The list of the top searched startup-keywords on Google (https://www.mondovo.com/keywords/startup-%20keywords) is almost entirely dominated by keywords such as “business plan, investor, funding, money and idea”, while the keyword “team” doesn't appear anywhere in that list. That is to say, the question "how to build a successful startup team" doesn’t show up in the 80 most searched startup-related questions on Google. The reason behind this is that most people are convinced that a “right” business idea and a solid financial backing are enough to determine the success of their startup, thus underestimating the importance of choosing the "right people" for their founding team. In fact, the number one reason startups fail is people related problems. So how do you identify those “right people” for your startup?
Well, when you are preparing to choose the “right people” for your startup team it's like when you are preparing to play a strategy board game like chess, that is you must choose the people with the following 6 types of personalities - and while a person can have more than one of these characteristics – all of these six personalities must always exist:
The King or The Leader
Every startup needs a clear leader, someone that others will respect and admire, and will be prepared to follow in case of conflicts, disputes or when controversial decisions have to be made. The leader will keep the team focused on the same goal, will empower the team, will make every one feel safe, will motivate, instruct and discipline the people he/she is in charge of, and possibly will have a combination of sincere enthusiasm and good communication skills.The Queen or The Gifted Diva
Every startup needs at least one gifted person, a genius, to take off. The gifted person i.e the person with outstanding expertise in his/her field (domain expert) is often a diva. This gifted diva will challenge the rest of the team and will ask for things that others aren’t even sure how to get done. A diva is often a multi passionate creative person and is often the superstar of the company. A gifted diva is eccentric and charismatic with a “sparkle in his/her eye”!The Rook or The Industry Veteran
While startups are always built around innovative ideas, it helps when there is always a seasoned industry veteran in the founding team, someone who can bring efficiency and wisdom to an often highly energetic and creative youth-induced chaos! It takes time, lots of practice and great experience to: 1) know everything about an industry, 2) understand and assimilate all the subtleties of the competitive landscape, 3) recognize people as true assets, and 4) see through the propaganda of the competitors. Veterans usually have all of the above mentioned qualities. An industry veteran can also be the leader of the team.The Knight or The Financial Talent
All startups also need financial talent. They will help you write your business plan, manage your budget and get in the market faster. Usually, however, these talents often have their own agenda mainly because of career building aspirations. So it would nice if a co-founder is in charge of overseeing the financial talent.The Bishop or The Sales Animal
Start-uppers with brilliant ideas often forget that someone has to sell their ideas/products. Thus, the presence of a strong salesman in the founding team that combines strong technical knowledge, founder authority and sales experience, is a hard-to-beat advantage in the competitive marketplace.The 8 Pawns or Technological Talent
For a startup the technological talent is definitely an insurance policy against hard times. But beyond the importance of good skills and technical knowledge of your workforce, it is good to pick up people who have similar values and beliefs about life. But most importantly you should choose people that are able to speak democratically, recognizing the complexity of things so that when "to be or not to be" type controversies arise, your people should have the ability to understand that without the "to be" part, the "not to be" part could not have existed and vice-versa! In the end, yes you want them to have similar values, but it’s also important to have a diversity of personalities in the team. Respect, willingness to listen to one another and being open-minded are huge factors in any successful working relationship.
Conclusion
Becoming a successful entrepreneur isn’t an easy feat. It takes dedication, time and ultimately perseverance to forge into the unknown, disrupt your industry and establish yourself. Moreover building a successful startup team requires strategy, resources, experience, knowledge and willingness to prepare yourself to win a real-life chess game.