Building the Dream Team

Regardless of a company's size, every business requires a strong team and a solid support network. To run a successful business, you need the right people on board. Who are the individuals with the personality and expertise to elevate your business? Who are the other companies you will need to work with for product production, local vendor sourcing, or even legal support? Hustle Crew, in this blog post, we will discuss how to build a network that will help your entrepreneurial venture succeed.

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First, it's not only about filling positions with people who meet the job requirements— it's about finding the right people with the right mindset. The right people complement the skills you need to succeed, including technical skills, creativity, and leadership qualities. To ensure your team will manage anything that comes its way, here are some traits to look for in potential teammates:

• Clear Communication - clear communication makes it easier for any team to coordinate, share feedback, be transparent, and build trust.

• Adaptability - In a dream team, members should adapt and be flexible to challenges, market shifts, or new technology.

• Diversity of individuals - Every team should welcome members from different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Different experiences allow the same problem to be viewed from multiple perspectives - a concept sometimes called diversity of thought. 

• Accountability - Team members should be held accountable for their plans instead of blaming each other for any mistakes. That certainly isn’t the way to go. Whether it's win or lose, they should have each other’s backs.

• Conflict resolution - Teams may have conflicts, but building understanding and resolving disputes helps maintain positive team dynamics. It might be a good idea to have an odd number of co-founders to help break up early discrepancies.

• Effective collaboration - Without effective collaboration, teams may fall apart. It's important to be collaborative and support each other to accomplish the tasks and duties. 

• Diversity of skills - The right people on your team should consist of individuals with different mindsets, different areas of expertise, and diversified skills and experience. Someone can be great at strategy but weak in execution, and they should pair well with each other to accompany each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

The most startups have either 2 or 3 founders. Why? Diversity of thought is always beneficial, but too many conflicting opinions can stall progress significantly. Image: Unsplash.

Now, let's talk about the specific roles you must fill. Whether you're a solopreneur growing your team or building a small business, you need to appoint the critical roles for the right person. Here's a breakdown of some prominent ones: 

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - Handles the overall business operations and manages the business effectively by collaborating with senior executives. Founders are not always CEOs, but many of them tend to be.

• Chief Operating Officer (COO) - Oversees the business's operational and administrative operations, including day-to-day operations.

• Chief Financial Officer (CFO) - Assists the COO, and leads the business's growth by handling budgets, providing financial insight, and making informed financial decisions.

• Marketing Manager - Builds brand and representative strategies to sell the product or service to the target audience.

• Human Resources (HR) Manager- Helps find the right people to fill additional roles and responsibilities so that the company runs smoothly.

Remember, all businesses are different. At first, you might not need HR or marketing managers just yet (in fact, you might not need any other individuals!) or you might have one person fill multiple roles. It’s about finding a team that will help you be at your best.

Did you know the first CEO of Apple was actually Micheal Scott, not founders Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak? That’s right - Steve Jobs never became CEO until 1997! Image: Unsplash.

Hiring the right people and finding the best partners is only half the battle of your business journey. The other half is to ensure your team works together. The perfect individuals for a team often don’t form the perfect team, especially when a sense of camaraderie is missing. To foster strong teamwork, it includes essential features and qualities including:

• Effective collaboration - Create opportunities to collaborate with different departments and work together. This helps build effective relationships and understanding throughout your team.

• Trust - While this may seem like a given, ensuring team members are comfortable with each other and speaking up transparently is important. As an employer, you can conduct team-building exercises and utilize an “open-door policy.”

• Clear goals - Make sure your team members work together on clear goals, which will help them stay focused and guide one another. SMART Goals (shown below) are a good way to ensure this occurs.

• Celebrate wins - Whether achievements are big or small, celebrate them! Keep your team motivated by conducting a shoutout in a meeting or throwing a party. They (and you) deserve it!

  

SMART goals are an effective way to ensure a mission is clear and to keep team members motivated for a certain cause.

Furthermore, when building that dream team, finding key partners (and even other co-founders!) who fit your business niche may be challenging. To succeed in an industry in the long run, you must also find the right and external partners such as vendors, strategic partners, legal and financial support organizations, and more! So, how do you find them? Here’s some places to get started:

• Ask your colleagues - Your colleagues may know ideal businesspeople or organizations who align with your business partnership. 

• Collaborate with friends and family - Your friends and family may align with your education, skills, and goals, making them a perfect match for your partnerships. 

• Attend industry events - Industry events such as trade shows, conferences, and lectures are great places to find potential like-minded business partners. 

• Online entrepreneur networks - you can seek perfect partnerships through many websites and online networks. Some popular ones include CoFoundersLab, Y Combinator, and TechCofounder. 

These are just some ways to help find potential cofounders or other business partners. There’s really no right way to do this - the possibilities are endless when it comes to finding people who elevate your business! That being said, building your dream team takes time, effort, and strong understanding among your teammates. They need to understand the business goals and work on them collaboratively to show results. Each individual may have weaknesses, but in a team, one another should cover up the weaknesses based on their strengths, and that's what you call a real team.

So, that's all about effectively building your dream team. We hope this guide provided insights into your team and helped you build an effective team. Stay tuned for our upcoming post, featuring insights on vendor sourcing. Happy team building, Hustle Crew!

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About the Author

Brandon Yeh is an entrepreneur and student who currently resides in the Bay Area. In addition to working on his latest business ventures, he enjoys playing golf competitively and is an avid Bay Area sports fan.