Tips for startups: How to put together a successful team

"60% of start-ups have problems with the founding team," recalls TechHub's pre-accelerator. A good team saves resources and produces in shortest time possible, they are completely committed to the idea.

 

Lijana Valančienė, a mentor of the TechHub start-up pre-accelerator, reminds that in addition to the professional skills of team members, in the early stage of the start-up, people's personal qualities, traits related to support, trust, motivation and dedication are also important. After all, it is the ambitions, professionalism and skills of the founders that will determine the decision-making, implementation, raising the necessary resources and offering the product to the market.

 

L. Valančienė confirms that it is not possible to predict exactly which start-up will be successful, but it is possible to assess his potential based on the most important characteristics that determine the success of an early-stage start-up team or apply them when forming your own team.

 

Previous business experience

 

The experience of the team members is considered to be the criterion that has the greatest impact on the future success of the start-up.

 

"As representatives of venture capital funds often emphasize, they tend to invest in start-ups whose founders have previous, even unsuccessful, business development experience. They are people who have seen the pits and traps of this world and know how much and how to work, what to expect and how to behave in uncertain situations, ”says L. Valančienė.

 

Optimal team size

 

According to L. Valančienė, the optimal number of team members is 2 or 3 founders. And failure can be caused by overly large teams, which can lead to disagreements, many different personal visions.

 

"As Dropbox director and founder Drew Houston has said, it is possible to raise a child with one of the parents, but it is much more difficult and requires a lot more from the person to achieve the same result. It is also explained rationally - one founder may not have enough competence, he may get tired, disappointed, not lift his load, get sick,” - she says.

 

Experience in a specific field

 

“The experience gained in the specific area where the start-up will operate, the knowledge of the competitive environment and consumer behavior helps to discover and better understand the customer's pain and needs and make the right decisions to meet them. This helps to save resources and shorten the development path,” - says the mentor, emphasizing that there must be at least one professional in the field in the team. It is said that the ideas that start-ups often need in the market arise when working in a certain field and discovering problems that can be solved by innovation.

 

Knowledge of technology and business management

 

L. Valančienė points out that for most technological start-ups, it seems to be self-evident that a strong team of technology developers is needed to achieve success, but this, although important, is not enough - knowledge in other areas is also needed.

 

"No matter how great your technological solution would be, customers don't knock on the door themselves, so you still need to know who will buy it, for how much and how. "Teams with founders with technology and business management education are more successful in securing external investment, and start-ups are bought faster," - advises the mentor.

 

Motivation and working time

 

The TechHub mentor also emphasizes motivation and effort.

 

"The time allotted by each founder to the start-up must be at least 40-50 hours per week, minimum 8 hours a day. Not all fans of an idea are true founders, so it’s important to make sure which of the founders is willing to dedicate 100% rather than work on the weekends, during the holidays, or in the evenings after finishing another job. "It is definitely not enough - it is important to fully commit to working towards a common vision - the implementation of the idea," -  says L. Valančienė."