10 Tips to Gather the Best Team for a Startup

The idea of gathering like-minded people around you and implementing an amazing idea seems cool to many of us. But in fact, most companies fall apart within the first three years. There are many reasons for this, and perhaps the employees are the most important one. Why? There aren’t many workers who are motivated enough to survive all crises and not give up.

Indeed, even if you get the green light from the first investors, lots of things can go wrong. But nothing is impossible with the right team on your side! So, hurry up to delegate your school papers to Essaypro, invite your partners over and take note of the tips we have collected for you! Following them one by one, you will surely achieve amazing results.

1. Think Over The Company Structure

Let’s begin with thinking through two basic concepts:

• The first is MVP, or minimum viable product: the team you need to get started. It may consist of several people;
• The second is what the company will be like in a year. You will certainly require new positions and specialists.

Next, you need to determine the order of hiring. Think about who is essential: this is the backbone of the company. At this stage, there’s no sense in having ten sales managers if two can handle the tasks.

2. Choose The Right People

This point sounds obvious, but any good team needs competent, responsible and motivated members. Many young entrepreneurs make a huge mistake by not knowing who they should hire. Some decide to offer a job to their friends.

As a matter of fact, sometimes it works out if they are motivated enough. As for the lack of experience, it may be compensated by soft skills, for example, critical thinking, research, and highly developed communication abilities. 

However, when you are searching for candidates with technical knowledge, better reach out to someone with relevant experience. As for creative tasks, practice shows that beginners tend to be more open-minded and ready to experiment.

3. Consider Employees’ Expectations

You can hire a specialist who has worked in a world-famous corporation, but nothing good will come out of it. Why? It’s all about their expectations: perhaps they want your strategy to be longer or the budget to be larger.

In a startup, plans and budgets change quickly as well as employees’ responsibilities. Plus, there are always plenty of risks and unexpected factors. Therefore, people with a corporate background can be taken by surprise. Such an environment can also reduce their motivation, basically scaring them away from you.

All in all, the golden mean is the best: hire professionals who know what to expect from a startup.

4. Look For Inspired Ones

Boundaries are only in our heads, right? As the most famous entrepreneurs say, they weren’t afraid to start from scratch and take risks. Such people fully give themselves to work by being initiative and using their intuition. If during a job interview you notice that there’s a fire in the candidate’s eyes and they offer you fresh ideas, then you are likely to find a common language.

Another great sign is that the person is interested in their knowledge about the company. Are they asking questions about upcoming projects? Do they have meaningful suggestions? Cool, since it demonstrates their proactivity and willingness to take responsibility.

5. Hire Candidates Who Agree With Your Working Conditions

Be honest when telling job seekers about salary and prospects. What if they rely on something more that you can offer at this very moment? Things should be clear from the start, as this saves plenty of time, both candidates’ and yours.

6. Conduct The Job Interview Yourself

You can surely outsource the hiring process to the recruitment agency, but this is an additional cost. Most importantly, the result may not be satisfactory. You know the product best of all, and you need to ensure it will be comfortable for you to work with this person.

7. Take Your Future Corporate Culture Into Account

Traditionally, those who were hired at the start shape the way the company is developed. 

Here’s a simple example. Imagine that you hired a truly talented marketer, although this person is sometimes irresponsible and overly talkative. Chances are, they will fill their department with like-minded people with the same character traits and habits. 

This is neither good nor bad: it’s just a fact you have to accept. And a reminder for you to pay attention to the applicants’ manners and tendencies.

8. Take Responsibility

There will always be mistakes, inaccuracies, and disappointments. As a leader, you must take responsibility for everything that happens in the company – including failures.

You shouldn’t blame a particular person for something they didn’t do on purpose. Think about ways to improve the situation and what you can do to prevent this from happening in the future.

9. Divide The Tasks Right

At the start of the project, there are tasks distributed among employees. You can do the following:

• Offer the specialists to choose what they will do within the framework of their competencies;
• Deal with remaining tasks yourself.

This way, employees will surely be involved in the process as they will do what they are interested in. When wondering how to run a startup, study the Apple company as an example. When launching it, Steve Jobs was in charge of promotion, and Steve Wozniak tackled the technical part. Sharing responsibility must surely be wise. And over time, you will hire specialists to do the rest of the work.

10. Don’t Be Afraid To Say Goodbye

Dismissal is normal if an employee doesn’t cope with their duties or shows a low level of involvement. Of course, firing people using the right words is something requiring mental effort. Your final speech mustn’t be humiliating for the employee, but on the contrary – inspire them to grow in a different place. No doubt, there should be no quarrels and no negative consequences like leaking information to the competition. 

To Wrap It Up

Perhaps the main thread that runs through all our tips is to find keys to every person’s heart. Thanks to the right attitude, employees can develop even those projects that initially seemed hopeless. Proper motivation reduces staff turnover and helps you build a strong team that won’t easily give up.

Of course, the search for the right specialist can take a lot of time. After all, a startup has to compete not only with similar organizations but also with corporations that offer employees a number of benefits. However, here is what candidates should know for sure: it is in a startup that you can quickly upgrade your skills, implement the most daring initiatives and constantly try something new!