How To Build a Good Startup Team From Scratch

Be self-aware
Since you are the founder of this great vision, look within yourself before putting together a good startup team. Take time to evaluate your skill set and what you can bring to the table to determine the gaps your team members can fill.  Maximize your strengths and allow the rest of your team members to handle areas where you feel you have fallen short.

Hire slow, take your time!
Take your time during the recruitment phase so that you don't end up settling for an individual who is not a right fit for your company. Do a thorough evaluation of potential candidates and only hire them if they have met your requirements satisfactorily. A poor fit will end up costing you time and resources, and eventually, you will have to go through the interviewing process all over again. If you notice a team member is a liability, pull the plug as soon as possible. A word of caution though, ensure you follow due process to avoid legal issues.

Discuss your vision with your team members
One misguided approach that most employees take is to withhold the big picture from their members. Failing to communicate your vision to your startup team leads to misunderstandings and miscommunication. Your team will also not be motivated if they understand the bigger picture. Before you set out to hire a team, carefully craft a company culture and use it to reel in exemplary talent. Once your team has a clear understanding of your vision, they can internalize and personalize it, and eventually, they will over-perform and boost productivity.

Organize team-building training
Once you have put together a competent team, ensure you organize team-building sessions so that your team members can get in tune with one another. Team building is important as it strengthens interpersonal interactions and ensures that members establish healthy communication channels. Recruits will benefit greatly from team-building workshops as they are given a chance to get used to the new startup environment.

Work with a top recruiter
Hiring qualified team members and putting together a cohesive team is easier said than done, especially if your mind is occupied with your new business. Consider bringing a recruiter on board to help you build a solid team. If you are looking for top talent in tech then find a top IT recruiter to help build a strong team. It is a worthy investment to make if you consider the gains, you will get having a solid team to help build scalable products faster. It will actually save you more in time and cash in the long-run. It will help you focus more on your core responsibilities as a startup founder or leader.

Carry out personality tests
You wouldn't want to bring a group of people together who have a hard time getting along. Your startup team will not achieve much if they are in a state of constant bickering. It is no doubt that your team will be diverse, meaning that there will be multiple characters and personalities within your startup team. Consider using personality tests during the hiring stage to help you pair compatible team members together and decide whether an individual is a right fit for your business.Remember, it is your responsibility to ensure that each team member plays their part and that all the operations in your startup are running seamlessly. Think of how a ringmaster orchestrates a performance at the circus for that perfect show.

Appoint action-takers who are resourceful
A business cannot thrive solely based on ideas and hunches. You need to put together a team capable of transforming ideas into a legitimate business and can generate revenue. Steer clear of the sayers and work with the doers. Challenges are part of the initial stages of a startup. It would help to have team members on board who are agile and can keep up the pace in challenging situations. Please focus on the core competencies that each of your team members possesses and ensure that they can be innovative and come up with creative solutions to difficult problems. Please don't hire a team that will wait for things to go wrong for them to scramble for an answer.

Put together a team for the long-run
It is wise to remember that the startup phase is temporary. So, don't mistake putting together a team that will not be of much use to you in the future. Statistics have shown that most businesses don't make it past the initial phase. However, your goal is to succeed and start generating revenue. When putting together a startup team, think about your business's long-term vision and jot down a list of important departments your business will require. For instance, you will need to have a finance department, sales and marketing, research and development, etc.

Prioritize diversity
Again, it would be best to avoid homogeneity when putting together your startup team. Members who have the same personalities and think in the same way leave no room for creativity and cannot generate new ideas. Each member will have the same blind spot, and you will notice that their weaknesses become magnified. Put together a startup team with diverse members to promote creativity and create balance within the group. The team members will correct one another and cover up for each other's weaknesses.

Wrapping up
It is time to ditch the notion that you need a large team to grow your startup. Start small but work to hire and retain the right human resource personnel to help fine-tune every facet of your business.

0