d consider a life partner.Finding such a person can be a tricky business. Going back to the analogy of a startup as a marriage, then finding a cofounder is a lot like dating. Just replace the honeymoon period with late nights at the office screaming at your partner that their ideas are stupid.For those looking for a cofounder, the best place to look is your professional network. People perfect startup team’ve gone to school with or worked together with, maybe even someone at your co-working space. Someone who perfect startup team know perfect startup team can work with.You can also look into working together with family or friends. This does offer an advantage because of your shared history and a higher level of trust. But perfect startup team have to remember to prevent that personal relationship from getting in the way of your professional one, and not many people are good at that.Of course, perfect startup team can always create a founding team with a complete stranger. Not always a good thing, but can be if perfect startup team manage to find the right person. Just don’t ask someone to be your cofounder if that person isn’t someone perfect startup team’d hire to be your employee.You have a great business idea, financial backing, and plenty of market research to prove your startup's worth — now what?The most successful tech startup is only as strong as its team. These team members — product developers, customer service representatives, account executives, salespeople, and more — should be working towards one common goal: developing, implementing, and managing a next-generation product or service designed to meet or exceed customers' expectations."Having the right team determines the path and outcome of a new venture more than any decision in the lifecycle of a company," warns Bernd Schoner, author of The Tech Entrepreneur's Survival Guide.To maximize your chances of success, prioritize the following startup roles as perfect startup team begin your hiring process:6 Startup Roles Every Team Should FillOf course, perfect startup team could start your search for the perfect startup hire at RocketSpace. Our powerful tech ecosystem supports industry-leading tech entrepreneurs and visionaries. Moreover, with access to next-generation amenities, valuable programming, and other tech-oriented resources, members are well-equipped to solve the tech industry's biggest challenges.The VisionaryThe Visionary is the person who sets the vision for the company. This person is the one who envisions what the world would be like with her or his product. The Visionary always shoots for the "pie in the sky" and has an inherent knack for helping her or his team members realize the full value of the product or service. Most importantly, this person serves as the company's guiding force. The startup's vision — building a next-generation product or service, solving an industry's biggest challenges, helping consumers — should motivate team members to do their best work. Moreover, The Visionary takes the time to invest in the team. He or she should build an environment where employees can thrive."Visionary leadership is not an uncommon concept, but our energies are most often spent on our product, program, or service," says Tori Utley, contributor at Forbes. "And while these elements represent what is most central to our business strategies, true vision extends beyond business and into the lives of the people who work for our companies. True innovators have vision for their business and their people."The Visionary should possess the following qualities:Great Communicator: Able to translate complex thoughts into bite-sized information.Charismatic Leader: Motivates and empowers employees.Imaginative: Always thinking about new projects or undertakings.Risk-taker: Not afraid to try new things.The Operational LeaderThe Operational Leader is responsible for running the business like a business. This person translates the vision and makes it a reality. The Operational Leader is responsible for establishing targets, developing a business strategy, outlining roles and responsibilities, managing finances and forecasts, creating internal processes, monitoring timelines, and more. She or he and The Visionary work together to lead the company with their complementary strengths and skillsets.This team member should have an inherent knack for identifying, diagnosing, and responding to customers' pain points, providing a directional roadmap for innovations or discoveries, and proactively addressing an issue or problem before it occurs. For example, this person might come up with a new manufacturing or distribution method to save the tech startup valuable time, energy, and capital. In this instance, this person will outline project objectives and rely on other members of the team to see the project through to completion.The Operational Leader should possess the following qualities:Organized: Able to juggle multiple projects, manage deadlines, etc.Process-driven: Has a well-documented execution process.Focused on Efficiency: Has a "get things done" attitude.Quality-driven: Committed to delivering the best product or service.If perfect startup team are a small business owner, then building a great startup team is something perfect startup team might have always wanted. In addition to that, team dynamics are a critical factor in determining the success and failure of any business. Thus, it is essential to own a great set of employees from the very start.So, what is a perfect startup team? Perfectness comes when a team can pull off a successful sale execution of every product that the business offers. To ensure this, the startup needs to hire the best employees for smooth running of the company. We have listed specific steps that are required to hire the perfect startup team. Have a look:Understand What You WantAt the time of hiring, perfect startup team must be able to answer these questions- what kind of team do perfect startup team want? What would be your company’s culture? How much money will perfect startup team be able to spend on employees? Further, perfect startup team can create a checklist of qualities or skill sets that perfect startup team’re looking for in an employee. After every interview, perfect startup team can match the applicant against the checklist and know if perfect startup team want to hire him/her.Call ReferencesEvery candidate that perfect startup team hire has some references. You can call them and ask about their work style. Know about the contributions that the applicant has made in the past company and would he be suitable for your company or not. You should prepare the right set of questions beforehand so that the qualified applicants can be found out from the bad ones.Take AdviceIt is always better to take advice from the co-founders of your startup team about the applicant. You can consult the co-founder at the time of interview. The decision becomes much easier when there are others to help perfect startup team. However, if there are no co-founders in your startup, then perfect startup team can consult your associates or partners while making a decision.AlternativesBefore hiring, always ask yourself, can perfect startup team outsource the job of the applicant? Or can perfect startup team do it yourself? If there is no requirement of a candidate for full time, then hire part-time. Think carefully about all the options perfect startup team have before making a decision.However, building a successful startup is indeed a tedious task, and most of your success depends on team members. The personalities, actions and values of team members will always influence the company’s direction. Thus, to jumpstart with chances of success, choose your team wisely. We have listed some tips to build a perfect startup team:CommunicateThere is no room for people in a startup who keep things to themselves. People who do so create a toxic environment and might lead to suspicion. Further, people who do so would never be a good fit for the startup team, even though they may have multiple qualities. Thus, it is essential to communicate. Communication is the key to the success of any organisation.Know Your CompetencesWhen perfect startup team are constructing your startup team, there are so many skill sets that perfect startup team can bring on the table. There is an excellent opportunity to complement your skills with the qualities of the collaborators. For that, perfect startup team need to have a look at the skills that perfect startup team are best at and the skills that perfect startup team lack. Then, check out the team members who have the skills that would strengthen the organisation.Work With People You’re Comfortable AroundIndeed, perfect startup team don’t have to be best friends with members of your team. You might not have a personal relationship with them apart from your professional work. However, it is crucial to surround yourself with people with whom perfect startup team share a friendly vibe. This is because perfect startup team will be spending a lot of time together, and perfect startup team can’t make every interaction a struggle.Find Collaborators Who Are A Good FitCulture fit is essential when perfect startup team choose to hire people for every position. Plus, there is a certain work culture the moment perfect startup team start to have your company. Therefore, it is important to have somebody who could fit into the working culture. As the owner of the company, it is perfect startup team who has to decide the values on which the company operates, and your team has to abide by it.Find People Who Are Eager To LearnLearning is a lifelong process. Every startup has its own set of education and training for the employees. Further, the employees and partners have their own set of knowledge and experiences from which perfect startup team could learn. So, perfect startup team must be prepared to learn as much as perfect startup team can from these experiences. There may be certain times when perfect startup team have to keep your head low to complete the job. So, it is vital to choose people who are curious always.It requires immense hard work to run a startup. With the right employees, your company can become successful. It is advisable to choose employees that fit perfectly into your business. Plus, the startup would require a perfect set of employees at every stage of business. So, hire the people who believe in your company’s mantra and would work with perfect startup team for a long time. After all, a good set of employees would make the startup successful.In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team.Thus I was happily surprised when I found the classic book, “The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. He gives a wealth of practical advice on building a successful technical startup, including some specifics that I like on what constitutes a dream team of partners:The technical guru. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work. The technical skill can be highly specific, and the person may be a prima donna, but the role is required. If perfect startup team’re lucky, your guru also brings some commercial contacts to the table.The trusted leader. Running a new company cannot always be a consensus-driven process, especially when hard decisions need to be made that affect everybody’s lives. Being the leader doesn’t mean more equity, nor does it mean the leader will necessarily be CEO. It just means that the cofounders trust one of their own and are willing to follow.The industry veteran. It takes a long immersion in the marketplace for someone to be a true insider, understand the subtleties of the competitive landscape, recognize the people who are true assets (independent of titles), and look through the propaganda of technical collateral and PR campaigns. These people also have the credibility to attract investors.The sales professional. Young high-tech startups are at constant risk of forgetting that they actually need to sell the wonderful technology they invented. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market.The financial suit. You need a trained CFO to fill the financial gaps on your team. Outside professionals are always available, but they may have their own agenda, such as building a career, making money quickly, or managing up the stock price for a quick exit. If one of your cofounders has the necessary skills, your team will make the tradeoffs.The operations superstar. In the midst of high-tech development, funding, and selling, someone has to keep the office network running, get processes documented, and manage to keep everyone happy and busy. Fortunately, no combination of eccentricity, nerdiness, and charisma is required. Hard work and attention to detail are key.I’m not suggesting that perfect startup team need all six of these as cofounders initially, but I always recommend a minimum of two founders with different perspectives. The rest can come from early hires (with stock options to assure commitment), equity investors, or even strategic partners. Outsourcing any of these critical roles is very expensive, and usually not very effective.If perfect startup team can’t recruit all of these onto your direct team, the next best alternative is to build a first-class Advisory Board of outside people, with the requisite skills and a wealth of experience. These should be hand-picked, come with a proven track record, be willing and able to help, and be completely trustworthy. The best startups have both strong cofounders and strong advisors.What if perfect startup team are convinced that your idea is great, but perfect startup team just can’t seem to pull together the team and advisors perfect startup team need? It’s time to think about licensing what perfect startup team have to an existing company already in business, and give up developing and marketing it yourself. Remember the old adage that a small percentage of something is better than a large percentage of nothing.Their success with your idea will at least give perfect startup team the connections and the credibility to get the right team together on your next idea. Another alternative is to rely on that famous first tier of support, called friends, family and fools. Or perfect startup team can always bootstrap the idea yourself, get some traction, and build your first startup organically. It’s a longer road, but may be more satisfying.We all love the dark horse who comes from the rear to lead the pack and win the race, but very few of these really happen. Schoner and ThingMagic are now part of JADAK within Novanta, a multibillion-dollar public technology company, so success is possible without that initial dream team. My message is that it can be a lot more fun if perfect startup team engage the right team at the beginning.Starting a new company is scary. Sleepless nights, long hours, and bureaucratic red tape are all knocking at your door. You need a support team. You must balance the inordinate amount of work with people who will be by your side every step of the way.But how do perfect startup team find them? Having the right people by your side is critical to your success as a new company. You don’t need to be a hero and do it all yourself.What perfect startup team do need to do is find people that are as passionate as perfect startup team are. Find the folks who sleep, eat, and breathe your vision. The ones who treat the dream as their own. You are not looking for the most skilled person in the field. You are looking for the person who aligns with your dream. Someone who is going to get the job done. Skills can be taught, but passion is core to who we are.Don’t just look for people blind with passion though. You need to find the select group of people who are passionate about the guiding principles and core foundation of your startup. Finding the right people starts with a solid foundation and set of principles they can get behind.Step 1: Define Your Core PillarsWhy are perfect startup team building your startup? Is the world missing the next big thing? Are there people in need somewhere that can’t currently be helped? Do perfect startup team think perfect startup team can provide a service better than what’s out there already? Whatever your motivation is for your startup, perfect startup team need to build a foundation around it.When defining your core pillars, perfect startup team don’t want to be specific about your product or service. You need to focus on the principles and characteristics of the company perfect startup team want to build. You want to detail what is going to make perfect startup team excited to come into work day after day. For example, some of your core pillars might be:Outstanding customer service — You want to emphasize a strong customer experience when dealing with your startup. This is what sets perfect startup team apart from your competition. You have a passion for making people happy.Work until it’s done, not until it’s 5 o’clock — You are motivated to get your startup off the ground. You go the extra mile and push past traditional hours because perfect startup team know your competition isn’t working nearly as hard. You have a passion for delivery.Do it right the first time — Focus on getting the kinks out before perfect startup team reach prime time. If perfect startup team know there is a problem or a gap somewhere, fix it. It doesn’t matter if it will take an extra 24 hours to get it done. You design to delight to make your customers happy. You have a passion for an incredible user experience.Round the clock support — You know how frustrating it is to have a problem with a product or service only to realize their help desk is closed for the night. You need help now. You want your company to be on-call and ready to help at a moment’s notice. You have a passion for reliability.After perfect startup team have your core pillars, use them as guidelines. Be flexible. Your startup is a living, breathing organism. It will change as it grows. If perfect startup team need to add another pillar, do it. If perfect startup team have outgrown one of your original pillars, feel free to modify or remove it. What perfect startup team’re doing with your pillars is building your foundation and common ground for the people that share your passion and enthusiasm.Step 2: Find the Right PeopleOften easier said than done, finding the right people can be a burdensome task. When starting your company from the ground up, it’s often easy to look to your friends and family as employees. Be careful. While perfect startup team know these people personally, perfect startup team may or may not know them professionally. They could be totally different people behind closed business doors. Things to consider before employing your friends:Power struggle — Your friends probably don’t see perfect startup team as an authority. Getting them to change their mindset and see perfect startup team as their boss might prove to be difficult.Unrealistic expectations — “I’ve known the boss for years, he/she won’t mind if I leave early this afternoon” or “I’m your best friend, of course perfect startup team need to make me CTO” or “I’ve done a good job this year, I deserve a 50% bonus and a pay raise.” Managing expectations because of your personal relationship can be awkward and lead to uncomfortable situations.Reprimanding or Firing — The personal relationship perfect startup team’ve built up with your friends can make it difficult to reprimand them in a professional environment. When perfect startup team have other employees that perfect startup team do not have the personal rapport with, perfect startup team need to be careful not to show favoritism.However, including your friends and family as investors is a great option. They will be out of the day to day minutiae but will also be able to share your successes.Look for people who are passionate about your cause and align with your core pillars. When interviewing, ask open-ended questions around your pillars. Get their opinions on what they think about working until the job is done, or providing outstanding customer service, or doing it right the first time, etc…Remember, perfect startup team aren’t necessarily looking for the highest skilled person out there. Right now, perfect startup team are defining your company culture. You’re building your personality. Look for people who match your personality type and will bring a unique flair of their own. You need to find people who will work together well.How do perfect startup team find people like this? It’s 2019, the possibilities are endless. You don’t have to follow traditional routes anymore. Society is evolving to a digital-centric world. Put an ad out on Twitter or look at your extended connections on LinkedIn. Passionate people are out there, perfect startup team just need to know where to look.Step 3: Don’t “Hire Titles”I see startups getting flak all the time about their creative titles. “VP of Globalized Corporate Understanding” or “Chief Robot Whisperer” are cool sounding titles, yes, but they are just that — titles. When in the initial crazy phase of your startup, the last thing perfect startup team want to do is build niche silos for your employees. You need to go into the startup phase knowing full well that every person will have their hand in everything.Let people grow into their roles at your company. You know the work that needs to be done. Having a common pool of work items will allow your team to pick up what they are naturally good at and have a passion for. They know what they like. Someone on your team is going to have an inclination toward financials. There’s always one. That is going to be your future CFO. But for now, they are “employee #7” until perfect startup team’ve matured to the point where perfect startup team need a CFO. In the meantime, employee #7 is going to participate in design, QA, admin, financials, and who knows what else.Step 4: Give Constant FeedbackIn the early phases of your startup when everyone is doing a little bit of everything, it is important to get in the habit of providing routine feedback. You are all developing the company culture together, and if someone is veering off course, it is critical to catch them early and get realigned. You will prevent bad habits from forming if perfect startup team do it early and often.Think of your team at this stage as a “consensus team.” A consensus team is a group of individuals who all have equal influence over important decisions. All members are equal and decisions should be made with an upper majority, if not unanimous, vote. Make sure everyone knows why a decision was made.Use this feedback loop not just for negative feedback. Offer recognition for something that went particularly well. Use a notable effort as an opportunity to establish a best practice going forward. You are going to succeed or fail as a team. By keeping the morale high, perfect startup team maintain a high level of productivity and ensure the best effort is being put forward.Step 5: Do the WorkWith your team assembled and the right mindset in place, it’s time for take-off. Get going with a team of like-minded individuals who all share the same dream. Don’t silo yourself. Keep the team involved in all areas. You don’t need specialists yet. Expect everyone to be a generalist at the beginning. They don’t have to be the most highly skilled individual in something. Your team members will grow into their eventual positions.Most importantly, remember to have fun and stay passionate about your business. Surround yourself with a powerful team. You will never work a day in your life if perfect startup team enjoy what perfect startup team do.Common sense would dictate that the more experts perfect startup team apply to a problem, the higher the chances of solving it quickly. If perfect startup team’re trying to build out a digital product and get it to market, it stands to reason perfect startup team’d want as many smart people as perfect startup team can afford on your team.Unfortunately, common sense would be wrong.Jeff Bezos famously coined the “2 Pizza Rule” of team size, which emphatically states that if a team can’t be fed with two pizzas, it’s too big. For a big company like Amazon, that rule might apply to the size of a team invited to a particular meeting. But for a digital product startup, that rule should apply to your entire team.Throwing more people at a problem is one of the easiest ways to make it less likely perfect startup team’ll solve the problem. And throwing more people at a product virtually ensures it will take longer to get to market. Here’s why.Communication and Coordination Become LogjamsAnother famous Jeff Bezosism, paraphrased: Contrary to contemporary wisdom, more communication is not a good thing. More intimate, meaningful conversations between a few people are far more effective than making an effort to share general information with hordes. There’s an actual mathematical formula to explain why this is true:If perfect startup team have 8 people on a team, that’s 28 possible connections. But even twice that many people? 120 connections. The more connections that exist, the more communication to manage, and the higher the chance communication will go wrong.“Each additional person increases total productivity of the team but at a decreasing rate, which means if perfect startup team were the third member to join a team, perfect startup team made a bigger impact on its productivity than if perfect startup team were the thirtieth.”— Janet Choi on Buffer SocialQuality always trumps quantity when it comes to communication. With smaller teams, communication is more effective, and there’s a higher level of trust among team members.More Interpersonal Problems Pop UpAlong with the exponential number of connections that are inherent in larger teams, there are more opportunities for people to have problems with each other. Every time perfect startup team add a team member, perfect startup team’re increasing the odds of strife in your ranks.“Big teams usually just end up wasting everyone’s time.”— Diane Coutu in Harvard Business ReviewResources Ironically Become Harder to FindA phenomenon known as relational loss is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to ineffective larger teams. With more people involved on a project, each individual is less likely to know all the team members well, so the sense of being able to get quick, appropriate support dwindles.Engagement and Ownership DeclineThe more people perfect startup team put on a problem, the less personal responsibility each individual feels. This phenomenon is known as social loafing and happens because, with more people getting credit, individuals feel less responsible for the output. “Someone else will take care of it if I don’t” becomes the prevailing attitude.“The idea of working within small teams is believed to help diminish various innovation killers like groupthink and social loafing.”— Rachel Gillett in Fast CompanyWhen teams become larger, people also tend to underestimate how long it will take to accomplish a task. Research has proven that smaller teams actually accomplish things more quickly.For all of these reasons, we strongly encourage perfect startup team to keep your team size small in the beginning. You’ll simply get more done, and your product will be better for it.Quite a few startups start randomly and organically. And the teams of those startups can also be assembled or chosen in an unorganized manner. The startup team might be the result of friends, fellow workers, family and perhaps anyone who volunteered. While this might work initially, these teams rarely are built to last. Invariably, as the startup starts to grow, it may outgrow the skillset, maturity and capability of the original team members. What if perfect startup team looked at this in a whole new way? For example, if perfect startup team were going to field an expansion NFL football team, how would perfect startup team recruit or choose the players? How would perfect startup team choose the management leaders of the organization? Let’s face it, perfect startup team would not be selecting people near perfect startup team or randomly. You would choose the best people perfect startup team could recruit for their specific skills. Yet the random selection of a startup team is a mistake quite a few founders make. There is a more purposeful approach every potential founder should consider. Let’s look at how one startup built their co-founding team in a very purposeful way.Stance is a sock and underwear brand that was founded in 2009 by Jeff Kearl, John Wilson, Aaron Hennings, Ryan Kingman and Taylor Shupe. Jeff Kearl, who was one of he co-founders at Skull Candy pitched John Wilson, formerly President at Reef, on the idea of disrupting and upscaling the sock industry. Once John agreed to come on board (with sales and marketing skills), they recruited the other three co-founders for their very specific expertise and their willingness to buy into the company vision and mission. Is it a surprise that this company raised over $115 million in funding whose revenue has recently passed $250 million? Is this a dream team that is lucky or are they very talented co-founders who bought into a collective mission with very specific skill sets and expertise?If perfect startup team are considering starting a company, perfect startup team should purposely craft a co-founding team that could hedge your success. You should find the best people that match some of the six skill sets listed below:The Genius: Product or service expertise is one skill a founding team can’t do without. Often a diva, the genius will challenge the rest of the team and ask for things that the others aren’t sure how to get done. This person is filled with passion and is often considered to be the most high-risk member of the team. They ask for a lot, and they never settle.The Over Performer: The over performer is the person who gets down to business and accomplishes tasks. From ordering office supplies to keeping the office network running, this person has a combination of eccentricity, nerdiness, and charisma. The genius and the over performer are often the same type of person. Add this person as early to your team as possible as this personality is nearly impossible to add later. Too disruptive.The Team Leader: Running a team or company with more than one founder is a democratic process, but hard decisions need to be made that affect everyone. Consensus usually requires compromise. Every project team or startup needs a clear leader. It doesn’t mean they’re paid more or have more equity, and they’re not necessarily the CEO. It just means that the others look up to this person and are willing to follow them, if there is conflict and tough decisions need to be made.The Industry Expert: While departments or startups are often formed around new ideas, it helps to have someone who knows how things are done in the company’s industry. It takes a long immersion in the marketplace to call yourself an insider, to understand the subtleties of the competitive landscape, to recognize people as true assets, and to look through the “noise” in the industry and clearly see the opportunity. The industry expert has been there, seen it and knows what to do.The Sales Beast: Startups, new departments or growing companies with brilliant products or services often forget that someone needs to sell something. Having a strong salesperson on the team helps minimize the risk. The combination of technical insight, leadership, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive marketplace. This person could seemingly sell anything to anybody at any time. Just make sure they have a high degree of integrity to go with their “beast” sales mode.The Financial Nerd: Every startup needs to manage cash flow and understand gross margin. It also needs exceptional financial talent that can assist with budgets, manage the resources carefully or predict cash flow or burn. While this might be the easiest personality to add, it could be one of the most critical people on the team, especially if managing the finances is critical to the team’s or startup's success.Choosing co-founders or initial employees is a critical step in creating the right team that has the expertise to do what is needed, and as important, has collectively bought into the startups mission. Build your founding team carefully and it just might be built to last.Your startup team has a huge impact on the long-term growth of your company. As your software startup grows, comes the challenges that go along with managing your team. So, make sure to build a dream team that shares your vision of a successful startup.In the dynamic world of startups, everything tends to move fast. As your startup sees itself transitioning from one phase to the next, the need to scale up is inevitable. If perfect startup team’re ready to embrace the big challenge of scaling up, then your startup team should be on board with perfect startup team on this journey.Aside from a great business idea, the future of your startup lies in the people perfect startup team work with. Hiring the wrong people proves to be disastrous for your startup based on a study done by CB Insights. How do perfect startup team avoid this costly mistake? We’ll give perfect startup team some actionable tips perfect startup team can follow when assembling the right people for your team.Tips for Building an Effective Startup TeamTip #1 Establish positions and responsibilitiesBefore hiring people, perfect startup team and the other founders must understand your roles in the startup. Who should be the technical lead? Who will handle the marketing side of the business?First, establish the foundation and structure of your software startup. Consider each other’s skill set, strengths, and weaknesses to ensure that everyone understands what they can bring to the table.If perfect startup team have decided on your roles and responsibilities, then it’s time to gather the rest of the team. Depending on your startup’s needs, some of the positions perfect startup team can open for are software developers, project managers, sales and marketing specialists, finance officers, and so on.Tip #2 Hire the Right PeopleIt’s been said before, and we’ll say it again—the type of people perfect startup team hire can ultimately make or break your business. A startup team with diverse skills and experience is essential to its growth in the long haul.Ideally, perfect startup team want each member to exhibit the right balance between hard and soft skills. They must be experts at what they do (e.g. programming, project management, content writing, etc.) and have the right attitude to back it up.When choosing candidates, gauge if they can thrive in a fast-paced environment and learn quickly as they go along. Are they problem solvers? Can they spot problems and create solutions using the resources that they have? You want someone who can get the job done and are a perfect fit for your startup’s culture.Building a Successful Startup Team2020-01-10DEVELOPMENTBuilding a Successful Startup TeamFacebookTwitterLinkedInYour startup team has a huge impact on the long-term growth of your company. As your software startup grows, comes the challenges that go along with managing your team. So, make sure to build a dream team that shares your vision of a successful startup.In the dynamic world of startups, everything tends to move fast. As your startup sees itself transitioning from one phase to the next, the need to scale up is inevitable. If perfect startup team’re ready to embrace the big challenge of scaling up, then your startup team should be on board with perfect startup team on this journey.Aside from a great business idea, the future of your startup lies in the people perfect startup team work with. Hiring the wrong people proves to be disastrous for your startup based on a study done by CB Insights. How do perfect startup team avoid this costly mistake? We’ll give perfect startup team some actionable tips perfect startup team can follow when assembling the right people for your team.Tips for Building an Effective Startup TeamTip #1 Establish positions and responsibilitiesBefore hiring people, perfect startup team and the other founders must understand your roles in the startup. Who should be the technical lead? Who will handle the marketing side of the business?First, establish the foundation and structure of your software startup. Consider each other’s skill set, strengths, and weaknesses to ensure that everyone understands what they can bring to the table.If perfect startup team have decided on your roles and responsibilities, then it’s time to gather the rest of the team. Depending on your startup’s needs, some of the positions perfect startup team can open for are software developers, project managers, sales and marketing specialists, finance officers, and so on.Tip #2 Hire the Right PeopleIt’s been said before, and we’ll say it again—the type of people perfect startup team hire can ultimately make or break your business. A startup team with diverse skills and experience is essential to its growth in the long haul.Ideally, perfect startup team want each member to exhibit the right balance between hard and soft skills. They must be experts at what they do (e.g. programming, project management, content writing, etc.) and have the right attitude to back it up.When choosing candidates, gauge if they can thrive in a fast-paced environment and learn quickly as they go along. Are they problem solvers? Can they spot problems and create solutions using the resources that they have? You want someone who can get the job done and are a perfect fit for your startup’s culture.Tip #3 Share your startup visionIf your ultimate goal is to be a leading company one day, then share that vision with your current and future employees. Make them see the big picture. This allows them to stay motivated and committed to contributing to company growth.Be candid about your vision with the candidates perfect startup team interview. It’s great to be honest about this since not everyone likes to work in a big corporate setting. By sharing your startup vision, perfect startup team attract the best candidates with the same goals. Additionally, having an ongoing discussion about your future goals with your startup team helps everyone to stay on the same page and prepare for changes when necessary.Tip #4 Offer training or mentorshipYour employees can benefit when they undergo training to sharpen their skills. While software startups don’t necessarily have deep pockets for expensive training programs, there are other ways to learn for free.Encourage them to take free online courses or network with great mentors in your startup community. By motivating them to improve themselves, perfect startup team help them contribute to the success of your vision and reach their career goals.Building a Successful Startup Team2020-01-10DEVELOPMENTBuilding a Successful Startup TeamFacebookTwitterLinkedInYour startup team has a huge impact on the long-term growth of your company. As your software startup grows, comes the challenges that go along with managing your team. So, make sure to build a dream team that shares your vision of a successful startup.In the dynamic world of startups, everything tends to move fast. As your startup sees itself transitioning from one phase to the next, the need to scale up is inevitable. If perfect startup team’re ready to embrace the big challenge of scaling up, then your startup team should be on board with perfect startup team on this journey.Aside from a great business idea, the future of your startup lies in the people perfect startup team work with. Hiring the wrong people proves to be disastrous for your startup based on a study done by CB Insights. How do perfect startup team avoid this costly mistake? We’ll give perfect startup team some actionable tips perfect startup team can follow when assembling the right people for your team.Tips for Building an Effective Startup TeamTip #1 Establish positions and responsibilitiesBefore hiring people, perfect startup team and the other founders must understand your roles in the startup. Who should be the technical lead? Who will handle the marketing side of the business?First, establish the foundation and structure of your software startup. Consider each other’s skill set, strengths, and weaknesses to ensure that everyone understands what they can bring to the table.If perfect startup team have decided on your roles and responsibilities, then it’s time to gather the rest of the team. Depending on your startup’s needs, some of the positions perfect startup team can open for are software developers, project managers, sales and marketing specialists, finance officers, and so on.Tip #2 Hire the Right PeopleIt’s been said before, and we’ll say it again—the type of people perfect startup team hire can ultimately make or break your business. A startup team with diverse skills and experience is essential to its growth in the long haul.Ideally, perfect startup team want each member to exhibit the right balance between hard and soft skills. They must be experts at what they do (e.g. programming, project management, content writing, etc.) and have the right attitude to back it up.When choosing candidates, gauge if they can thrive in a fast-paced environment and learn quickly as they go along. Are they problem solvers? Can they spot problems and create solutions using the resources that they have? You want someone who can get the job done and are a perfect fit for your startup’s culture.Tip #3 Share your startup visionIf your ultimate goal is to be a leading company one day, then share that vision with your current and future employees. Make them see the big picture. This allows them to stay motivated and committed to contributing to company growth.Be candid about your vision with the candidates perfect startup team interview. It’s great to be honest about this since not everyone likes to work in a big corporate setting. By sharing your startup vision, perfect startup team attract the best candidates with the same goals. Additionally, having an ongoing discussion about your future goals with your startup team helps everyone to stay on the same page and prepare for changes when necessary.Tip #4 Offer training or mentorshipYour employees can benefit when they undergo training to sharpen their skills. While software startups don’t necessarily have deep pockets for expensive training programs, there are other ways to learn for free.Encourage them to take free online courses or network with great mentors in your startup community. By motivating them to improve themselves, perfect startup team help them contribute to the success of your vision and reach their career goals.Tips to Better Scale your Startup TeamTip #5 Provide feedback on performanceManaging a startup doesn’t clear perfect startup team from the responsibility of helping the team to grow their respective careers. Having a feedback system plays a significant role in assessing an employee’s performance.By providing performance reviews regularly, perfect startup team help employees see how they are doing and the areas they need to improve on.Tip #6 Upgrade your workspaceOftentimes, expanding the office space would be the last thing on the minds of startup owners at the onset of their business. Due to the limited resources and funding, some small startups are housed in someone’s basement to save on rent and other operating costs.While this setup is good at the beginning, perfect startup team might want to plan the future and prepare for a proper expansion to accommodate the growth of your startup. Try looking for vacant offices within your location. See if perfect startup team can negotiate the terms that allow perfect startup team to rent the space as needed while avoiding the need for expensive relocations.Get Ready to Scale up your Startup Team!The backbone of your company’s success is the people who work behind it. You simply can’t afford to hire the wrong people. When it comes to building a powerhouse team, perfect startup team need the All-Stars to get your business off the ground.Here at Full Scale, we have top-notch experts from different fields (such as web development, project management, SEO and content marketing) to work on your projects. We are an offshore software development company that handles the tedious process of recruitment so perfect startup team can focus your attention on bigger things, such as scaling up your startup. Contact us to get started.Startup companies have become pretty common in recent times. They might have a pretty high failure rate, but some have actually grown so much they’ve become industry giants. Startups are a great way to present a scalable business model to the public with the hope of luring potential investors into funding your new product.However, the high failure rate is the reason why many people decide against startups. Getting it off the ground is not a simple thing – besides transforming your ideas into the perfect business model, a startup must have a great team which will present these ideas in the best way possible. Without a good team, your startup is doomed to fail. Luckily for perfect startup team, we have a few tips to share that will help perfect startup team succeed.How to Build the Perfect Startup TeamThere are 3 key members in a perfect startup team – a developer, designer, and businessman (or woman) – without them, perfect startup team can just wipe your idea off the board and try something else.The DeveloperDevelopers are usually shy and introvert – they will more likely spend their free time playing video games or slots online instead of spending time in a crowded bar. They are, however, the most important part of your team. Developers are essentially technical ‘wizards’ who will get your project running off the ground. They will create a platform on which your idea can work on and solve current and future technical problems.A good developer will also take into account the feasibility of the product and tell perfect startup team if it can be built and how much it will cost. This may save perfect startup team some time and money, so invest in a good developer.The DesignerThe designer is the person which will shape your dreams. Designers react to the wants and needs of the users, creating a ‘face’ for your business that will attract people to it. Designers are those creative people who have spent their time doodling in classes instead of listening to the teacher. Their creativity will inspire different options for your product and give it its final form.The BusinessmanThe businessman is the final piece of the puzzle and the man responsible for ‘luring’ your customers in. These people are great at persuasion and have a vast knowledge of sales, marketing, and business in general. Without a businessman to sell your product, perfect startup team will most likely fail. Don’t skimp on this piece of your team – if perfect startup team want to drive your product forward and realize it, perfect startup team’ll need nothing but the best.Once perfect startup team have your team ready, perfect startup team should share your ideas to help everyone understand the product better and raise your chances of having it approved. Ideally, all the members of your team should be Jack of all trades or a person akin to Steve Jobs.However, as perfect startup team probably haven’t found the next Steve Jobs, perfect startup team need to surround yourself with quality people who will work together as a team in the hope of realizing your innovative product.According to a study conducted by the Rotman School of Management, the ability of a founder to attract a great team determines the success of the startup. While the founder’s traits are vital, it is the diversity offered by an experienced founding team that adds dimension to shape up the startup. As such, no successful startup rests on the shoulders of an individual. It is the team that translates an entrepreneur’s dream into a reality. The following points outline the team building benefits that every founder should know about: Execution of the great vision Your core team is responsible for breaking down the founder’s vision into short-term, realisable, and scalable goals. Each unit will take on separate roles and these goals will be assigned to them. The team will put together their attitude, aptitude, skill, knowledge, and competence to meet these small targets. Collectively, perfect startup team will have multiple operations taking place at the same time. On the other hand, perfect startup team can focus on the larger goal and macro-level decisions. As your startup touches one milestone after the other, the startup will accelerate to success.“The team is maybe even the most important element. In the end, everything is based upon the people who are running a project. How they fit together regarding their skills and personalities is absolutely crucial for the success of a startup. Unfortunately, the best idea in the world is not worth very much if perfect startup team don’t have the right people to execute it.“Money is always a big point as well, but it can be a trap at the same time. If perfect startup team start with a lot of funding, but the team does not fit well together, it is possible that perfect startup team will find this out too late. Money can cover up insufficiencies in the team for some time. I personally do not know any decent investor, who does not look very thoroughly at the team before investing.”WHAT DOES THE PERFECT STARTUP TEAM LOOK LIKE TO YOU?“The personalities have to fit together. This does not mean that founders should be identical, it’s good to have different characters, skills, and personalities on the team. However, they should complement one another. Even some conflicts or differences of opinion can be positive. Too much harmony can be a false friend because it can lull perfect startup team into addressing potential problems (which will happen) too late.“On the other hand, deep respect and appreciation for one another is the basis of being able to solve issues effectively. If those elements are missing, conflicts can escalate and endanger the whole project, instead of speeding it up and sharpening it, as they should.“The Share Structure is another important point here. How a team is organised should be recognised as fair when considering the value of each person’s input. Contributions include ideas and inventions, time, and money.“You should not only think about the here and now but consider the future as well. How does your Share Structure fit, if your company makes a million or more a year? is a question perfect startup team will hear very often in my coachings.“You have to make sure that the input of each team member is recognised fairly and grows with the size and demands of the company. Vesting-models can be a good option if perfect startup team are not sure about the future output and development of each team member.“Last but absolutely not least: What are the motivations of each team member? Do they fit together and is there a common goal uniting the team? Motivation is what will carry perfect startup team through the tricky times, so make sure this is synchronised and strong enough to do so.”WHAT SHOULD ENTREPRENEURS LOOK FOR IN A CO-FOUNDER?“Keep in mind the recommendations above and remember that at this point perfect startup team have the choice about who to work with.“Good questions to ask yourself are: What is really missing in my team now and what will be required in the long term? People are often a little short-sighted when they are extremely involved with a project or situation, for example when identifying gaps in an existing team.“Take away the pressure. Ask yourself how the person perfect startup team are considering for a role will work with perfect startup team and the growing demands of your company in the long term. If perfect startup team are sure it all fits, then make a fair deal. The shares perfect startup team give out should fit with what perfect startup team get in return from a co-founder.“Good expectation management is crucial at this point as well. Is the potential co-founder happy with the deal perfect startup team are offering and will they continue to be happy with it in the future? Are his or her expectations about the coming work and the development of the company realistic? If not, perfect startup team might encounter problems further down the road.”WHAT ARE THE THREE TOP TIPS YOU WOULD GIVE STARTUP TEAMS TO HELP THEM WORK WELL TOGETHER?“Always focus on the value everybody has to the team. This will keep up the respect and appreciation when perfect startup team have problems.“Make sure that everybody is 100% aligned to the goal and that perfect startup team are all fighting for the same cause.“Be fair and open with one another regarding company shares and duties. Be flexible enough to change everything, if your original deal doesn’t fit anymore.”Startup companies have become pretty common in recent times. They might have a pretty high failure rate, but some have actually grown so much they’ve become industry giants. Startups are a great way to present a scalable business model to the public with the hope of luring potential investors into funding your new product.However, the high failure rate is the reason why many people decide against startups. Getting it off the ground is not a simple thing – besides transforming your ideas into the perfect business model, a startup must have a great team which will present these ideas in the best way possible. Without a good team, your startup is doomed to fail. Luckily for perfect startup team, we have a few tips to share that will help perfect startup team succeed.How to Build the Perfect Startup TeamThere are 3 key members in a perfect startup team – a developer, designer, and businessman (or woman) – without them, perfect startup team can just wipe your idea off the board and try something else.The DeveloperDevelopers are usually shy and introvert – they will more likely spend their free time playing video games or slots online instead of spending time in a crowded bar. They are, however, the most important part of your team. Developers are essentially technical ‘wizards’ who will get your project running off the ground. They will create a platform on which your idea can work on and solve current and future technical problems.A good developer will also take into account the feasibility of the product and tell perfect startup team if it can be built and how much it will cost. This may save perfect startup team some time and money, so invest in a good developer.The DesignerThe designer is the person which will shape your dreams. Designers react to the wants and needs of the users, creating a ‘face’ for your business that will attract people to it. Designers are those creative people who have spent their time doodling in classes instead of listening to the teacher. Their creativity will inspire different options for your product and give it its final form.The BusinessmanThe businessman is the final piece of the puzzle and the man responsible for ‘luring’ your customers in. These people are great at persuasion and have a vast knowledge of sales, marketing, and business in general. Without a businessman to sell your product, perfect startup team will most likely fail. Don’t skimp on this piece of your team – if perfect startup team want to drive your product forward and realize it, perfect startup team’ll need nothing but the best.Once perfect startup team have your team ready, perfect startup team should share your ideas to help everyone understand the product better and raise your chances of having it approved. Ideally, all the members of your team should be Jack of all trades or a person akin to Steve Jobs.However, as perfect startup team probably haven’t found the next Steve Jobs, perfect startup team need to surround yourself with quality people who will work together as a team in the hope of realizing your innovative product.The Perfect StartupShare on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInStartup Founders and teams often talk about how much fun it was during the early days, when everyone was on the same page and things moved quickly. Can the speed and simplicity of that early, perfect-startup moment be retained as companies grow?During those fun initial startup days, the team is usually around a dozen people in size. Most are at work on the first product, while a few generalists take care of early business needs tied to operations, systems, and customers.When startups grow beyond that point, they encounter one or more of the following growing pains, which I’ve paired with solutions that can help mend flubbed operations and morale.1. The myth of the flat organization.Teams of around eight people are most efficient. Roles are clear, tasks are easy to track and communicate, and everyone feels in the loop and efficient. With good communication, teams can stretch to 14-16 people and still operate pretty well, though things start to get more frustrating. Tasks fall through the cracks. Everyone spends too much time keeping track of what everyone else is doing. There’s overlap in roles.The breaking point usually occurs when the team reaches 20 people. Team members start to ask questions like, “So, are we going to have an org chart at some point?” Some team members want to stay flat and claim that things will suck and not be like a startup anymore if there are managers. Sometimes Founders even say this, which tends to prolong the misery.First of all, it’s a myth that startups are flat or non-hierarchical. Someone is in charge – usually Founders, a CEO or a combo thereof. Everyone else is flat and getting frustrated about it. Failure to organize into smaller teams with team leads is an abdication of responsibility on the leader’s part.The Solution: When perfect startup team reach 12-14 product-focused team members, split into two product teams and continue splitting so that teams always trend toward the ideal size of eight. Invest in good team leadership, add one layer of management that is in charge of all the teams and makes sure they all work well together.This makes everyone happy and efficient again and scales until perfect startup team have upward of 30 teams, which is when perfect startup team should think about the next layer of management. Another key is to avoid building silos and losing transparency when splitting into teams. Have as few meetings as possible and discuss as much as possible in open channels (Basecamp, Slack, etc.). Document all ideas and explain how and why priorities are chosen. Share financials and board slides. Argue over then agree upon KPIs, and track them openly.2. The Founder/CEO conundrum.The jobs of the Founder and CEO are two separate roles.The job of the Founder is to be the product visionary. They articulate and constantly evangelize the vision and mission of their company, create and lead the product team, write specs, make tech and design decisions, and synthesize user feedback until product market fit is achieved.The job of the CEO is to make the business run smoothly. They fundraise, find early customers and partners, set and communicate goals and strategy, track results, run business operations (HR, legal, finance), and coach and grow their leadership team.Some entrepreneurs do both of these jobs in tandem very successfully during the early stages of a startup. Once a product is launched and the team exceeds 20 or so team members, it becomes more and more difficult to do it all. The Founder/CEO who tries exhausts themselves and frustrates their team. This is sometimes perceived as though the Founder has trouble letting go and trusting other people. Although, it runs deeper than that and happens to most first-time Founders.The Solution: Realize that if your business is lucky enough to reach the point of employing a large team, every single part of your job will change. Your main role will increasingly be to find, coach and empower great people who can take over the various needs of your growing business. This will be your most important contribution. If done well, it will serve as a model for the entire organization.3. The limitations of multiple-hat wearing.During a startup’s first few years, most employees work on product development. The non-product roles are more self-contained and centralized, but they need to scale as well, and they do so in different ways. These are usually roles in systems, customer support, marketing, sales and operations.For each, there is a breaking point where a single, more generalist person can no longer handle the task and it’s time to think about how to scale to multiple people. This is often painful because the generalist has grown to wear lots of hats, loves it and doesn’t want someone brought in “above” them. This could be a communications person whose role has grown to encompass marketing, advertising, PR and community management. Or, it could be a business person who is responsible for all partnerships, finance, HR and legal.It’s really fun to handle that variety, but it gets to be too much at some point. That point is different for different roles. For example, somewhere between 30-50 employees, it’s time to have a dedicated HR person. Somewhere around $2-5 million in revenue, it’s time for a dedicated finance person, and so on.The Solution: Anticipate these transition points, and manage them in a transparent way. Explain why it’s the right time to bring in specialists who are more senior and experienced at a particular job. The specialists, in turn, must recognize that they know less about the culture and inner workings of a particular startup than the early, many-hat-wearing employee and that they can learn a lot from each other. As mentioned above, these transitions are easier when the early Founders/leaders in a company have demonstrated how to navigate them for their own roles.By recognizing the above challenges and managing through them at the right moment, a startup can get to hundreds and even thousands of employees while retaining the best parts of their early culture and the simplicity, transparency and agility that makes them so fun.Any startup’s journey to success begins with a great team. The team will determine whether the startup turns into a business module or a thing of the past. According to statistics, not having the right team is the third-highest factor (accounts for 23%) behind the failure of startups. And the startup failure rate itself is forty-four percent. There’s no such thing as a startup having a sole owner. If perfect startup team come across successful startup stories, perfect startup team will find that they owe all their success to the team. If perfect startup team’re thinking of launching your very own startup, make sure perfect startup team have a great team.What makes a successful startup team perfect startup team might ask?How to build a startup team?‘A team that believes in the vision and works tirelessly to achieve it’ is an answer that gets an A+. Unfortunately, it is slightly more complicated than that.When we break down what makes a great team, we arrive at this conclusion:The VisionIt starts with your vision. Self-aware teams have fared better than teams with no clear thought process. Dedication and perseverance are great qualities to have, but if they were the only ones necessary, the failure rate of startups would be less. Everyone needs to be in the same boat and row in the same direction. That will get perfect startup team ahead. But every startup needs an edge. Then what is that edge?It is what makes your crew WANT to row in the same direction and a willingness to work with others to make it happen. In order to make that happen, perfect startup team have to convince each and every person in your team and make them believe in your vision. Your vision must ultimately result in making your customer’s life better. Every team member must individually feel responsible for that. Only then will they give their heart, soul, and maybe even throw in an arm and a leg to see your vision come true.The Hiring ProcessWhat is the process to hire a dream team? There is neither a rule book nor an HR in your case. The process is tough and will send perfect startup team somersaulting for suitable hires. A potential hire is one with a great attitude. If that person is smart and gets things done in time, recruit him/her. A likable personality is a bonus. Scout colleges, browse LinkedIn profiles, network with your circle. Sell them your vision. Define startup roles and responsibilities accordingly. Hiring five managers because they are excellent is a hiring disaster. Take only the people perfect startup team need.However, cooperation is slightly more important than talent in the beginning stages. A team with a tight bond is more likely to achieve success than one in a constant state of the cold war. Never settle. If your vision excites them as much as it excites perfect startup team, hire them! An important thing to remember when interviewing a candidate is to see if they will stay with perfect startup team at least until the startup is solid. A good way to ensure that is to have a transparent contract binding them for a stipulated time.That being said, recruit as if perfect startup team were recruiting for a business and not a startup. That way perfect startup team don’t have to hunt for a new core team when your startup turns into a full-fledged business. Beware of bad hires. A bad hire in a corporation results in a loss of time and money. A bad hire in a startup is a recipe for failure.What Must Your Team Be Made Up of ?After the hassle of recruiting is over, we have a team. Let’s dissect the team. An ideal team is balanced. If there’s a risk-taker, then there must a speed breaker. The startup team structure should be made up of – a brainiac, a hard worker, a financial expert, a crisis solver, and a leader. These traits are not mutually exclusive and are a generalized set of traits any startup needs. Your team needs at least one person for each trait.Team DynamicsThe core team is the face of the company. Their personalities and interactions will breed the eventual company culture. That is why initial hiring is difficult and important. A core team for startup is like a family. The company’s losses and gains are personal to them. Your team must at the very base get along. Connect with individual members and make them feel like family. That will result in their hundred percent effort. Be open with your team right from the hiring process. Be clear about your expectations of them. It is better to have someone not aligned with your goals quit sooner rather than later. Earn their trust.Even if things don’t go well, inform them. Don’t get too caught up in work though. Take time out to enjoy yourselves occasionally. It shouldn’t be all work and no play. Also, continuously monitor and evaluate your team to find and remove inefficiencies.Role of a LeaderWe are yet to discuss the importance of a leader. There are a lot of unknowns at the start. A leader must be an idea-generator, a crisis averted, a problem solver, and must also constantly boost the morale of co-workers. If that leader is perfect startup team, then perfect startup team better start working on these skills. Soft skills are important as well. Develop a good rapport with the team. If at any point in time, the team loses a sense of direction the startup will sink. The leader must keep them on track.Most Importantly, the early stages are critical and can make or break the team. Early-stage leaders are in a position to make the most impact as compared to the later stages, where the company already runs on a well-defined set of factors. A CEO at that point has no major impact on the process, only the major decisions. The leader is also responsible for the kind of image the company projects. If the company has an online presence, then the CEO’s personal opinions if expressed become a reflection of the company’s culture and policies.Don'ts When It Comes To Building a Startup Team:Avoid homogeneity at all costs. Likeminded people rather than minds that think alike. Homogeneity kills creativity. There would be no exchange of ideas as everyone will agree on a single idea. Everyone has the same weaknesses and strengths. There is no balance. Don’t sacrifice diversity at the altar of cooperation.Another don’t is taking the pressure of hiring on your head. If it proves to be difficult to obtain recruits, hire a recruiter. It is a good investment in the long run.Third, don’t prolong firing a bad hire. Cut your losses now rather than incurring them later. Fourth, don’t reject people who have faced failure. They are more likely to take risks, which is what startups need.Having said all that, there are no ‘building teams for dummies’ or ‘advanced team-building theories’ to get perfect startup team there. The startup journey is a rollercoaster. Many times, perfect startup team may have to ‘wing it’. The dynamic nature is what makes it a thrilling journey. Seeing your vision turn into reality after putting in months or years of work is highly rewarding. The journey is as important as the destination. And the right team makes it an enriching experience. Remember, your company is only as good as its core team for startups.Frequently Asked QuestionsHow do perfect startup team build the right team?6 Steps to Build a Strong Team:Focus on roles.Value each role.Communicate.Set goals.Celebrate successes and failures.Know each other.What makes a successful startup team?Startup experience, product knowledge, and industry skills predict the success of a new venture.How do perfect startup team strengthen your team?6 Ways to Strengthen Your Team:Hire with Purpose.Lead by Example.Communicate Effectively.Ask for Feedback.Team Building.Recognize and Appreciate.How do perfect startup team start a startup team with no money?Tips to start a startup team with no money:Stay true to the core purpose.Form a kickass team.Expand your social media presence.Collaborate with established brands.Make every customer feel special.Keep an eye on your competitors.Make the most of the tools.When building your startup perfect startup team can have a great idea and the perfect market conditions and still come up short. For both your startup and investors, execution is key.Just look at this slide I found from Alexander Jarvis on Quora:You and your startup team, especially at a management level, are a huge factor as to whether perfect startup team secure investment or if your pitch ends up in an investor’s trash can.And the first person investors look at as they decide whether or not perfect startup team are deserving of their time and money is perfect startup team, the founder.What Startup Investors Look For In Entrepreneurs and The Red Flags They AvoidInvestors, like most educated gamblers, bet on the jockey – not the horse. Making perfect startup team the most important asset for a successful fundraising round – especially if perfect startup team have a proven track record. Studies show that:“Successful serial entrepreneurs are more likely to replicate the success of their past companies.” and “Nearly 80% of [startup] unicorns had at least one co-founder who had previously founded a company of some sort.”However, regardless of your previous success investors need to get to know perfect startup team before they consider investing. They need to trust that perfect startup team can execute your milestones and that perfect startup team will provide a valuable ROI. To earn their trust and ultimately win them over perfect startup team need these essential qualities:CharacterConfidenceCoachabilityCharacterRenowned leadership guru Simon Sinek states that “People don’t buy what perfect startup team do; they buy why perfect startup team do it.”If an investor doesn’t know why perfect startup team are creating your startup what incentive do they have to invest in perfect startup team; as opposed to the thousands of other founders out there. If they can’t be sure their money is in the hands of an intelligent, capable, trustworthy founder they are unlikely to commit to a deal.Moreover, they aren’t just planning to invest capital in your business but also their valuable time. They are looking to create a long-term business relationship with perfect startup team and share their expertise and network. If they don’t like or trust perfect startup team they simply won’t do it.Your character is a critical factor and potential investors will want to answer the following questions about perfect startup team:Competency – “Can perfect startup team do this?” Is the question nearly all financial backers will want the answer to. Demonstrating competence is challenging, but can be made easier if perfect startup team have been part of (or already founded) a successful startup.Commitment – Are perfect startup team totally invested in your startup? Are perfect startup team still working for someone else or have perfect startup team taken the leap? How hard do perfect startup team work?Honesty – Do perfect startup team tell the truth? Any lies perfect startup team tell will inevitably backfire. Howard Stevenson (Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School) sums it up perfectly: “The first time perfect startup team hear anything dishonest come out of a founder’s mouth, perfect startup team should run, not walk”Trustworthiness – More than telling the truth, do perfect startup team keep your word and deliver on your promises?Who perfect startup team are underneath it all – Aside from the above are perfect startup team the kind of person they will be happy to introduce to their professional networks? Will they enjoy working with perfect startup team over the next three to five years?ConfidenceIt may seem obvious but perfect startup team need to be confident that perfect startup team, your idea and your team can overcome the inevitable challenges of founding a startup. You will need to get used to hearing no from investors, clients, banks and even family and friends. It’s important to develop a thick skin and generate self-confidence no matter the hurdles that arise.However, there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance – and it’s a line perfect startup team will need to tread carefully. Overconfidence and arrogance will make perfect startup team look like a “know-it-all” to investors. If they decide that perfect startup team won’t be open to guidance and new ideas it will be a deal-breaking red flag and they will walk away. The best way to ensure that perfect startup team’re portraying confidence and not arrogance is to support your claims with facts and figures.CoachabilityDo perfect startup team listen well? Can perfect startup team learn quickly and effectively? These are two factors essential for investors. They want to feel their time (and money) is well spent and that they are investing in a founder who is open to learning and being mentored.A good (smart money) investor will want to nurture a mentor-mentee relationship with perfect startup team. A receptive mind is a vital quality that perfect startup team will need. Ron Conway, an active early-stage investor in Google and Paypal (and Founder of SV Angel) puts it this way:The Red Flags & Dealbreakers for InvestorsThere are seven “deadly sins” that will leave perfect startup team investor-less and could potentially harm your reputation. Here they are and how perfect startup team can avoid them:1. DishonestyAs I mentioned before lies inevitably backfire. Lying about any aspect of your business (or yourself) will plant a seed of doubt into the minds of any potential investor. They will do the necessary research into perfect startup team and your company to verify your claims before they open their wallets – so be upfront and honest at all times.2. Telling Them perfect startup team Have “No Competition”Even if your product is the most innovative product the world has ever seen perfect startup team will either be disrupting an existing market or creating a new market that will quickly fill with investors.3. Saying perfect startup team “Only Need 1% of the Market Share”This is a great way to show investors that perfect startup team don’t understand sales or customer CPA (cost-per-acquisition). Instead of talking in market share talk in customers. Specifically how many perfect startup team need, how much perfect startup team will spend to get them and how long it will take for perfect startup team to get to that number.4. Failing to Fulfil Your CommitmentsWhen asked about what might kill a potential deal for her clients Marcia Nelson Managing Director of Alberleen Family Office Solutions said on aspect is when a “startup’s management takes too long to get us requested information – while it may not kill a deal, it will certainly make us more cautious.” Investors want to know that perfect startup team take your commitments seriously and that perfect startup team are prepared to fulfil requests in a timely manner.5. Being DesperateDesperation can break a business partnership before it begins and shows investors that perfect startup team are unconfident.6. Being Arrogant or DefensiveAs I mentioned above confidence and arrogance are close neighbours and it’s important not to come off too strong.7. An Unwillingness to ListenOwn your weaknesses. Investors will be put off if perfect startup team act like perfect startup team have all the answers and don’t need any help. You will need guidance and help on your journey and investors already know that. If perfect startup team admit your faults and actively seek advice perfect startup team will be left with a much healthier and more productive business relationship.As a founder, it is your responsibility to make as easy as possible for investors to say yes to both perfect startup team and your startup. You have to put yourself in the best position to form a great partnership that will be a lucrative deal for all parties involved. And the next step in that process is choosing your founding team.Choosing Your Co-FoundersThe founder who will lead the company isn’t necessarily the inventor. It is someone who believes in the startup’s idea and product. So much so that they are willing to put their future on the line to turn that idea into a successful company.You should try and choose professionals that have the skills perfect startup team lack. Someone who has a skillset to offer in another part of the business. Their skills should complement yours.Another important factor is ensuring your values, expectations and business goals are aligned. You and your co-founders will become your startup’s core management team. It’s important to be on the same page when it comes to your startup’s mission, business goals, values and timeline.You need to ask yourself if your personalities are compatible. Gary Tan, Managing Partner at Initialized Capital and previously at YCombinator puts it perfectly:Will perfect startup team be able to embrace the conflict with this person? Discussing disagreements on a level playing field to improve your business?It comes down to one overarching question:Can perfect startup team work together over a long period of time?After all, what good is it if their hard skills complement yours if perfect startup team don’t actually like the person perfect startup team have chosen as your cofounder?Investors will take the dynamics of your relationship into account as they assess if your startup will be the right fit for their portfolio. As well as assessing your co-founder on the same essential qualities they judged perfect startup team on.I recommend that perfect startup team thoroughly and carefully consider a business partner as perfect startup team would a life partner. Ask yourself, if in the toughest times will that person remember that perfect startup team are both on the same team and be by your side? More importantly, will they be an asset to your business.Serial entrepreneur, Andy Miller’s formula is simple: People + Execution = Success. Your potential investors are counting on perfect startup team and your startup management team to execute on your business plan, gain traction and, ultimately, bring in revenue no matter the hurdles.Your founding team’s primary responsibility is to plan your journey to market that avoids potential roadblocks. Then, when unexpected roadblocks do inevitably appear, perfect startup team and your founding team use that plan to navigate them.How to Build a Team for Your StartupFor your startup to grow perfect startup team will need to assemble a team of top talent who will bring skills to the table that helps perfect startup team execute your business plan. This factor is important to investors, after all, if perfect startup team are unable to execute your idea, they won’t see a positive ROI.Finding the right startup team structure is a delicate combination of art and science where every new role is a key hire.In a big corporation and mediocre employee can fall under the radar – or at least only cause minimal damage to the company. Whereas in a small team a mediocre hire in the first five years can risk the entire venture.Many founders fail to build a successful startup team. Early-stage startups rarely have an HR manager so it is left to the founding team to hire. And, for most founders, hiring is just one of a thousand urgent tasks that they have to do as quickly as possible – so, understandably, many take every shortcut possible.Know Your Strengths, Identify Your WeaknessesMost startup founders have one core strength. Along the road, they may have developed additional strengths that complement their primary, but no one is the best at every business aspect. Therefore when hiring perfect startup team need to make a list of strengths and weaknesses within your startup – just as perfect startup team did when perfect startup team were searching for co-founders. Ask yourself what is your business missing in terms of:Core competenciesExperiencePersonal qualitiesPerspectivesBuilding your startup team is an opportunity to find people who fill the talent gaps that will help your growth and speed up your success.Looking in All the Right PlacesSam Altman states that the first 100 hires at most tech companies typically come through referrals. However, I wouldn’t recommend hiring some purely because they have been referred by someone. All hires need to complete your interview process. It is the only way to ensure they have the abilities, experiences and, above all, the personality and soft skills to fit well into your startup’s ecosystem.As for actively seeking new hires, perfect startup team can start by looking at other startups, entrepreneurial-based business programs, startup incubators, local coworking office spaces and trade shows. Startup employees tend to be younger, at earlier stages of their career and are therefore less locked in to the “big corp” culture. That being said never turn down a candidate purely based on their age or background.Your Rigorous Hiring ProcessYou need to take your time in planning new hires. I recommend planning your hiring needs around 12-18 months in advance to avoid panic hiring. You should allow six months to actually find that new hire and perfect startup team should always have candidates in the pipeline.Most importantly, perfect startup team should have a thorough process in place for vetting your potential employees. Here are some elements that might be included in your hiring process:An initial screening to make sure the candidate’s core competencies for the role – this can be done through assessing the candidate’s resume.An Interview to meet the candidate and assess the team fit in terms of their soft skills.Thorough vetting of the candidate’s referencesSpending time with the candidates individually and within a team.Bear in mind, also, that whoever is doing the interviewing needs to communicate your startup’s values, vision and culture clearly. You will ultimately be “selling” candidates your company and making them excited to join your team.Your initial hires will have to wear many hats and together perfect startup team will probably moulding and creating their role as perfect startup team go along. Your startup’s product, market, and premise may change through the company’s journey. The only thing that will keep the team moving in the same direction is your startup’s vision, values and culture.Look For Diverse PersonalitiesInitial employees in a startup are different from those who are great at their jobs in an established company. Not unlike founders, these initial hires are usually more comfortable with taking risks. They are more optimistic and flexible when it comes to job descriptions and roles within the company.It is important to balance your team with different personalities. By this, I mean some who are:Executors – Those who make ideas into reality by assigning tasks and organising processes.Creatives – who have the ability to compel people with narratives, a key element to building connectionsListeners – these personalities are great at living in the moment and are able to ask great follow-up questionsCommunicators – a combination of listener and executor. Someone who can understand what someone is sharing and act on it accordingMediators – A combination of the listener and communicator, this personality is able to listen objectively to two sides of an argument and come to a solution.Recruiters – This personality envelops themselves in the company culture and is able to get other employees onboard on pretty much every aspect of your startup. Whether it is helping onboard new hires, or making sure everyone turns up to team events such as dinners, drinks, team-building exercises, etc.In a previous article, I’ve talked about how all members of your startup team need to have a “Musketeer’s Attitude” of “all for one and one for all.”Your Rigorous Hiring ProcessYou need to take your time in planning new hires. I recommend planning your hiring needs around 12-18 months in advance to avoid panic hiring. You should allow six months to actually find that new hire and perfect startup team should always have candidates in the pipeline.Most importantly, perfect startup team should have a thorough process in place for vetting your potential employees. Here are some elements that might be included in your hiring process:An initial screening to make sure the candidate’s core competencies for the role – this can be done through assessing the candidate’s resume.An Interview to meet the candidate and assess the team fit in terms of their soft skills.Thorough vetting of the candidate’s referencesSpending time with the candidates individually and within a team.Bear in mind, also, that whoever is doing the interviewing needs to communicate your startup’s values, vision and culture clearly. You will ultimately be “selling” candidates your company and making them excited to join your team.Your initial hires will have to wear many hats and together perfect startup team will probably moulding and creating their role as perfect startup team go along. Your startup’s product, market, and premise may change through the company’s journey. The only thing that will keep the team moving in the same direction is your startup’s vision, values and culture.Look For Diverse PersonalitiesInitial employees in a startup are different from those who are great at their jobs in an established company. Not unlike founders, these initial hires are usually more comfortable with taking risks. They are more optimistic and flexible when it comes to job descriptions and roles within the company.It is important to balance your team with different personalities. By this, I mean some who are:Executors – Those who make ideas into reality by assigning tasks and organising processes.Creatives – who have the ability to compel people with narratives, a key element to building connectionsListeners – these personalities are great at living in the moment and are able to ask great follow-up questionsCommunicators – a combination of listener and executor. Someone who can understand what someone is sharing and act on it accordingMediators – A combination of the listener and communicator, this personality is able to listen objectively to two sides of an argument and come to a solution.Recruiters – This personality envelops themselves in the company culture and is able to get other employees onboard on pretty much every aspect of your startup. Whether it is helping onboard new hires, or making sure everyone turns up to team events such as dinners, drinks, team-building exercises, etc.In a previous article, I’ve talked about how all members of your startup team need to have a “Musketeer’s Attitude” of “all for one and one for all.”Be Smart When it Comes to CompensationThose attracted to working at a startup are rarely driven by high salaries. In fact, most entrepreneurs will take a pay cut for the opportunity to be in on the ground floor of an exciting young startup. They are instead motivated by a combination of long term equity or stock opportunities twinned with lifestyle benefits such as flexible hours, autonomy, a creative work environment, making a difference and pride of inventorship. Tired of fees killing your returns?When it comes to non-critical skills or short-term needs I would recommend outsourcing – provided perfect startup team do it in the right way. Paying for services when possible is typically cheaper and quicker than hiring someone in-house and paying them with long-term equity options.The Second WaveHiring both your founding and core team is a challenge. However, arguably, a larger challenge is the second wave of hires as your company grows – and it is equally important to long-term investors. It is the responsibility of the founding team and long-term employees to do everything possible to help onboard new employees into the culture of your startup. Something worth bearing in mind from day one; it is up to perfect startup team to set the precedent for your team when it comes to your desired company culture.Your Third-Party Advisors & InvestorsAdvisory boards are vital to your startup’s expansion – and some of your investors may join this board. And, as with smart money investors, the goal is to build a group with a broad knowledge and industry expertise. Without creating an imbalance within your in-house team. External advisors is another way to fill the gaps in your team’s expertise, with the added bonus of industry influence in many cases.An advisor’s responsibility is to help perfect startup team and your founding team run the business. This is the key difference between a board of advisors and board of directors. They are important partners for your startup and are usually compensated with common shares, similar to management and employees. There are some cases where advisors are simply on your payroll.Note: This is different from a board of directors. They are responsible to the shareholders and, therefore, become the boss of the founders. Their responsibility is to make money for the company. In an ideal scenario, they do this by helping perfect startup team and your founding team execute your vision. But sometimes they will just replace the founding team with more experienced management.Keeping Your Foundership as Your Company GrowsAs your startup progresses perfect startup team will be diluting your company at every round as perfect startup team bring on new investors. A concern of many founders is keeping control of their company for as long as possible.At the early stages, it’s important to negotiate your valuation so perfect startup team don’t dilute your company too quickly. One thing perfect startup team can do when presented with an investor who is asking for a lot of equity is to negotiate and offer them a board seat. Most will be happy with a lower equity stake at this point. As a board member, they have a legally binding vote in regard to the running of the company. At this point, perfect startup team have to consider, of course, whether they have the experience in your industry to be a good fit on your board of directors.How would perfect startup team put together a legendary tech startup team? When it comes to finding a bunch of superstars like The Avengers or The Expendables of software development, perfect startup team can’t just hire whoever has the best technical knowledge (although that stuff is important too). There are certain traits that perfect startup team need to look out for, and we’ve made a list of them so perfect startup team know what to focus on at your next interview. If perfect startup team manage to hire people that possess every single one of these six traits, perfect startup team’ve got yourself a winning team.A ChameleonAs perfect startup team may know, startups are high-stress environments where time is of the essence, and perfect startup team can’t always afford to hire someone for specific tasks. Often, perfect startup team’ve got to work with what perfect startup team already have, and this applies to employees more than anything. Of course, perfect startup team’ll be hiring people with specific skills, but it doesn’t hurt if they’re somewhat multi-talented and can improvise when it comes to completing a task outside of their area of expertise. Your core team should be made up of people who don’t mind assuming different roles, solving problems that are not strictly related to their field and taking on responsibilities that are not in their job descriptions. In the long run, working this way will help perfect startup team forge a very strong core team, as your first hires will all have a comprehensive understanding of your company and how different processes work.A Good FitGrowing a young startup takes a lot of teamwork. When there’s five or six of perfect startup team locked in an office for the better part of every workday, perfect startup team need to make sure that there is as little friction as possible between the members of your team. Of course, it’s good to have people who think differently: the constant clashing of ideasis vital for innovation. But perfect startup team want to hire someone that fits in with your team’s dynamics, someone that the others actually like. It’s a good idea to involve your team in the recruitment process and make hiring decisions together.An IntrapreneurA startup is not something that’s finished or complete in any way, in fact, it’s just the opposite: constantly growing, changing and reinventing itself. There is always something that could be better. Logically, a startup needs people that can think of ways to improve the company, as well as to come up with a bunch of innovative ideas quickly to overcome unexpected challenges, adapt to tricky situations, and pivot if need be – and these people are the so-called intrapreneurs. An intrapreneur is someone who behaves like an entrepreneur while working within a company, so basically, someone that has an endless amount of innovative ideas about how the company could become better and more efficient. They usually have a spirit of their own and are not afraid to push back and have their opinions heard when they think they know better. And best of all, they feel like it is in their interest to bring out the most of the company.An “Act First, Think Later” Type of PersonThis may sound like bad advice at first glance, but hear us out. As a startup, perfect startup team probably don’t have time. Like, for anything at all. Waiting until your team comes up with the best of all possible solutions for a specific problem is just not an option. Sometimes (not always), it’s better to just trust your gut and do the first thing that comes to your mind, then see what happens. Hiring people who are ready to act without overthinking it can have a really positive effect on your problem-solving efficiency and your time to market, for example. Why not just get your product out there as soon as possible and see what users think? For this, perfect startup team need people who are extremely confident in their own abilities and their own judgement.An IdentifierThis one is a no-brainer. A startup can only function with a team whose members can fully identify with the company’s mission, who have absolute faith in the product or service that they’re developing, and who do not feel like they’re compromising their values, morals or priorities by working at this particular company. If perfect startup team hire someone who has doubts as to whether the world really needs your startup or your product, they’re never going to be fully dedicated to your cause. This will take a toll on their endurance when it comes to making sacrifices, like working long hours and staying on top of their game in a stressful environment. Hire people that believe in perfect startup team one hundred percent, better yet, who themselves are potential users of your product.An Odd One OutTechnically, this is a paradox, but perfect startup team want all your startup employees to be misfits, to be odd ones out, to somehow not fit in with anyone except each other. They’ll each bring something completely unique to the table, something that only they can do, something that distinguishes them. They will be the heart and soul of your startup, and everything perfect startup team do will be shaped around them. So choose wisely and select special people that work well together: that’s how perfect startup team go from being a bunch of nerds to a team of champions.A team building retreat is a brilliant way for companies to create a more positive culture in the workplace which will increase efficiency and productivity. The key to these retreats is to encourage a stronger team ethos amongst your employees, increase trust between them and ultimately have them working in unison. A business is only as strong as the sum of its parts. When those parts are working in perfect harmony the impact on the company is huge. To help bring your team together and work towards higher levels of success for your business, here is how to put together the perfect team building retreat.Booking TransportThe best way to organize your team in terms of getting to your chosen venue is by seeking out private bus hire. Finding a bus to charter is very easy. If your company don’t already have a contact who can provide this then perfect startup team can charter a bus rental using startup Bus.com: Charter Bus, School Bus, Minibus, & Sprinter Van Rentals. In privately chartering a bus perfect startup team can ensure that the team not only get there safely but also they they arrive together. Every part of this trip needs to be committed to the team ethos.It starts from the moment that they board the bus. You may even wish to allocate seats in order to encourage bonding between people who perhaps don’t know each other overly well. Speak with the bus company about your team’s needs in order to get the best bus for the journey. Depending on how many of perfect startup team there are, how far perfect startup team are traveling and what amenities your team will require on-board will help perfect startup team to chose the right bus for your trip.DestinationPicking the right destination will be largely driven by what activities it is that perfect startup team have in mind for your team. Some like to select outdoors activities for their teams because this takes them completely out of there comfort zone and forces them to work together under trying conditions. Building a raft with just a handful of materials for example will certainly test your team’s ability to work as one and find success. Alternatively perfect startup team may look for indoors activities and challenges which require your team to solve problems under intense conditions. Identify which type of activities perfect startup team would like to challenge your team to complete. This will help perfect startup team decide where the team building retreat should take place.Beyond the ActivitiesWhat perfect startup team usually find on these team building retreats is that the activities themselves are not always the part of the trip when the team begin to bond, this happens in the quieter moments after the activity is complete. It is for this reason that perfect startup team also need to plan beyond the activities and open up opportunities for your team to network and connect with one another.The choice will be yours as to how perfect startup team will create an environment such as this, perfect startup team could for example hold a cocktail party for everyone to unwind with a few drinks which will give them the chance to discuss the day’s events and bond with one another. Alternatively perfect startup team may wish to hold a games night which will have a similar effect, creating a situation for relaxation and fun which will help to re-enforce what the team has been learning throughout the day.The most important part of planning the trip is to remember that team building itself is not only about completing activities which show the benefit of teamwork. The building of your team will take place on the bus, over breakfast, when they have drinks on an evening and of course during the activities themselves, remember this and perfect startup team will be able to execute a successful team building retreat.There’s one thing that separates a mediocre from a successful startup – it is a great team!Close XYou need to know that creating a Startup isn’t a one-man job.It’s a collaboration of the whole team, instead. In order to maintain a sustainable Startup, perfect startup team need the right team members. No man scaled a Startup from the start to a successful business on his own. It’s a myth!Behind every successful Startup is a group of people – working as one.It’s a long and complex process, and it’s easy to get distracted. Running Startup is a daily struggle that makes it easy to miss a lot of opportunities – so there’s a wider range of different points of view when perfect startup team have a team behind perfect startup team.To avoid distractions, perfect startup team need to stick to your basic idea and step by step incorporate your team members into a firm startup foundation.But how do perfect startup team find the right people? You don’t need to – build your team instead!Find the people perfect startup team can rely on – in every situation.There are a few ways to do it. First of all, perfect startup team need to have a complete plan and a clear vision of what perfect startup team want to achieve. And then perfect startup team have to downscale your potential team members and choose the right ones. There’s a brilliant way to scale the values of your team members!Performance vs Trustworthiness method!And here we are, is the performance of a team member an essential skill?It is a very important process for selecting the right member, and one ability that most Startup owners ignore is trustworthiness.To include someone in your team means to incorporate that person into your basic idea – the idea that is the starting point for your startup.Keep in mind that data management is very critical, and perfect startup team need to make sure that your confidential data does not leak.There are so many things that perfect startup team can easily overlook when building your startup team.To avoid this, make a shortlist of the main priorities and try to keep up with them in the process of choosing the right team members.Here are some tips that we’ve overlooked building the startup team – and we’re going to share it with perfect startup team!Well, because knowledge is here to be shared!1. Build a reliable teamAs we have already mentioned, performance is not the only quality your team members need. You need a reliable team that can overcome potential issues on its own. If perfect startup team’re not around, there’s a team that can make the right decisions.Once perfect startup team gain trust between your team members, productivity and performance will begin to grow.And perfect startup team need to know that trust doesn’t come without investment and effort. There is a chance to achieve great things by sharing the same vision and work culture!“Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”Patrick Lencioni2. Monitor and provide feedback to your teamWork environment transparency is key to the growth of your Startup. You need to constantly monitor outcomes and give feedback to your team.Giving regular feedback to your team is what makes perfect startup team strong. The key takeaways of the Lean Startup Methodology is Build, measure, learn and that’s something perfect startup team should also apply when it comes to your newly founded team. Build a team, measure your progress as a team and learn from your mistakes – and perfect startup team’re going to make mistakes.With every aspect of your team’s work in mind, perfect startup team will build on the sustainable growth of your Startup.“You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.”Jim Stovall3. Build a healthy working atmosphereTry to develop a pleasant and dynamic working environment for your team and allow them to grow as an individual. They can achieve incredible things by giving them freedom and independence, becoming more effective and maintaining high-quality work.With that in mind, perfect startup team’re on a great way to create a successful startup business.You will find that productivity is increasing and that team members are closer to each other as coworkers and friends – continuously improving their contribution.“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”Andrew Carnegie4. Enjoy the process!Surrounding yourself with people perfect startup team enjoy being around, creating a motivational atmosphere for everyone. You’re going to spend a lot of time together, through issues, failures, and there’s got to be a good interaction involved – on the opposite, a workflow can be a challenge.Working on your Startup with the right team, not the best performers, but the people perfect startup team trust and can rely on in every situation – that’s the key to a successful Startup business.“He who masters the power formed by a group of people working together has within his grasp one of the greatest powers known to man.”Idowu KoyenikanTo sum up,is there a perfect Startup team? No.But, some people will do their best and push themselves to the limits to achieve the main goal.Sustainable, profitable Startup company!These four steps in growing your perfect Startup team are a part of a collaborative mindset that every entrepreneur needs to have, to create and maintain productivity growth.Through actively encouraging team members’ relationships in the workplace.Technical skills are easy to perfect as time passes, but the character and sensitivity of people is not something perfect startup team need to deal with. The goal is to find people with similar priorities, ambitions, and personality.When perfect startup team find those people, it’s going to be easy to grow together and become the best team perfect startup team can!And keep in mind that “None of us is as smart as all of us.” and let it be a personal and professional goal – to achieve incredible things!What advice do perfect startup team have to create a great Startup team?5 skills perfect startup team need as a CEO to be able to build a startup team successfully1. Leadership and management2. Strategic business planning3. Critical thinking and problem-solving4. Book-keeping and accounting5. Web development and marketingOnce perfect startup team have acquired these skills, perfect startup team can start working towards forming your startup team.In this process, the fundamental job of a startup founder is to connect with individuals who share a similar passion and drive.A startup founder should hence focus on building a quality team, without compromising on the hiring bar.We have answered a few important questions to help perfect startup team build the ideal team for your startup.What should perfect startup team look for in a co-founder while building a startup team?Hiring the right fit who will work with perfect startup team and help perfect startup team build a startup team can be a crucial element for your team’s success.Most entrepreneurs are faced with the dilemma of getting a co-founder or being a sole showrunner.If perfect startup team decide to enroll a co-founder, make sure they have the right skill set and share your passion for the business.You have to keep in mind that the person perfect startup team choose, will be with perfect startup team at all times, tackling obstacles and managing the business. Hence, perfect startup team must pick a co-founder with whom perfect startup team have the right chemistry.You must understand that this partnership is much like a marriage in the corporate realm.5 steps to follow in order to identify your potential co-founderStep 1: Identify gapsYou need to begin with identifying gaps in your business. It could be an entire business area or a specific process.Accordingly, perfect startup team need to find a person who has expertise in the area, and from whom perfect startup team can learn too.A refreshing example of the same, is Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore, the founders of Intel. Bob knew about Physics, and Gordon studied Chemistry.Step 2: Start your huntOnce perfect startup team have identified the gaps in your business, perfect startup team should start looking for prospective candidates in your network.It is always a great idea to partner with someone who perfect startup team have worked with previously. The upside would be that perfect startup team are already acquainted with each other’s working style, have a rapport and mutual respect.In the case of Eventbrite, Julia and Kevin Hartz tied the knot before founding the event management and ticketing firm.Step 3: Test the watersShare your business idea with your potential co-founder. He/ she needs to have the same level of commitment, excitement, and passion for building an efficacious startup team.To build a startup team that is sustainable and efficient requires years of relentless hard work and dedication.Therefore, having a strong co-founder by your side, who is equally passionate about the business is crucial.Step 4: Say Cheers!If perfect startup team come across someone who shares the aforementioned skills and criteria, perfect startup team may have found your potential co-founder!PayPal founders, Max Levchin, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel all shared a common goal to create a novel way to receive payments.The same goes for Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who wanted to improve the way we search for information on the internet, and in turn, gave us Google.Step 5: Set ground rules togetherOnce perfect startup team have your co-founder on board, the next step is to build your startup team and that process is rather stressful.It is advised that perfect startup team keep the communication lines open at all times. This will help perfect startup team and your co-founder to be on the same page while building a strong team for your startup.It will be in your team’s best interest if the founders together can tackle and resolve conflicts instantaneously.How to find the right team for your startup?Having an impactful co-founder by your side will drastically increase your chances of success.However, to build a startup team, perfect startup team need dedicated individuals working alongside the founders.In order to expand your team, perfect startup team need individuals who can seamlessly handle various business aspects, such as product or service development, operations, and marketing.3 steps to identify the right people for your startup teamStep 1: Be fastidiousBe particular about the skill sets of people perfect startup team hire, and don’t be afraid to be picky. You need to keep in mind that perfect startup team are trying to find the perfect fit for your startup.Step 2: Ask the right questionsIn the interviews for potential candidates, ask them questions to gauge the field they come from.Collect information regarding specific situations, everyday tasks, and the level of involvement of potential candidates in product or service development.These answers will help perfect startup team analyze:If they have the right skill set for your startupIf they will be able to accept and assimilate the startup cultureStep 3: Look for all-roundersBe on the lookout for candidates who enjoy overcoming obstacles and resolving pressing issues.Having such candidates as your team members will help perfect startup team build a team that is inherently strong.You can also consider involving advisors in your team, who can address specific concerns of your business.At times, advisors can be offered some equity or some share of the company to demonstrate that perfect startup team value them and their opinions. Such a move can also assist in increasing the value of your startup.How do perfect startup team know if perfect startup team have found your ideal startup team?You’ll just know.There are only so many technicalities and parameters perfect startup team can engage while setting up your ideal team. Some attributes perfect startup team find, and some perfect startup team inculcate.Let’s find out how!A strong team for any startup should consist of the following attributes:Result orientedAccountableCommittedSolution-orientedTrustworthyIf perfect startup team are aiming to build a startup team, which can have a long-lasting impact, perfect startup team will need a strong team.You need to surround yourself with individuals who are among the best in their respective fields. Identifying such individuals and attracting them to your organization should be your top priority.Once perfect startup team have these individuals on board, perfect startup team need to make them more effective as a team as soon as possible.It can often be tedious to coach and lead a team to success, but it’s worth it.5 tips to effectively coach your startup teamTip 1: Inspire passion by envisioning the big picture with your teamTip 2: Go scouting for new ideasTip 3: Enable easy communication among teammatesTip 4: Point your team in the right direction and redirect as requiredTip 5: Make sure perfect startup team are in it to win itHow do perfect startup team build a great sales team for your startup?The sales team of a startup is mainly responsible for creating conversions and managing leads.Sales are one of the most essential roles in any organization, and hence it is very important to build a strong sales team.However, perfect startup team need to ask yourself a few questions before perfect startup team start interviewing potential candidates:What are the strengths and weaknesses of your business?What do perfect startup team consider to be an ideal profile for a customer?What are your past sales figures and how do perfect startup team envision the future?Reflecting inward by utilizing these questions will help perfect startup team identify suitable individuals for your sales team.Research has shown that components such as customer profile, revenue growth, and sales traction, can reveal an individual who is best suited for your sales team.The candidates perfect startup team are considering to hire for your sales team should have the following qualities:Ability to make the customers feel valued by creating a good first impressionAbility to communicate clearly and showcase the full value of your product/ serviceAbility to accept failure while striving for successTry to keep your team confined to a few members as startups typically go through different restructuring phases.Learning to identify these phases appropriately will assist perfect startup team in availing the help of the right person.We have listed 50 startup recruitment agencies to help perfect startup team find the perfect candidates for your startup.Did perfect startup team know that not having the right team is one of the main reasons why startups fail? Actually, the lack of a strong team is listed in the top three reasons for failure in a startup. Finding the right group of people to work with on an innovative idea is definitely a challenge, so perfect startup team need to dedicate time and energy to find your perfect business partners.When creating a startup, it’s important to understand what the main roles are and which skills perfect startup team’re looking for. If perfect startup team’re a marketing expert, for example, perfect startup team have to search for people that have different skills. After all, there’s no point in adding a second marketing person—at least in the beginning.Map your strengths and weaknesses—this will help perfect startup team to understand what perfect startup team are looking for before perfect startup team start forming your team. Once formed, it’s time to understand what it takes to create a strong startup team. Ready to find out?Understand RolesTo create a successful startup, perfect startup team need to find people who are committed to the project and are not afraid of challenges. However, every member of your team needs to understand the role they are taking.Marketing, finances, IT, design, and business – each department has its own values, tasks, and goals. This can never be forgotten. In a startup environment, it’s important that all members have an understanding of each role. This is the only way to respect and value ideas that will help to lead the business to success.Have Clear CommunicationCommunication problems are in the top 10 of critical business challenges. Misaligned work and incorrect deliverables can cause irreversible damage to any company.In order to create a strong startup team, perfect startup team need to establish a streamlined communication protocol and straightforward process. A simple example would be to create a standard template for everyone to use. This is an efficient way to align all members and teams and avoid communication problems.You might think that this is not necessary for the beginning—after all, it’s a small team that can easily communicate—but if perfect startup team set the culture of creating a standardized communication process, perfect startup team’ll be able to grow in a scalable and sustainable way, avoiding future problems.Share KnowledgeSharing information is the only way to put everyone on the same page. Encourage your team to present to colleagues what they do and the relevance of their work. When attending an event, have a session with the team to share what was learned. When creating a new project in your team, make sure that the entire startup team is aware. You can always benefit from the insights of members who are not working on that particular project.It’s important to keep in mind that in a startup company roles can change quickly, so it’s necessary to teach the members of your team a wide array of different skills. At the end of the day, it’s always good to learn more.Have Clear GoalsSet goals for everything perfect startup team do in your life—this is our biggest piece of advice. When it comes to forming a strong startup team, setting goals is an absolute must.Setting goals gives a sense of direction. If perfect startup team know what your destination is, perfect startup team definitely will find the best way to get there. When your team has goals each member benefits. Goals:Give focus to your team;Help measure progress;Keep startup teams motivated;Help deliver what was planned.When setting goals, perfect startup team have to think about short and long-term. This will keep your team motivated to accomplish tasks but without losing focus on the main objective.Set Ground RulesStartups are known for having a fast-paced yet flexible environment, but this doesn’t mean not having any rules.Set ground rules and perfect startup team’ll have a strong startup team. You don’t have to complicate things; being punctual for meetings, updating spreadsheets with weekly tasks, and respecting deadlines are rules that must be in your guidelines.Make sure to create the ground rules in consensus with your team and commit to them.Enjoy the RideSkills are essential, but they’re not everything. If perfect startup team want to create a startup team, perfect startup team need to find people that perfect startup team enjoy working with. In the early stages of a business, perfect startup team’ll face many challenges, so it’s important to have people that perfect startup team have fun with while perfect startup team’re working and who are keen to succeed.Ready to create your strong startup team? Click here and find out more about the startup universe!The hot Q&A startup Quora has been growing at a rapid level since its launch in 2009. A large portion of the early adopters appear to be entrepreneurs, tech geeks, and business people — perfect startup team know, the Silicon Valley types.The variety of questions on Quora range from the best marketing ideas to suggested movie sequels. However, there is one particular question that appears to be buzzing throughout the startup world: What does the perfect startup team look like?Everyone is chiming in on the question, from venture capitalists to serial entrepreneurs and CEOs, all of whom are considered experts in the industry. Because answers and comments that are listed on Quora are posted according to popularity, it becomes easier to identify the most popular responses.Here are the key individual types that perfect startup team will need to create the perfect startup team:1. The Business Person: experienced business individual who understands sales, marketing, business development. This person must be able to easily and accurately convey the value of your product or service to potential customers, investors and partners. This person must also be able to properly communicate the technical team members. This becomes critical for product development when user feedback begins pouring in.2. The Developer: technical person who can create anything that the founding team can dream. This person must be well-versed in programming so that changes can be made to the product on a moment’s notice. It would best serve the startup if this technical person also was familiar with the technology of server environments, because we all know how expensive IT help can be.3. The Designer: creative mind who understands how design affects user experience. This person must be able to turn an idea into something that people will enjoy using and will enjoy viewing. The success of some startups has become heavily weighted on that company’s ability to attract and retain users because of the fact that users like the website. Very few companies can still succeed with a design like Craigslist.A team with more than one of these individuals wouldn’t be a negative either. I think that three people would be the ideal number because it becomes increasingly more difficult to start a company with more people. Of the three founders, one must clearly be designated as the leader, which is more likely to be the business person.However, each of the previously mentioned characteristics should overlap between founders so that no one person is solely competent in any one area. Startups are all about being flexible and without well-rounded individuals, it may become increasingly difficult to pivot during rough times.As an aside, based on popular consensus, it appears that the best example of someone who demonstrates all of the above named competencies is Steve Jobs. Since most of us are not like Steve, we should make sure that we have all the pieces in line that will increase our opportunity for success.Clearly, any question that is posed with the adjective perfect is subject to a variety of differing opinions. However, based on the suggestions and responses of experts in the industry, there is a tremendous commonality in opinion that is shared on this topic. If perfect startup team have a different opinion, please share it below.HOW TO CREATE YOUR PERFECT STARTUP TEAMFinding the right team for your startup is critical for success. It’s one of the very first things perfect startup team need to think about. We regularly work with startups and new businesses, so we understand how tricky things can be. That’s why we’ve put together some essential advice on how to create your perfect startup team.Of course, every business is different. One startup’s dream team could be another’s nightmare. Before perfect startup team hire anyone, perfect startup team need to think about your business’s unique needs and who can help perfect startup team meet these. But, thankfully, there are some general pointers that are going to put perfect startup team in the right direction – whatever your business model is.HOW TO FIND A TEAM FOR A STARTUPTo find a team for a startup, perfect startup team’ll want to look out for people with:Financial experience – You’re going to need somebody in your business who understands budgets, particularly if perfect startup team’re seeking external investments. If that person isn’t perfect startup team then perfect startup team need to hire someone with a head for number-crunching.Tech savviness – For a modern startup, perfect startup team’ll likely want everyone to be computer literate (unless perfect startup team’re going old school). If perfect startup team’re working with anything more technically advanced, perfect startup team could benefit from hiring a true whizz. Having this different mindset can help solve problems before perfect startup team even realised perfect startup team had them.Business knowledge – Chances are that if perfect startup team’re reading this guide, perfect startup team don’t have any experience of building a business from scratch. That’s OK. Nobody had experience before they did it for the first time – perfect startup team’re not alone. However, if perfect startup team can find someone who’s been there before (through the highs and the lows), their advice can be invaluable.Passion and pride – Passionate can be a clichéd buzzword, but perfect startup team’ll still want people who are truly excited to work with perfect startup team and grow your startup. Find a team that are proud to work with perfect startup team and perfect startup team’ll have found a team that will stay. Although perfect startup team need experience in the team, don’t overlook people with drive and the potential to learn.That special something – One way of making your business stand out is having a team who just do that. Any good startup collective needs a superstar or two. You simply want people who are top at what they do. OK, we know it’s not that simple as everybody wants those people too, but once perfect startup team have one, perfect startup team’ll be a magnet for more talent.Whoever perfect startup team hire, it’s important that perfect startup team have a variety. It’s no good having a group who are all excellent at behind-the-scenes technology, but nobody in the team willing to stand up and voice creative ideas. You need a blend of people for the perfect mix.Variety is essential for a startup – from the experienced old-timers to the intrigued new starters; perfect startup team can find the qualities perfect startup team’re looking for in people from all walks of life.THE BENEFITS OF A LEAN STARTUP TEAM STRUCTUREAlthough perfect startup team want variety in your team, perfect startup team won’t be able to have everyone in your very first team. As a startup, it’s often beneficial to start small, establish the team hierarchy and roles, find the gaps and then grow from there.You’ll want a clear and defined startup management team and then perfect startup team’ll need to hire people based on your skill gaps.The benefits of a lean startup team structure are:Small teams bond better – Typically, smaller teams will form closer friendships quicker than a large group. Think of the difference between a trio and a choir of over 100 – perfect startup team’d expect the three bandmates to know each other, but many in the choir won’t know each other’s names. Starting with fewer employees gives a family feeling and helps build community.Lower financial risk – Sadly, not all startups will be successful. But a lean startup structure minimises any risk as perfect startup team will have less overheads due to the smaller headcount of employees.Ready for failure – The good thing is that even when things go wrong for lean startups, they’re prepared. The small team structure can be agile and adapt to unexpected changes so that perfect startup team can ride these ‘failures’ out and learn from mistakes.Experimentation is easier – Too many decision-makers can block creativity. In a startup, this is the last thing perfect startup team want. You need to be pro-risk and too many people’s opinions will hinder this. With a small team, perfect startup team can experiment and take risks.Greater accountability – Everyone in a small team needs to contribute, and perfect startup team’ll always know who’s done what. Because of this, everyone is encouraged to always do their very best. However, although there’s nowhere to hide, there’s still always room to try new things.7 TIPS TO BUILD YOUR STARTUP TEAMFounding a startup sounds great, doesn’t it? It won’t always be easy but it’ll be worth it – and with our 7 top tips to build the perfect startup team, perfect startup team can soon begin your journey.1 – Identify your weaknesses and find strengths with others. Use hiring as an opportunity to fill in the gaps that perfect startup team’re missing. The first step to success here is being honest with yourself with what perfect startup team can and can’t do.2 – Hire a variety of people. Get the mix right and perfect startup team’re already on the road to success. You want to have a breadth of skills, personalities and experience.3 – Keep your team size lean. Although perfect startup team’ll need a variety of people, perfect startup team’ll still want to start small and build up. You’ll expand in time but keep it natural with your business growth.4 – Look for those who believe in your vision. You need passion to create a successful startup and perfect startup team’ll want the team behind perfect startup team to be driving this.5 – Welcome experimenters and risk-takers. In order to generate creative ideas, perfect startup team need people who’ll disrupt the norm. You want reliable hard-workers, of course, but perfect startup team also need everyone who joins the team to know they shouldn’t be afraid to do the unexpected.6 – Build with the future in mind. Although perfect startup team want to build the perfect startup team, perfect startup team really want to build the perfect team overall. For now, perfect startup team should think small but perfect startup team also want to have a team who will grow with perfect startup team so make sure perfect startup team hire with a long term vision.7 – Find the perfect startup office. Location, location, location. Base yourself in the place where the talent pool has what perfect startup team’re looking for and perfect startup team’ll find recruitment easier.FIND THE RIGHT OFFICE FOR YOUR STARTUPFinding the perfect office space is something we can help perfect startup team with.If perfect startup team’re looking for startup office space in London, get in touch with us here at WorkPad. We offer flexible contracts that are ideal for your new business. With modern design-led serviced offices in some of the capital’s most in-demand locations, why wouldn’t perfect startup team want to start your adventure with us?We’ll provide perfect startup team with an extremely desirable working environment, super-fast fibre internet, IT support, and in-house maintenance and cleaning. You just need to bring the ideas – and the team. And, we hope we’ve given perfect startup team some inspiration for that too.How to Create a Stellar Startup Team: An Ultimate GuideIt is estimated that 90% of startups fail. Why? According to the Failory report, this happens due to the incompetence of startup founders, lack of goods and industry experience, as well as limited team experience and personal problems. Moreover, a study found that team-related problems might be responsible for 60% of new ventures failures.Basically, how well perfect startup team build a team as a primary founder can define the future success of your entire startup. But how to do that? How to build a winning startup team that not only wouldn’t sink your project but would also yield stunning results?In this guide, perfect startup team will find out:• What makes a successful startup team (Chapter 1)• What to do before perfect startup team set up a team (Chapter 2)• When to partner and when to hire (Chapter 3)• Who should join your team (Chapter 4)• Where and how to search for startup team members (Chapter 5)• What to avoid when creating a team (Chapter 6)• How creating a startup team looks like in real life (Chapter 7)Ready? Scroll down to find the answers to your questions!Chapter 1. What makes a successful startup team?Before we talk about how to create a successful startup team, let’s first define what this team actually is.Not long ago Harvard Business Review published results of a study which answered this question. Generally, it might be assumed that if:• team members had previously worked in other startups,• they have good knowledge of a product,• they possess necessary industry skillsthen their fortune is made. However, a study on 95 new startup crews in the Netherlands shows that startup success depends not only on the hard skills of the team members. In fact, it is all about the balance of hard and soft skills.Balancing hard and soft skillsResearchers define hard skills as team members experience while soft skills are about members’ passion and common vision. They found that while hard skills are important, they are not enough. They do enhance the crew’s resource pool and help identify better opportunities.However, considerable experience of team members will lead to a greater performance only if they have the same vision and goals. That’s why when gathering a startup team, perfect startup team will have to look not only for experienced and skillful members. You will have to search for people who share your vision and believe in the idea of your project.What else makes a team successful?There are two more things that will guarantee the success of your team – ability to work together and serve clients.1. Even if team members share the same vision but if their communication skills are poor, if they aren’t willing to resolve conflicts, prioritize collaboration over their egos, nothing will work out.2. Also, if team members are more focused on themselves or the work they do rather than on satisfying customers, the business will sink. Any entrepreneurship is meant for customers. Don’t have a startup for the sake of a startup but to serve people.Keep all this in mind before and when perfect startup team gather a team.Chapter 2. Before perfect startup team set up a teamYou can’t start gathering a stellar team from scratch if perfect startup team omit this step – increasing self-awareness. What is it about?Being self-aware means to:• know your hard skills and objectively evaluate them (what are perfect startup team good at? What do perfect startup team lack?)• understand your personality (are perfect startup team an action taker or a strategic and conceptual thinker? Are perfect startup team decisive or hesitant? etc.)• know your goal and vision and how perfect startup team would convince others to believe in themWhy is this important? Because the strength of your team starts from your strength, and your strength starts from your self-awareness. High self-awareness drives better team performance. It boosts decision-making, action coordination and conflict resolution.Think about who perfect startup team are, what perfect startup team want to do and why before perfect startup team leap onto the next stage – searching for co-founders.Chapter 3. When to partner and when to hire?It is an ever-lasting debate whether perfect startup team need co-founder(s) or not. Many would say perfect startup team do, but data shows – not necessarily. Most startups (over 50%) in fact have a single founder, while the average is 1.72 founders.You can be a single founder and later on hire specialists to do the work for perfect startup team. Or perfect startup team can partner up with one or several co-founders and keep your team small until whenever perfect startup team feel is right.But what is better for perfect startup team? How to know if perfect startup team need a co-founder(s) or perfect startup team can go alone? Find out below.How to know if perfect startup team need co-foundersThere’s nothing wrong in wanting to run your startup alone. There are high chances it will work out even like that. But if perfect startup team have doubts and still not sure if perfect startup team need co-founders, do this: identify what your business lacks, figure out what kind of skills perfect startup team are missing. It might be a specific process, skills, connections, anything. If there’s such a gap, perfect startup team need a co-founder(s).For example, perfect startup team’re working on a technological startup. You are very good at coding, but perfect startup team still feel your skills are limited due to the lack of practice in the niche of your startup (let’s say, a gaming app). Do perfect startup team need a co-founder? Absolutely! You need someone who would complement perfect startup team and be as dedicated as perfect startup team are in your business.Intel founders Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce come from different backgrounds. The former studied Chemistry while the latter Physics, and only together they gave birth to one of the most known technology companies in the world. They complemented each other, and that’s why it worked out.Partners vs employeesThis is another dilemma that many young startup leaders face – is it better to distribute the roles between co-founders or employees/through outsourcing? At any moment perfect startup team may need a lawyer, a graphic designer, marketing specialist, etc. So how to go about it?Consider these three things:1. Importance. Is the role essential for your startup? If yes, perfect startup team need a founding partner. If not, perfect startup team need to outsource or hire. For example, perfect startup team're opening an online shop. Having someone on the team with technical expertise will be essential while designing the website perfect startup team can outsource.2. Dedication. Will an employee invest as much of their time and effort as a co-founder would when perfect startup team think it’s important? If not, perfect startup team need a dedicated co-founder. Someone who would not rely on the office hours but the inner drive and belief in the project, and someone who will be ready to make crucial decisions.3. Time. If there are roles that perfect startup team need fulfilled at early stages of your startup, but perfect startup team aren’t ready to hire people or outsource (due to legal or financial issues), it’s better to have a co-founder(s). Later, when your startup has got its feet on the ground, perfect startup team can start hiring (it may happen in half a year after perfect startup team found it or in 2 years).Remember, there is no standard rule that applies to every startup. It’s up to perfect startup team, which path to choose – to go alone, find co-founders and how to distribute the roles. But if perfect startup team choose the most optimal option, perfect startup team will create a winning startup team.Chapter 4. Who to get in your team?Either perfect startup team want to go alone or have a team of co-founder partners, perfect startup team need to make sure these essential 6 roles are fulfilled. One person can fulfil several or all roles. If it’s perfect startup team – then perfect startup team can run a startup alone. If not – perfect startup team need a stellar startup team.The VisionaryIt’s a person who sets the vision for the company. It’s someone who knows what the world will look like when they get your product or service. It’s someone who thinks in concepts and can produce ideas which fit your goal. They mustn’t necessarily know how to implement, but it’s their job to think about new projects within your startup and deliver ideas comprehensively to others.The Action TakerAction taker, or operational leader, is someone who finds ways to implement things that the visionary is concerned about. It’s a person who is able to think strategically and is always practice-driven. Someone who knows how to respond to clients demands, as well as prevent issues before they take place. Action taker has a “get things done” attitude, is able to multitask and meet deadlines.The Team LeaderIf your startup has more than one founder, perfect startup team need a team leader. This person will be responsible for decision-making, consensus and compromise. Most likely, opinions within your team will divide, so perfect startup team need someone decisive to run the democratic processes within your team. It must be a great communicator and conflict manager.The Product/Service ExpertYour stellar startup team needs at least one person who knows everything about the product or service perfect startup team are working on. The expert is knowledgeable about internal processes of product development. This person is result-driven and works on resolving issues that your clients face.The Sales BeastMany startups sink because they don’t find ways to promote and sell their products and services. The sales beast is one of the crucial roles in your startup if your aim is growth. This person knows the latest conversion tactics, aspires to greatness, is a perfect communicator and is not afraid to fail.The Financial WizardTo succeed perfect startup team need a person who knows how to manage cash flows, plan your budget and make financial predictions. It’s someone who isn’t afraid of myriads of numbers, who will not let perfect startup team drown in debts and who will find ways for perfect startup team to make more profits. Accounting skills and strategic thinking are a must for this role.In brief, perfect startup team need as diverse a pool of members as possible, as people who can think differently are capable of coping with challenges in unconventional ways. And, most importantly, they should be able to find the common ground with each other. It will be your job as a leader to find people who would find it pleasing to work in a team with each other.Chapter 5. Where and how to search for startup team players?What is the best way to search for team members, either they are co-founders or early employees? There’s no one-fit-all option, so consider this:Check your personal networksPersonal networks are the best way for finding co-founders. Once perfect startup team know what kind of actors perfect startup team need in your team, start with someone perfect startup team already know – a school buddy, a university fellow, a former colleague, a former business partner or simply a friend.Usually, perfect startup team know what kind of people those from your network are, perfect startup team may have worked with them on some projects already, have mutual respect and trust. Talk to them and see if they buy your startup idea.Scout and networkThis approach will suit better for hiring your initial employees. You need to know the roles and responsibilities perfect startup team need fulfilled, then hire for merit, talent and skills. Go to tradeshows and university career fairs, talk to people in various professional associations if perfect startup team are a member of one, consider hiring someone from your co-founders’ previous projects/workplaces if they had one.Tell them about your startup, ignite them, and hire those who are smarter than perfect startup team because at the end of the day they will implement your ideas.Go for LinkedIn and Facebook87% and 55% of recruiters use LinkedIn and Facebook respectively. Try them too if perfect startup team want to hire people effectively. For this, perfect startup team will need to spend quite a lot of time, as online recruiting requires constant communication. If this is not an option for perfect startup team, consider the next one.Get a recruiterHiring a recruiter will cost perfect startup team money, but it is a great investment for two reasons. First, perfect startup team will save your time and use it more effectively on the startup itself. Second, perfect startup team will stop hiring wrong people. Professional recruiters know how and where to search for the best fitting people, and this is crucial for a startup which cannot afford to fail.How to detect the stars?If perfect startup team decide to look for team members on your own, do these three things:1. During the interview, ask potential candidates about their background and how they coped with specific challenges at previous workplaces.2. Give preference to problem solvers and people with a high level of resilience and persistence. Most startups fail, it’s not an easy thing to handle. You need fighters on your board.3. Ask yourself: 1) Do they share your startup values and culture? 2) Do they possess the right skills for your startup? This is not only about hard skills. In fact, people can get trained easily, but perfect startup team cannot change their attitude. So, it’s more about soft skills like having a pro-active, problem-solving and customer-satisfying mindset. If the answer to both these questions is yes, then perfect startup team have detected the stars.Chapter 6. What to avoid when creating a startup teamWhen getting people on board, perfect startup team can make mistakes, especially when perfect startup team’re inexperienced. Here are the don’ts of creating a startup team:Don’t hire people who have no specific skills and are so-called “generalists”. If a person cannot do anything specific, they will be all over the place and not helping perfect startup team achieve your goals.Don’t get impressed by the title of a person, instead ask them practical questions and see if they fit your experience.Don’t involve unambitious people who don’t know what they want and what they will do in the next 5 years. You need dedicated people who would be excited about their work in a startup.Don’t involve people who are miles away from perfect startup team. You may have some people working remotely, but with core actors perfect startup team will need to work side by side daily, so distance may be your enemy, at least at the early stages of the startup.Don’t underestimate communication. Talk to your people every day, and not only via email. You need live interaction. If perfect startup team can’t meet in person, use conference calls in Skype, Zoom, Teams or so.Don’t compromise. If something is wrong, speak it out. It’s better to hire slow and fire fast than make the entire team and startup suffer because of one person.Chapter 7. Real life startup team building storiesÁkos Deliága, Talk-A-BotTalk-A-Bot is a Hungarian company, which creates integrated chatbots for enterprises like banks and insurance companies. It started as a student project. Ákos Deliága, one of Talk-A-Bot’s four founders, came up with the idea during his MBA at CEU.In 2019, Talk-A-Bot graduated from CEU iLab and was awarded the Badge of Excellence as it collected over 570,000 euros revenue in one year and created 30+ jobs. Here’s how Ákos gathered a stellar team and how Talk-A-Bot grew from a student project to a growing startup.Gathering a stellar startup teamÁkos told us that initially he had to present the project at one of the courses. He teamed up with some of his classmates. One of them was Gergely Kalydi, who later became the co-founder, responsible for operations.I knew that we needed more co-founder partners. So, I was looking around in my network to see who else could be there. I'm an IT engineer by profession, but I'm more into business. I'm not really a technical co-founder. I knew that we needed a strong technical basis. Gergely is a technical co-founder, and I wanted to find one more with a different personality. So, I was looking for the right match in the personality.This match was Tamás Szálka, who became the startup’s Chief Technology Officer, and with whom Ákos always wanted to have business together.He [Tamás] had his own company with developers. We knew each other for years, through friends and personal network. And we were talking for years about doing some business together. We had this intention to work together beyond the friendship.Talk-A-Bot had three people in a team – a business developer and two technical experts. Ákos thought this wasn’t enough – a fourth person was needed. László Papp, a marketing expert became one of the four founders. Ákos explains why:This was important because ultimately chatbot is a communication channel. Many brands want to use it for marketing purposes to communicate with their customers. I thought that marketing is important.Lesson: Thus, Ákos created a startup team using his personal network only, created roles based on the needs of a startup and distributed them based on people’s personalities and expertise.ExperienceAlthough Talk-A-Bot started as a student project, all of its team members were experienced professionals.People imagine startups as some young guys out of university, but actually the more successful ones consist of more experienced people. We had 10-20 years of experience per head.Ákos shared that while he had corporate work experience, other co-founders were entrepreneurs, running local small and medium-size businesses.Lesson: It’s easier to run a startup when most co-founders have prior work and entrepreneurial experience.Symmetry is a beautiful thing. Things that are symmetrical exist in perfect harmony. Each part is proportional, equal and inseparable. No part is greater or better than the other parts. Such perfect balance exists in nature, but is difficult to replicate within man-made organizations led by ego-driven human beings with a need for power and control. This is one reason why upstarts can topple the mightiest of companies.Some of the best companies were started and built as a result of good team symmetry: Annheuser – Busch, Hewlett – Packard, Microsoft (Gates – Allen), Apple (Jobs – Wozniak), Google (Page – Brin), Mattel (Matson – Handler)…and the list goes on. In most cases, team symmetry was probably a fortuitous accident at the start, but building and succeeding was more likely by design. A startup’s first key hires will likely make or break a company: Microsoft (Ballmer), Apple (Markkula), Amazon (Kaphan), Google (Silverstein), Uber (Graves)…and the list goes on.What does ideal startup team symmetry look like?Not many studies have been done on startup team development. I am certainly not an organizational expert, but in my humble view, ideal startup team symmetry is a hexagon – it has six sides. Like a honeycomb, it has the smallest total perimeter. It has no gaps. It wastes no time or energy, and it produces the maximum amount of “honey.” A company may start with one founder (circle), two founders (semi-circle), or three founders (triangle), but it must eventually evolve into a six-sided symmetrical entity in order to maximize its chances for survival and success.We can argue about what titles to give each side. Titles are not all that important, but defined roles and responsibilities are essential to startup success. I will argue the six essential roles are vision/leadership, finance, product (tech),operations, marketing, and sales.Most startups try to lump finance and operations together into one role. They almost always try to lump marketing and sales together into one role. This is a mistake in my view. That structure creates a four-sided organization…a square. Squares are symmetrical and easier to create. Some may argue they are even more efficient than hexagons. The problem with squares is that they tend to become rectangles, with two sides becoming longer (more important) than the other two sides. This is how empire-building and team dysfunction happen.Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – perfect startup team are the keeper of the vision and creator of the culture. You can clearly articulate the big vision and what it will take to achieve it. You are the leader, the face and voice of the company. You are in charge of everything and perfect startup team hold yourself and everyone else accountable. You keep everyone aligned and moving towards the same vision. You attract and incentivize the leaders of the other five sides of the honeycomb. You prevent empire-building and team dysfunction. You attract the investors, key partnerships and other external resources needed to grow and succeed. You have the courage to make the tough decisions; change direction and people if it’s necessary for survival or growth. You never let the company get off mission or lose the will to fight.Chief Financial Officer (CFO) – perfect startup team are the keeper of the honey, where it is coming from and where it is going. You make sure that not even an ounce is wasted. You know the company revenue model better than the back of your hand. You institute good financial systems and controls. You make the other five sides of the honeycomb justify and defend their budgets. You regulate inventories and anticipate future financial needs. You take corrective action the instant things don’t look right…the minute the company is off plan. You have creative ways of stretching a dollar and extracting the best terms from vendors. You make sure the CEO and other four C’s know exactly where the company stands at all times.Chief Technology (or Product) Officer (CTO) – perfect startup team are the master of the magic, the reason the company exists. You work closely with the CMO and CSO to stay on top of customer requirements and expectations. You are ruthless about the product development and release schedule. You avoid feature creep and insist that what ships “just works” and scales across the entire platform. You are a student of UX/UI design, product management and quality assurance. You embrace and appreciate their roles in the product development process. You use the product every day and continually test it against competitive products. You understand everything about how every product in the category works.Chief Operating Officer (COO) – perfect startup team are an organizational and logistical genius. You are the consummate “inside” guy or gal; “Execution” is your middle name. You keep all the moving pieces operating like a fine Swiss watch: the facilities, the equipment and tools, HR and team support systems. The other five C’s are your customers. You see to it that they have everything they need to do their jobs. You are often a mentor/coach/confidant to the other C’s and key hires. You are the CEO when the CEO is away from the office. You execute strategies, perfect startup team are the change agent when change is needed, and perfect startup team are an exceptional communicator both up and down within the organization.Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) – perfect startup team are the channeler and the voice of the customer. You know the customer better than they know themselves. You live with them, understand their wants, needs, fears, habits and motivations. You know exactly how your company’s products appeal to them. You know what they read, watch and listen to – who and what influences their decisions. You reach them there and tease them; entice them to consider your company’s products. You are a master story-teller. Customers and influencers fall in love with your company and products because the stories that perfect startup team craft around them are so engaging. The CSO is your biggest fan because perfect startup team make his or her job so easy.Chief Sales (or Revenue) Officer (CSO) – perfect startup team are a natural born closer. You live for the deal. You are the engine of the company. No engine, i.e., sales and revenue, no company. You love this pressure, it drives perfect startup team. You understand marketing – probably held the title Director or VP of Sales & Marketing before, but perfect startup team know there are important differences between these two roles. You would prefer to let marketing create prospects for your product, while perfect startup team focus on turning those prospects into long-term satisfied customers. You believe your best source of revenue are existing customers, so perfect startup team focus as much on enhancing those relationships as perfect startup team do on establishing new ones.Naturally, each of these leaders should know how to hire their teams, build out and manage the part of the organization they are responsible for. In summary, the quicker perfect startup team evolve beyond the simple symmetry of yourself and/or your co-founder(s) to a stronger and more efficient symmetrical structure, the better your chances of survival and success!First of all, hiring for a startup often times means hiring for the first time. It could be that the company is a one-man show that has reached the point where one person can’t do everything on their own. This is when the company is ready to transition from one multitasker to a team. It could also be that the company has a small group of co-founders who are ready to grow. In either scenario, hiring with little to no experience in the recruitment field can be very challenging.There are several steps that need to be taken to complete a successful hire, such as creating job descriptions, determining which recruitment methods to use, creating a talent acquisition and retention strategy, determining salary and compensation packages, etc. All of these steps can be hard to crack when a company is still in infancy.Second of all, entrepreneurs and startups have very specific talent requirements. When a company is still in the kick-off phase, it requires the type of talents who are:• Malleable and can easily multitask• Flexible and are able to adjust to constant change• Entrepreneurs by nature and have the passion for new businessesBecause smaller companies are always changing, growing, restructuring, and experimenting, they require employees who have the ability to adjust and grow along with the company. At the same time, they also require employees who are fond of the idea of startups and have the determination and the passion to see their companies excel. In a sense, entrepreneurs hire (aspiring) entrepreneurs, and that’s not always easy to come by.Third of all, the fact that smaller businesses and entrepreneurs do not have the time and the resources to dedicate for talent scouting and screening poses another dilemma. In-house resources for startups are often limited and tied up to other functions of the business. The process of searching, screening, shortlisting, interviewing, assessing, and hiring candidates can be quite time-consuming and demanding. Startups may simply lack that time.Sourcing, screening, and shortlisting startup talentTo address these challenges, companies of all sizes, industries, and locations are putting recruitment technology to use and making great strides. In fact, over three-quarters (76%) of respondents to the The Middle East's Leading Job Site - Bayt.com Hiring Practices in the Middle East and North Africa Survey report that online recruitment has facilitated the process of hiring talent in the region.Without doubt, technology can do wonders even in the fields of recruitment and talent management. Startups are making use of a multitude of tools that include the classic and highly effective job postings tool, in which they are able to provide detailed job descriptions; set up automatic filters and screening questionnaires; and segment their applicants based on the specific needs they have for their business.Other startups are using a highly powerful CV search technology, which affords them access to millions of quality candidates at a click of a button. Along with this, a multitude of tools and features, such as the ability to pre-set filters, save CVs in customized folders, and use boolean and advanced search functions, is making it much easier and more efficient for companies to quickly find their talent needs.When companies are in a real pinch and they just need to quickly hire high-caliber talent, they can complement such technologies with a talent sourcing service, such as Source2Hire from The Middle East's Leading Job Site - Bayt.com. This service provides a shortlist of candidates who are qualified, interested, and available to start the job. This way startups with limited resources can focus on other critical functions in their business and only get involved in the interview and hiring steps.The point is, numerous tools and technologies are available for startups across the Middle East and North Africa to put to use and effectively hire talent. Hiring nowadays does not need to be a complicated process or an extra burden for companies.Interviewing startup talentAt this point, conducting a job interview can seem quite simple: use the shortlist of candidates, meet them, ask them questions, and compare them with other applicants. But how can perfect startup team guarantee that a good interviewee will translate into a good employee for your startup? The cost of a bad hire is very high. Keeping aside salary expenses, the cost of training, customer complaints, and hiring replacements that keep adding up in the long run.To prevent this from happening, here are the five things perfect startup team should look for when interviewing candidates for your startup:1. A passion and a dream similar to yoursStatistically speaking, most startups have funding issues and could ultimately fail. In order to succeed, startup founders need overachievers on their team who will agree to put in 200% and be fully dedicated to the company. Ideally, perfect startup team need people who believe in your vision and are passionate enough to want to help transform this vision into a reality. In the Middle East, five in 10 professionals would want to work for a company where they feel their work is part of a greater purpose, as revealed in the The Middle East's Leading Job Site - Bayt.com What Makes a Company an Attractive Place to Work? poll. So “passion” is already a common point of interest with many job seekers out there.The best test during the job interview is to ask candidates to speak about something they are passionate about and see if their passion aligns with yours. You could also ask them how they have pursued their passion up to this point in time and how they plan to keep pursuing it when they join your company.2. The skillsets perfect startup team vitally needWith a naturally small team, perfect startup team have to hire people who are, one, multiskilled and, two, skilled at something your team lacks and needs critically. You should already have an overview of their skills from their CV and application, but perfect startup team can always ask them to elaborate during the interview.To verify their skills, look for past achievements; areas where they have used these skills to benefit a previous employer. It also wouldn’t hurt to test them on these skills, as evaluating someone in action is much different than hearing them talk about it. This way, perfect startup team will avoid hiring someone who appears to be confident and skilled but, in reality, isn’t as competent as they claim to be.3. FlexibilityStartup founders don’t usually follow a structured process in their work as they’re probably still figuring it out themselves. They often change their initial assumptions about the market as they learn more about their customers and the industry in which they operate. On top of that, they are simply much more susceptible to change as they introduce new products and experiment with different tools and strategies. As a result, their business model could also be frequently altered to suit these changes.As a growing startup, perfect startup team’ll want to look for flexible people who are comfortable with change, are willing to adjust their workload and habits, can focus on implementing new processes without getting distracted, and are ready to learn from their failures.4. An entrepreneurial spiritStartups are risky and perfect startup team need to gauge whether your candidate is brave enough to take the leap of faith in your business. Their entrepreneurial spirit can be associated with their willingness to bring new and innovative ideas to the table.Along with this, your employees would need to have a sense of ownership towards the business by being as passionate as perfect startup team are to solve problems, develop your products and offerings, and see every project or task they handle through completion.During the interview process, perfect startup team could assess this area by giving the candidate a series of hypothetical (but relevant) situations and see how they would tackle them while maintaining an eye on your business objectives and vision.5. Curiosity and a willingness to learnDedicate some time at the end of the interview for candidates to ask perfect startup team questions. This is a good time to judge how well the candidate knows your startup and how interested they are in learning more– not just receiving information and instructions.Apart from this, having a curious mind is an extremely important quality in a fresh company. This is because everything is new and everyone is experimenting and learning on-the-go. The more intelligent and thought-provoking the candidate’s questions are, the more perfect startup team should consider hiring them.The perfect startup leadership team is different for each company. However, there are a few universal truths that are critical for any startup team that wants to be high performing. Consider these 5 things that the best leadership teams strive to do:1. Get an A player in each roleWhile some teams may be more engineering focused while others will be sales heavy, a universal need is having an A player in each functional leadership position (i.e. VP Marketing, VP Engineering, etc). Each of those people will be responsible for filling out their individual teams with other A players that work effectively together.2. Hire player-coachesStartup leaders need to be able to do the work themselves, and also manage a team and guide them towards success. A person that can do all of that well is often referred to as a “player-coach.” For example, when perfect startup team are first launching your sales team, perfect startup team need a VP Sales who can get in there and close a deal while also writing the sales playbook and recruiting great sales reps.3. Be biased towards tactical skillsA frequent mistake in startup management teams is hiring leaders who were successful at big companies when there were lots of resources surrounding them. However, when they get thrown into a startup and have to do everything themselves, they flounder. Hire people that can actually do the tactical stuff perfect startup team need, not just talk about doing it or hiring other people to do it.4. Communicate frequentlyA perfect startup management team stays in sync. On my team, we do a weekly executive meeting and written updates to ensure we’re aligned and accountable for our top objectives. We don’t sweep issues under the rug and use our meetings to have discussion, debate and make decisions.5. Stay humbleEffective startup leadership teams are humble. You recognize that your strategy is a best guess, and perfect startup team are open to making frequent adjustments. When a team becomes arrogant and they assume they know everything, they are opening up failure points for a better run competitor to come in and displace them.There is one question most owners/ founder need answers for when trying to build a startup: “how to build that perfect team?” There is no guaranteed universal solution for building the perfect startup team because all businesses are based on people.A great team can make or break your business. That’s a lot of pressure put on us as business owners and entrepreneurs!Here are four tips to help perfect startup team build a perfect business or startup.1. Create a standard in measuring cultural fit: There isn’t a magic formula here, since there is no hard rules for hiring startup talent. Plus, it doesn’t hold in most corporate systems.What are your values? Goals? Methods?These are the things that perfect startup team have either thought about or quickly should because they are all essential elements in defining a company’s culture.Your culture will be unique to your team, and will dictate the way perfect startup team envision and plan for the future, communicate with each other, the amount of freedom within the company, and all the other details that make your company different and employee & client friendly.2. Find your Team: Before perfect startup team check for a culture fit, look for people with the technical skills perfect startup team need and who are willing to work. Depending on your company, perfect startup team may need a mix of engineers, marketing people, designers, developers, customer care executives, managers, and more. It’s important to identify the specific roles perfect startup team need to fill, and the skills that are require.Whilst there is no fail-proof formula that allows perfect startup team to easily distinguish between people who should vs. should not make up your start-up team, it nevertheless remains true that perfect startup team must ultimately choose the right people if your company is to be a success. Best option would be to outsource your position, which will save your money, time and reduce your risk to hire a permanent employee.Codifier Technologies can be a best fit for all your outsourcing needs. At Codifier, we are able to provide our clients with talented developers for hire on a long-term basis as a dedicated resource. These dedicated resources will work out off our offshore low cost environments and provide our clients with round the clock support, performing and functioning as a virtual extension of our client’s in-house technical team.The services we offer for outsourcing: Please have a look3. Check for Culture Fit: Although it should be obvious, it’s worth emphasizing: expertise shouldn’t be your only deciding factor when choosing a person for your team.Make sure each person perfect startup team choose for your team fits the culture that perfect startup team identified earlier. Take a close look at how they communicate, what type of personality they are, or even how they respond to unexpected questions. You want to find out how they work, what types of people they like to work with, and how they react. Check to see if they share your company’s values, see if their personal goals would fit in well with your goals for the company.Remember that a good cultural fit doesn’t mean that perfect startup team found a new best friend to work with; it just means that there will be a good harmony in moving the company forward. Cultural fit also doesn’t mean that every person on your team is the same- diversity is an asset. But perfect startup team do need cultural fit to succeed.4. Acknowledge Strengths and Weaknesses of your employees: Be aware that every winning team has weaknesses as well as strengths. The same goes for every individual person. If perfect startup team only search for people with all strengths and no weaknesses, perfect startup team’ll either come out disappointed and without a team, or with a team full of large egos- neither of which will help perfect startup team and your company succeed. Instead, acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of your team, and think about how the different combinations of skills will help your team win.What are the key startup roles and responsibilities? How to correctly set up your tech startup development team? What is the right startup organizational structure for its development team? If perfect startup team’re asking these or similar questions perfect startup team’ve come to the right place. In this detailed article, we will present and analyze an ideal startup team structure and explain how to successfully build such a team.Organization structure for startups is vital for success. This is even more so when it comes to the development team which is an inseparable part of any tech startup. An incorrect structure may lead to miscommunication, decreased productivity and disrupted workflow.For this reason, it is important to take one’s time to diligently and carefully design the most effective startup org structure. Below we will present our proposed ideal structure of a development team for a tech startup.Ideal Tech Startup Organizational StructureIn our view, there are two most important roles in a startup company – Chief Executive Officer or founders and the Chief Technology Officer. These two key roles in a startup are at the top of our structure and have two distinct areas of responsibility. The CEO is responsible for:Marketing & salesLegal stuffHRGeneral managementSupervising and communicating with the CTOThe CTO, in turn, (at least in our case) supervises four mini-teams, namely:UX teamBackend teamDevOps teamQA teamTherefore, the development team is broken down into four mini-teams each with its distinct areas of responsibility. We’re going to analyze each of these teams, startup roles, and titles in detail below.UX TeamUser experience team is an essential part of almost any startup. It is responsible for creating the best possible experience for users through smart & aesthetic design and front-end development. It also cooperates with other mini-teams to achieve the set goals. In our proposed model, the UX team includes the following startup team members:UX researcherUX designerFrontend developersTeam leaderSome people may not be well familiar with the UX researcher role and not understand what it implies and why it is necessary at all. After all, is not having a great UX designer enough? Successful cases such as Airbnb and Google (which hire UX researchers) prove that UX research is vital for great user experience and product success. Therefore, hiring talented UX researchers may greatly contribute to your startup success. However, the question remains: what does a UX researcher do?A UX researcher analyzes user behavior and draws corresponding conclusions and provides valuable insights based on that behavior. These insights allow the rest of UX team to implement effective and successful UX design which users absolutely love.In our model, a UX researcher provides the needed insights to help the UX designer create the right mockups and designs based on the information provided by the UX researchers. These two, in turn, work with the front-end developers who use those insights and designs to build the front-end. Finally, the team leader manages them all and coordinates all collaboration within the UX team.Backend TeamPretty much everyone in the tech world understands what a backend team is and what it does. This team is the most important one in the entire development department. It is responsible for the core of the application being built and app logic interacting with cloud services as well as the backend’s interaction with the front-end through API Endpoints. Our proposed backend team structure is the following:Team leadMiddle stack developersBackend engineersThe team lead manages backend developers and coordinates the collaboration and workflow. Some readers might question why we included middle stack developers. We believe that this will help improve the connection between frontend and backend i.e. the middle stack developers will serve as the missing link between the two ends. This will allow both front-end and back-end developers to focus on their core work without having to worry about that middle layer and bother with API Endpoints, etc.DevOps TeamThe key responsibility of the DevOps team is cloud infrastructure management. They are responsible for adding new code to the repository before deployment of each new version and diligently testing the new code. Fast time-to-market and perfect user experience are the major objectives of the DevOps team. We propose the following DevOps team structure:Team leadCloud architectSite reliability engineerSystem administratorThe lead manages the DevOps team, assigns tasks and responsibilities within the team, and controls the workflow. The cloud architect is responsible for building and managing cloud infrastructure. The SRE specialist ensures stable and uninterrupted performance of the apps and systems. The system administrator is responsible for cloud monitoring and support.QA TeamThe quality assurance team is responsible for testing the application being built to ensure the absence of any bugs, errors and stable & efficient performance. As such, it includes the following stakeholders:QA LeadQA AnalystTestersThe QA lead manages and supervises the QA team. He or she sets quality metrics & standards for quality assurance of the product being built and ensures that those standards are met. The QA lead ensures that all queries are resolved on time. Other responsibilities include defining testing strategies, scheduling and assigning tasks among many other things.The QA analyst creates, manages and executes test plans for both manual and automatic testing. He or she produces the required documentation at all stages of testing and designs test suites. Finally, the testers do just that – execute and run tests. They review and analyze system specifications, execute test scripts, review results, and report to the analyst and QA lead.Having reviewed our proposed structure of an ideal development team for a tech startup, let’s talk about how to build such a team for your project or company.How to Form a Team for a Startup?Finding the right people for your development team is not always an easy task. Basically, perfect startup team have a few options here:Full in-house teamPartial outsourcing/staff augmentationComplete outsourcing/dedicated development teamWhich option is best for perfect startup team depends on your priorities, goals and specific circumstances. Let’s analyze each of these options in detail.Full In-House TeamOne of the classical options is to build a complete in-house team of local developers. At first, it seems like the most reasonable option as perfect startup team have direct control and it’s easy to manage the team.However, it also creates specific disadvantages such as higher development and operational costs. First, if your startup is based in the Silicon Valley or even anywhere in the US, Canada, UK or some other developed country, then developer salaries are likely to be quite high compared to the rest of the world.Having full-time employees also creates additional costs such as payroll taxes, employee benefits, etc. Furthermore, don’t forget about operational costs such as office space, equipment, etc. In the end, all of these expenditures can significantly add up to your overall costs.Therefore, although a full in-house team may be the best option in many cases, it’s likely to be the most expensive option for startups.Partial OutsourcingA very popular option among startups is to combine an in-house team with partial outsourcing or remote developers. In the case of outsourcing, a startup selects a certain area of work which it outsources to an offshore software development company. The latter does all the work including management of the project. The startup simply provides technical specifications and requirements.As for the second option, remote developers, a startup selects specific full-time positions which it finds remote employees for. It turns to a staffing company which finds and recruits the needed remote developers for the startup.The new remote employees become a part of the team but work at the staffing company’s office. The latter serves as the official employer of the remote developers and fulfills its obligations as an employer such as salary, paying taxes, providing various employee benefits, etc. With this model, perfect startup team can hire multiple remote developers and organize them into dedicated development teams.Many Silicon Valley startups use remote developers. They hire full-time remote developers with the help of IT staff augmentation companies. If perfect startup team’d like to learn more about the difference between IT staff augmentation and managed IT services (outsourcing) check our other article, Managed IT Services vs. IT Staff Augmentation: A Detailed Comparison.Complete Outsourcing or a Dedicated Development TeamFinally, some entrepreneurs may want to try complete outsourcing and abstain from in-house development. Another option is to hire a dedicated software development team. Unlike partial staff augmentation when one hires remote developers for a few select positions, a dedicated team can take on all the development work. This team is almost identical to your in-house team except they are based abroad and work at the staffing company’s office. Such a model usually provides significant cost savings.Finally, let’s also review some crucial tips for building your development team.Top Tips for Building a Tech Startup TeamHere are the key startup hiring tips perfect startup team need to take into account when building your development team:Find a great CTOHire when perfect startup team can afford itSeek culture fitOffer great terms and conditionsSearch for potential, not just experienceLet’s see why each of these tips is worth considering.Find a Great CTOFinding a great CTO is really the most important tip for successfully hiring the rest of the development team. He or she has the necessary expertise and experience to find and recruit the right people. Therefore, with a great CTO, the rest of the hiring process becomes much easier.Hire Only the People You Need and When You Can Afford ItMany startups commit two serious hiring mistakes: a) they hire people they don’t need; b) they hire them even though they can’t afford it. Therefore, ensure that this new position perfect startup team have is really something your company can’t survive without. Also, don’t open it unless perfect startup team have sufficient funds to finance the position for at least a year.Seek Culture FitWe assume perfect startup team clearly understand your startup’s values and culture. It is important to ensure that all employees perfectly fit this culture. They must have the same values, beliefs, attitudes, etc. Otherwise, this may negatively affect the work culture and atmosphere within the company.Offer Great Terms and ConditionsLet’s be honest, many startups can’t offer the same compensation as established businesses, at least in the beginning. Therefore, the only way to successfully attract talent is to offer better working terms. This may include a flexible working schedule, stock options, bonuses of all kinds, free food in the office, etc.Search for Potential, Not Just ExperienceLet us just clarify one thing: the absence of experience is not the absence of potential. Someone with no or little experience may possess great potential. However, perfect startup team look at his or her empty CV and automatically assume that this person is not a good fit because he or she does not have sufficient experience.While in some cases, this may be correct, perfect startup team should also consider if this person has potential. Sometimes hiring someone with no experience but with huge potential may prove a great decision, especially for startups.In this module perfect startup team will take the key insights on building a great team. it’s the founding team that determines the success or failureThe ‘Start your business’ course is aimed at founders who are in the phase of developing ideas and testing product-market fit.The first module focuses on how to build a great team, the second module on the environment perfect startup team operate in and the third module discusses the importance of knowing your target market.Each module has a number of learning resources, which include:Theoretical breakdowns where concepts are introduced – relevant to the African contextVideos of leading business professionals, entrepreneurs and investors, sharing expert adviceQuizzes where perfect startup team’ll be challenged to apply what perfect startup team have learntUseful downloadable templates and documentsFinding a co-founderIntroduction: Finding a co-founderWhy startup founders should build a strong teamThe importance of having a co-founderThe risk of setting up a startup on your ownQuizInvestor expectations around co-foundersIntroduction: Investor expectations around co-foundersPersonality characteristics of the perfect startup founderBuilding a great teamHow investors assess the teamQuizStructuring relations with your co-founderIntroduction: Structuring relations with your co-founderSigning contracts with co-foundersThe shift founders have to make when they are growing a companyCalculator Founder Equity (Excel)QuizBeyond salary: Remuneration optionsIntroduction: Remuneration optionsHow to retain talent in a startupHow to attract and develop talent within a startupNo ‘silver bullet’ to develop human talent in a startup teamQuizBuilding a complementary teamIntroduction: Building a complementary teamTips on how to build a great startup teamWhat makes a great startup teamHow to prepare your startup for successQuizWhen it comes to building a great startup team, perfect startup team need access to the right talent. And for that, there’s no one better to guide perfect startup team than Max Shapiro, the founder of PeopleConnect. Max launched PeopleConnect in 2000 to help early-stage high-tech companies connect with the right talent they needed to take their startup to the next level. Today, PeopleConnect’s clients are in technology, biotech, cleantech, apps, services, medical devices and consumer products.We recently had the opportunity to interview Max on what he thinks are the key methods to building a great startup team, and here’s what he revealed to us:Building Your TeamIt may sound simplistic from the outset, but great people truly are the lifeblood of a company. They are, without a doubt, the most important and strongest asset. When talking with venture capitalists, the number one risk factor that they mention is the team. You’ve got to have people who are the smartest people in the room; even smarter than perfect startup team. You want people who are team players, but the most important factor is that they are specialized and smart in areas where perfect startup team are not.These are the people who have the drive of a winner. There are going to be people who come to perfect startup team and they’ve failed. They’ve got a few bumps, bruises and blemishes, but they get back up again. Look at Steve Jobs, who was fired from the company he founded, and see how he was able to rebound and transform Apple into the brand we all know and love. People like him have had their share of upsets, but they still want to give it their best.So with that being said, what do perfect startup team look for when screening candidates to join your team?Screening CandidatesOf course perfect startup team want people on your team who are incredibly bright and ambitious. But they must also be a great cultural fit. They need to be able to adapt and blend in with your company culture and the way perfect startup team do things, otherwise perfect startup team’ll face resistance and friction at every step.You’ve also got to be able to “read’ people subjectively. Hiring people for your startup team is a lot like dating. If perfect startup team’re getting along with someone, but there are a couple of things that perfect startup team really don’t like about them or that get on your nerves, perfect startup team’re probably either going to have to break it off or get used to it, because people rarely change.Of course, by that same token, perfect startup team don’t want an ideal candidate to slog through spreadsheet or go through a bunch of hoops just for policy reasons. If perfect startup team like them, they’re excited and talented and it’s a good fit — go for it. Don’t let policy hold perfect startup team back.The Recruiting ProcessThe actual recruiting process is a bit more formal. First, perfect startup team’ll need to have a structured recruitment process in place. This ensures that not only is everyone treated the same way, but it also gives perfect startup team the opportunity to see everyone on a level playing field. They’re going to be talking amongst each other and judging perfect startup team as well, in terms of fairness and equality of your hiring practices, so be aware that recruitment is very much a two-way street.The one thing perfect startup team want to avoid is skipping the interview process entirely, no matter how much perfect startup team might like the person and find that they’re a seemingly perfect fit. Otherwise, perfect startup team’re setting yourself up to face some glaring issues down the line.Remember: hire slow and fire fast!Take the time to see how this person gets along with other members of the team, other departments, your board, and so on. Let them hang out and get to know each other casually, like over lunch, to see how things are going.Likewise, if it’s just not working out and perfect startup team’ve given them ample time to correct their mistakes, let them go. They’re not doing perfect startup team any favors by staying and perfect startup team’re not doing them any favors by keeping them when they obviously don’t belong.It’s also important to balance quality with quantity when it comes to reviewing your potential candidates. Don’t be afraid to set the bar high when it comes to reviewing resumes so perfect startup team aren’t wasting time with average people. Have different engineers go through a series of engineering questions so perfect startup team can see that they do indeed know what they’re doing.The Interview Process: Questions to AskYou want to ask questions like “are perfect startup team a team player?” and “why do perfect startup team feel perfect startup team’re a fit for this position?” but also throw some out-of-the-box questions their way too, such as “what experience did perfect startup team have before perfect startup team were 12 that impacted your life?” or “what have perfect startup team done to improve your knowledge in the past year?”These questions are designed to really give the person a chance to be introspective about their life and clarify where they want to go, not just in terms of being with your company, but five or ten or twenty years from now. Other great questions can include “what work are perfect startup team most passionate about in your current role that perfect startup team want to continue into the next one?” Find out what drives them and how they hope to continue making an impact. Even more out of the box, “tell me five words that best describe perfect startup team.” What words would they use to describe themselves? You can learn a great deal about how a person views themselves and how they fit into the overall vision perfect startup team have for your company, by the way they answer these kinds of questions.Sell Your Company!Not literally, of course, but it’s important to remember that the candidate is evaluating perfect startup team as much as perfect startup team are them. That’s why perfect startup team have to show your passion and the challenges perfect startup team’re facing. If perfect startup team tell a candidate that everything’s fine and rosy, first of all, they won’t believe perfect startup team and second of all, they won’t feel challenged and therefore, there’s no reason for them to put in a 60 to 70 hour week helping perfect startup team to grow your dream. You’ve got to pitch your company to them just as perfect startup team would pitch it to an angel investor!What Happens After You Make an Offer?Even once perfect startup team’ve made the job offer, your job still isn’t done. You have to continue to convince this incredibly bright, talented, motivated person that your company is the one they deserve to be at. Don’t hesitate to back this up with all of the tools perfect startup team have at your disposal. That means asking your investors to take calls with the candidates, asking mutual connections to “backchannel” them and hype up your company, and otherwise make it clear that this is the place they should be.If perfect startup team have any doubts, perfect startup team can always start that person out in a contract position until perfect startup team are ready to make a decision.Build Your Dream TeamThe bottom line when it comes to building a great startup team is that it’s not done overnight. It’s done carefully and methodically, but also done in such a way that everyone can be involved. The people who are right for the job and for whom the job is a great fit will naturally float to the top and be easy to spot.It’s then up to perfect startup team and other leaders in your company to further shape and refine them into a better version of themselves that continues to nurture the startup’s vision until it grows roots and can continue to sustain itself, as well as grow and thrive.ConclusionThe right team structure is essential for startup success. Correctly delegating essential roles in a startup is a must, especially within the development team. In this article, we proposed and described our own startup organizational structure. First, we suggested that the CEO manages marketing & sales, legal, HR, and other non-tech areas. The CTO, in turn, should manage four mini-teams: UX team, backend team, DevOps and QA teams.Finally, we described the best options for building a development team for a startup and provided the best startup hiring tips. If perfect startup team’re looking to hire remote dedicated software developers for your company then get in touch with CyberCraft today – fill out the form below and receive a free consultation with a detailed estimate!

I’ve dabbled around with countless traffic sources, which include but are not limited to Social Media, SEO, FB Ads, Adwords, BuySellAds, PPV, CPA, Solo Ads… you get the point.Not all traffic is equal. I have had many failed campaigns, many successful campaigns, and I’ve come to realize that some traffic sources are just not worth it.Of course, it’s not just about the traffic. Your landing page matters. Your offer matters. Copywriting, trust, and proof matter.But what happened is, over time, I’ve developed a taste of knowing what traffic source to use in which funnel.As you might know, I’m big on email marketing and I truly believe it’s the one thing that ties up your marketing because it’s still got the highest ROI compared with every other marketing strategy.It’s extremely important to associate list building with every other digital marketing activity.For me, Solo Ads have outperformed every other traffic source especially when I wanted to drive traffic to my optin/squeeze pages to build my list.In this detailed answer, I hope to cover all your questions related to solo ads and give you enough knowledge to start buying and selling solo ads right away.What Are Solo AdsSolo Ads or Email Media or Solo Advertising is a way of driving traffic to your landing pages by buying clicks from people with email lists.There are three roles in a solo ad transaction:Buyer: When you’re buying clicksSeller: When you’re selling clicksNetwork: A Marketplace/Network for solo ad transactionsHere’s how the solo ad process works:Let’s say I’m a solo ad seller and you want to buy traffic from me. I have a responsive list, with several buyers, and I can send hundreds of clicks with a promo to a portion of my list.So you will get in touch with me and if I’m interesting in selling solo ad traffic (which BTW, I’m not currently), then I will let you know the number of clicks I can send your way and the CPC.I will then look at your landing page and the offer you’re promoting in the backend. Once I’m happy that it’s something my list would like hearing about, I’ll ask you to make the payment upfront and give you a tracking link to track how many clicks you received.I might also go in and recommend some suggestions for improving conversions on your optin page.I will then ask for an email swipe from you (explained below), and then fine-tune the swipe to the conversational tone I use with my email list.I will then schedule an email for you. Now see, my subscribers like to read my emails. So when they see an email from me recommending a giveaway, they click the link in the email and go through the tracking link to your optin page.Whoever opts in, becomes a part of your email list and then its your time to build a relationship with them.While most of this report has been written to guide buyers, solo ad sellers can also get a few ideas by reading it.When solo ads started gaining traction a few years ago, some sellers got into the act of scamming other people because there was no buyer security. They would take money from the buyer and run away or arbitrage with cheap traffic from other sources netting a profit.So buyers were pretty much screwed.But then many big marketers started talking about solo ads, and slowly it became a mainstream way of driving traffic to your optin pages.Hence, the advent of marketplaces and directories (I’ve covered all of that below), and now is the golden time to get into the solo ad game.Step Zero: Get Everything ReadyThere are a few things you need before you can start buying solo ads.First, an optin page.If you don’t know the conversion rates on your optin page, then setup split testing. I recommend Power Lead System for setting up your optin pages because they have built-in click tracking, A-B split testing, and they let you drive unlimited traffic. Of course, they have some beautiful optin page templates that you can edit very easily using their click-click interface.Second, you need click tracking.There are several tools out there that let you track clicks. You may use Bitly, or goo.gl or tinyurl or even install a plugin like Pretty Link inside WordPress for tracking your clicks. If you choose Power Lead System you will find it has is own in-built click tracking system.If you are interested in a premium service, there’s a premium tool called ClickMagick which is used by a lot of people who are into solo ads. It’s not that expensive and they have a lot of cool features like cloaking, rotating etc.It’s important to use click tracking, because if you give a naked link to the solo ad seller, then you’re relying on their click tracking service to determine how many clicks they actually sent.Third, set up your funnel.I’ve covered some types of funnels that work great with solo ads later in this report. But the bare minimum funnel includes an optin page and a POP (Post Optin Page, also called a Thank You Page).The POP is your most valuable page because a subscriber has just taken action and opted in to your list. They are ready to give you their attention and want to learn more about you.It’s like meeting a stranger on the street. They say ‘Hi’, and shake your hand. Wouldn’t it be rude if you just nodded and went on your way? You need to SELL something on that POP.It can either be an affiliate offer that’s converting well for you. It can be your own product. It can also be the actual giveaway for which they opted in.Here’s an example of a POP that I used for my own launch funnel. This is what peeps saw after they opted in:In the latter case, you have to make sure you have some CTA in the giveaway that helps you sell something.The solo ad game is about ROI and how quickly you recuperate your initial investment will determine how successful you will be in this game.Of course you will be sending promotional emails to your list later, but if you spend like $500 in acquiring 500 leads and make $0 upfront, then you will take at least a few days/weeks to recover the initial investment. Which makes it all the more difficult to scale.Fourth, pre-schedule autoresponder emails.The content of the autoresponder emails will vary with the funnel that you’ve built up. If you’re promoting an affiliate product, then the first email will have the giveaway and the next 2-3 emails scheduled to go out once a day will promote that affiliate product.If you’re promoting your own product in the backend, then you can set up autoresponders that entice your subscribers to check out what you have to offer.Here’s an example of an autoresponder series that I’ve set up for my ‘Email Instruments’ funnel:I recommend at least a week’s worth of autoresponders and a consistent mailing schedule of sending out email blasts at least 5 times a week.Fifth, you need an email swipe.An email swipe is a sample email that you will give to the solo ad seller. They may or may not edit it because they have to send it to their list after all.The swipe should have information about the giveaway and what they can expect to get after they click the link in that email along with a strong call to action.Steps To Buy A Solo Ad1) First off, make sure you have everything that I’ve mentioned earlier. There’s no point hunting for solo ad sellers if you don’t have your funnel ready.2) Once you have everything ready, it’s time to find solo ad sellers in your niche.3) You get in touch with a solo ad seller who is willing to send you clicks within an allotted timeframe. Most sellers will require a payment upfront, mostly via Paypal.Let’s say you want to buy 1000 clicks. The seller has several click packages, one of them being 1000 clicks at 45 cents a click. So the amount you have to pay is $450.4) Most sellers will also ask for the optin page URL so that they can have a look at it before they take a payment from you. Maybe they don’t like it and don’t want to email their list about it? It’s better to be safe than sorry.In fact, some sellers will also critique your optin page for free and give you suggestions for improvement. There are a lot of factors that determine conversion rate of an optin page like headline, CTA, colors, background, etc. You should always strive to improve your conversion rate.5) After you’ve completed the payment, you will send the email swipe to the seller and start a conversation with them. It’s always good to talk to sellers. They are experienced and have been in the email marketing game for a while. Maybe you hit it off with a few of them and that could lead to other opportunities.6) Most of them will give you a tracking URL to check the results in real time. That page will contain the stats of your solo ad.Attributes Of The Best Solo Ad ProvidersIt would become a weird game indeed if everyone with an email list started selling clicks. And while there are quite a lot of solo ad sellers especially in the internet marketing niche, I want to make sure you have the knowledge necessary to weed out the cream.Tier-I TrafficThis is one of the most important factors while buying a solo ad. You need sellers with at least 80% Tier-I clicks. The reason for that is simple: People in Tier-I countries are better qualified to buy your products and services.Tier-I countries include these five countries: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.Of course, this doesn’t matter if your target market is a different country altogether.Delivery TimeYou want your clicks delivered on time. Period. If you’re promoting a product launch that’s running from August 3rd to August 10th and you place an order for clicks on say, August 1st.If the seller delivers clicks on August 12th, then it won’t do you any good, will it?Sellers are human. Many of them maintain a strict mailing calendar and they will let you know if they can send you traffic in the requested timeframe or not.Response TimeLet’s say you find a great solo ad provider on FB. You’re excited, running around the room, and then send them a FB message telling them you want to buy traffic.And you get a reply in 10 days. What does that tell you?Don’t buy from them. Solo ad providers who are serious about this business will be prompt in replying to questions and requests. That being said, a good time-frame to wait for a reply is 24 business hours.If you get a reply within that time-frame, you can be sure that they are serious about their business.Good ReviewsWith the introduction of marketplaces and networks in the solo ad industry, I’ve noticed a spurt of verified customer reviews.Reviews matter.Most of the marketplaces will have reviews of solo ad sellers from several buyers. And it’s very important to skim through the reviews before placing an order.If you’re visiting a website of an individual seller, then read through the testimonials. If they don’t have testimonials, close the page.If you’re buying solo ads through FB groups, then look out for sellers who have multiple testimonials from buyers. Many buyers will also mention whether their ad purchase resulted in actual sales or not. You want sellers who can drive sales.When Should You Use Solo AdsSolo ads should only be used to drive traffic to optin pages. I’ve tried using it for my sales pages and blog posts etc, but the results weren’t the same.In fact, I have bought solo ads from vendors asking them to promote a sales page of an affiliate offer and also to my own product’s sales page – but they refused.Their reason was clear – Solo ads only work with optin pages.The subscribers on the seller’s email list are used to receiving freebies and they don’t mind entering their email address for something they might value.That results in a higher conversion rate for you and the recommendation from the seller himself in the email also helps.Why Should You Bother With Solo AdsConversions matter. You need the best bang for your buck every single time. Rather than running around and experimenting with a bunch of traffic sources – stick to one source that works for you.There are several reasons why Solo Ads convert better than every other traffic sourceRecommendation from the sellerEmail lists are like your inner circle of people. You have a relationship with them.Your subscribers get excited when they receive an email from you. They know who you are and they are on your list for a reason.They like you. They have give you their stamp of approval. If they wouldn’t have, they would have unsubscribed already.When you send an email recommending an optin page to your list, your peeps get excited and when they click the link, they are already expecting to see an optin form on the other side.Pre-SoldThe email swipe that you send to the seller will have some information about you and your offer. So the people reading that email will be pre-sold and ready to take action when they click the link in that email.That’s why email swipes are very important. Of course, it’s at the discretion of the seller to modify the swipe because they have to blast it out to their list. If you wanted to buy a solo ad from me, I would check the messaging of the swipe, edit it because I have my own way of conversing with my list, and then send it out.In any case, the email pre-sells your optin page to a crowd of hungry info seekers. Which brings me to the next point…Take my email. I don’t mind.Since the seller is used to sending out solo ad emails to his list and each solo ad email contains a giveaway, the seller’s email list is already accustomed to what they are going into.Which means, when they visit your optin page, they will be more than happy to give you their email address. They have been doing so for a long time and they don’t mind.Funnels That Work Great With Solo AdsSolo ads only work well with specific types of funnels. And since there’s money involved, it’s important to get the basics right.Even though I’ve played around with solo ads for about a year or so, I’ve realized that there are four types of funnels that work best with solo adsClicks to optin page -> POP with giveaway and pre-selling an affiliate offer -> Giveaway delivery in the first autoresponder and promoting the affiliate offer future autoresponders.Clicks to optin page -> Direct through affiliate link to affiliate offer -> Giveaway delivery in the first autoresponder and promoting affiliate offer in future autoresponders.Clicks to optin page -> Branding on POP with video and Giveaway delivery. The POP will only promote your own product/affiliate product via the Giveaway. -> Giveaway delivery in the first autoresponder and warming up to buy your own product in future autoresponder emails.Clicks to optin page -> Your own product’s sales page -> Giveaway delivery in the first autoresponder and warming up to buy your own product in future autoresponder emails.A great idea is to have an exit popup on my optin pages because this little trick helps add about 10% more leads ones list with no extra expense. Best bang for your buck, right?If a visitor clicked the ‘Stay on this Page’ button, they were shown another optin page. And that page converted at over 50% too.Solo Ad Directories and MarketplacesThe #1 question I get from my students and other marketers is where they can buy and sell solo ads. In the olden days, you had just one optin: Google search.Fortunately, things have improved and there are hundreds of solo ads sellers in many niches out there. All you need to do, is find out where they hang out.You can either visit a marketplace, or a FB group, or find out solo ad sellers individually. Below, I’ve mentioned of my favourite places to buy and sell solo ads.All these marketplaces are really easy to get started with. You simply create an account and then browse the listings for solo ad sellers, and place your order. If you’re a seller, then signup and create your listing.ClickonomyClickonomy the alpha version of Clickonomy was launched in July 2014. In a little over a year, they have 8000+ active users with hundreds of sellers and almost 800,000 clicks sold. That’s quite a lot considering we’re still in beta.They are working daily on this marketplace and making it a whole lot better. They have some pretty neat features planned out for this year including solo ad swaps, a better calendar, and much much more security.They are currently working on a much better seller profile, and marketplace UI. They will be showing some neat stats like: Tier-I clicks, Response Time, Click Map, and Orders in Queue.There will be a lot more filtering and sorting features in the revamped UI for the marketplace.They plan to embrace buyer and seller security with Clickonomy. Hence, they have a lot of cool features that make them one of the most secure traffic marketplaces out there.You have genuine seller reviews from actual buyers, a secure wallet for storing funds, click fraud detection, and seller verifications. Both parties are completely protected and they are continually working on making it an even better marketplace.Their goal with Clickonomy was to create a community of like minded people helping each other grow and facilitate list building.UdimiI’ve used Udimi quite frequently and their traffic was on par with Clickonomy. 80% of their network consists of sellers dealing in bizopp clicks.While they do have a few good sellers in there, and I do like their interface a lot, they still need to work on getting a more variety of sellers in the network.I especially like the amount of data they give you with each seller, like: Tier-I traffic, buyer reviews, Spam/Bot clicks, Verification status, and response time.Buying clicks on Udimi is a breeze. You fund your account via Paypal, place an order with a seller, and then watch the cool click stats as the traffic rolls in.During the buying process you also get to see the seller’s availability calendar which highlights the # of clicks available each day.If you want bizopp leads, then definitely give Udimi a try because their click prices are quite low.Here is a short video tutorial of how to purchase a solo ad using Udimi.Safe SwapsThis network is great for solo ad swaps. If you don’t have a list already, then skip this. But if you’re interested in building your email list even further, then ad swaps might be your solution.While we’re still working on building an ad swap feature in Clickonomy, you can get started with Safe Swaps right now.Safe Swaps lets you connect with other people with email lists and you swap a promo. You send them clicks, and they send you clicks.TrafficForMeTrafficForMe was created by Harris Fellman and they have the ability to deliver around 100,000 clicks per day.They have an algorithm that checks optin rates, sales conversions, and delivery times – and on the basis of these criteria, they resell clicks to you.TheTrafficSourceThis marketplace has quickly established itself to be one of the top dogs in the industry and they are also big on bizopp clicks like Udimi.They also have a partner program that pays out 5% of the deposits made by your referrals. You can use those credits to buy clicks on their platform.Udimi has a 15% affiliate program whereby they pay out 15% of the deposits made by your referrals.Again, I recommend this source if you want to buy bizopp clicks.DedicatedEmailsThis is yet another interesting network. They don’t have a proper listing of sellers in their marketplace and most of the dealings are done with the network owners themselves.They have access to players in the bizopp, self help, political, and health niches. This is one of the very few networks that has access to clicks in other niches apart from bizopp.The way it works is: You give them your ad. They mix and match with available inventory. Finally, they send you traffic, leads, and sales.To be honest, I haven’t played around in their system much but if you have more information about them then I would love to hear about it in the comments below.Igor KheifetsI came across Igor from the Power Leads System. He is one of the many recommended and trusted sellers on their list. Even though I was skeptical at first, I noticed he had made quite a big name for himself in the solo ad space.He has built several pages on his website where you can go and buy traffic, or enter your information in a lead form and one of his executives will talk to you individually.I took him up on one of his ‘guaranteed’ deals and had a word with his peeps. They are well informed and answer your questions well. Even though the price was a little too much for me at the time because I offer I had in a backend was low-ticket.Buy/Sell Solo Ads via Facebook GroupsThere are several solo ads Facebook groups out there. I’ve mentioned the two major ones below.The cool part is that you can check out testimonials from real people with detailed stats like # of clicks bought, conversion rate, sales or not, Tier-I traffic percentage etc.Resource #1: Testimonials FB GroupResource #2: Sales Testimonials FB groupI’ve found out a few great sellers from these groups and bought clicks from them. The process is real easy.Step 1: Join the FB groupStep 2: Browse through the testimonial posts and keep a close watch on the numbers.Step 3: If you like a seller’s performance, then there will either be their website link posted there or the FB profile of the seller.Step 4: Place an order on their website or send them a FB message telling them that you’re interested in buying clicks from them. Something like this:Solo Ads on the Warrior ForumIt’s a great resource for pretty much everything related to internet marketing – including solo ads.If you’re a buyer, looking to build your email list, then you can browse the WSO section and the Classifieds for the latest solo ad deals.Step 1: Create a Warrior Forum account if you haven’t already and log in.Step 2: Go to ‘Search’ and then ‘Advanced Search’Step 3: Enter ‘solo ads’ in the search box and select the WSO category and the Classifieds category. Hit search.Step 4: Look through the results. Check out what the sellers have to offer and read reviews from people who have actually ordered from them.If you’re a seller, looking to sell clicks, then create your own listing on WF in the WSO section and skyrocket your results.People like Igor have built quite a name for themselves on the Warrior Forum by educating others about solo ads, releasing free training on list building, and also by releasing their latest solo ad deals time and again.How To Get Free Solo AdsSafe-Swaps is a concept that’s gaining quite a lot of attention from email marketers. Here’s the thing though: it’s still in a nascent stage.Although I’ve mentioned a swap network above, it’s still the only popular network that does ad swaps.My hunch is that we will be ready to roll out ad swaps in Clickonomy sometime around August 2015. We already have the basics planned out. The rest of it will fall in place soon. I’ve already started working on the UI.Anyways, here’s how an ad swap works:Step 1: You get in touch with someone who’s willing to swap clicks. Of course, you want to make sure that the person you’re swapping with has a history of sending good clicks. Otherwise you’re just adding useless leads to your list.Step 2: You get an agreement with the other party with the following things sorted out: # of clicks, delivery date, and tracking URL.Step 3: Both of you start sending clicks based on the agreed upon delivery date and nobody pays any actual money.Ad swaps are recommended with only trusted sellers with whom you have a personal relationship otherwise you might end up sending a bunch of quality traffic from your list and not get any leads from their traffic. Or worse, not get any traffic at all.ConclusionI hope this report will help you get started with solo ads. I’ve outlined the basics of the entire process here and even though some topics.I want to know what YOU thought about this and if you have had experience with solo ads, I want to hear from you. Also, if you feel I’ve missed out on some topics (I’m human after all), then please let me know in the comments section below.Solo ads is the best way I know to built an email list quickly and even though it was a risky game, marketplaces like Udimi have started to even out the playing field and make it a much more viable source of traffic and leads. All the best.