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1. February 12, 2015
Building Your Start Up Team

2. Agenda
• Entrepreneurial Characteristics
• Early Organizational Phases
• Build a Culture That Can Be Replicated
• Investing in Your Team
• Closing Thoughts

3. Entrepreneurial Characteristics
• Passionate*
• Resilient*
• Strong sense of self*
• Flexible to adapt to changing conditions*
• Vision*
• Trust and Loyalty
– Sometimes to a fault
*Forbes Magazine

4. In The Beginning….
• Start up phase
• Picking your partners
– Everyone has partners
– Don’t sell yourself short
– Shared values
• Deal with sensitive issues early
– Planning on where you want to go
– Vision for the company
– Ownership structure
– Responsibilities
– One person becomes the face of the organization

5. What’s Next….
• Hopefully growth and opportunity
– And challenges
• Competition
• Systems
• Resources
• Money
• People
– The hardest day you work, and each day
thereafter, is the day you hire someone

6. What To Look For in Staff
• Talent is important, but not everything
– Gifted people are critical
– Have to match up with culture
• Without the right values failure is just
around the corner
• What to do when the talent is there but
the values are not
– If the signs tell you that you are headed to the
dump, don’t be surprised when you get there

7. Loyalty
• Loyalty is important, so how do you build
it?
– Invest in hiring process
– Provide opportunities for advancement
– Listen
– Give staff well-defined areas of authority to
make decisions

8. Trust
• Trust is also important, especially if the
business is growing rapidly
– But it is not everything
– Don’t sacrifice trust for values or ability
– If you hire the people with the right values
then trust won’t be as much of an issue
• Key positions
– HR
– Finance
– Outside advisors

9. Hiring Friends and Family
• Sounds like a good idea, but….
– Values first
– Then ability and talent
– Watch your motives
• Ask yourself which is more valuable
– The working relationship
– Or the personal relationship

10. As The Organization Grows
• Business becomes more complex
– Initial staff may be challenged
• Grow and advance to meet challenges
• Stay where they are (and grow disgruntled!)
• People talk
– Expect criticism
– Can create a toxic environment
• HR is there to support the staff
– Make sure your attorney puts together some
good employment documents

11. Building Culture
• As a leader you set the tone
– Your actions will be replicated by staff
• Something as simple as the time you arrive
• Meetings
• Deadlines
• Set expectations with staff
– Do as I say, not as I do doesn’t work
– Clear and concise communication
– Written is better than verbal

12. Investing In Your Team
• Lunches, massages, parties
– Nothing wrong with these
– More external than internal
• Ask your staff what motivates them
– Not all incentives are cash/earnings based
– You might be surprised
• Get to know people
– Make a habit of taking time out of your day
to walk around and talk to people

13. Summary and Closing Thoughts
• Decisions that are made early can have
long term implications
• Have the difficult discussions early
• Plan as best as an you can
• Focus on hiring for values first
• Stay in touch with initial staff
• Focus on culture
• Get to know your staff
• Don’t ever sacrifice family for work!

14. Thank You!
Joe Stafford
jstafford@dataresolution.net
Linkedin/in/jmstaff