Did you 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 you 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 you’re looking for. If you’re a marketing expert, for example, you 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 you to understand what you are looking for before you 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 Roles

To create a successful startup, you 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 Communication

Communication 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, you 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 you set the culture of creating a standardized communication process, you’ll be able to grow in a scalable and sustainable way, avoiding future problems. 

Share Knowledge

Sharing 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 Goals

Set goals for everything you 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. 

Strong startup team

Setting goals gives a sense of direction. If you know what your destination is, you 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, you 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 Rules

Startups are known for having a fast-paced yet flexible environment, but this doesn’t mean not having any rules. 

Set ground rules and you’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 Ride

Skills are essential, but they’re not everything. If you want to create a startup team, you need to find people that you enjoy working with. In the early stages of a business, you’ll face many challenges, so it’s important to have people that you have fun with while you’re working and who are keen to succeed.

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