A tech startup guide to finding teammates
People are busy, tell you the first thing that pops into their mind and do not care about your startup….so reduce, reuse and recycle the thoughts coming out of your mouth.
I cannot stress this advise more clearly. I like to share my ideas, I like to hear myself speak and I like to steal others’ phrases. This leads me to get as close to my fears&volnuurabity as I possibly can.
This is hard. I suspect it is hard for you too. I lean in towards #TinaFey Rule#1 as she runs her writer’s rooms,
“Best Idea wins!”
So my advice to startup (particularly tech) Founders:
Keep your small ideas to yourself.
Share your BIG IDEA every time someone gives you an opportunity but
Watch really closly for the moment your audience “gets it”
Cuz that’s when it gets interesting.
They may say everything you have in the smaller details of your big idea & that means that they DO “GET” IT!
They might give you feedback by saying something you have heard before and THAT means they get it!
And they may something better than you could ever come up with on your own and THAT ALSO MEANS THEY GET IT.
What they can never do, is get it while you are talking. They want to get it, maybe…but you’ll never know if you subsume all the air on the call with ideas you’ve already heard.
Here are a dozen examples from earlier in my career as an Accidental Start-Up Founder of a Health Tech Company to prove how I used to vomit directly from my brain into the camera:
And coming from the pessimistic, negative, UGLY SIDE of the entrepreneurial rollercoaster, they may ACTUALLY “get” it, and not share with you their ideas.
Those ideas are gold. Those are the humans you want to work with. Those are the companies you should acquire as your ARR doubles or Founders you should consider merging with if your revenue doesn’t materialize.
More on that part of the journey another time. For now, listen with a very discerning ear and discard everything that YOU DON’t GET cuz it’s also OK to move on. Tomorrow is another day further around the sun whether you put another brick in the foundation of your company and it’s another day even if you don’t build.
Good luck and onward and up&to the RIGHT! #FounderInstitute was my #MBA