The right stuff.

If you haven't done so already, it's worth checking out Paul Graham's lessons on startups. It is on the mark, though you have to make some allowances for his 'web' focus if you're on a different track. One of the lessons he mentions is that the most important quality for a founder is determination, not brains (well, take it to mean that the founder doesn't need to be a genius or even the smartest one in the team). He posits that losing even a little bit of commitment could kill the venture. In a similar vein, I've mentioned on a previous post, The Balancing Act, how the passion and commitment of the entrepreneur is absolutely critical to stick with the venture through all the tough times and creeping doubts.

Extending the concept, I'm of the mind that you need to have passion and commitment in the early stage team too, not just the founder. Two recent incidents have brought this into focus. First, I've recently started looking for the right partners to launch my venture. I don't have a grab-n-go team (a matter of timing - see post on Trolling for teams), so I have to search and select the right people to join me. I found some really good people who're sympatico and find the idea exciting, but they want funding, and a salary. I too remember the hollow promises of the dot-com bust, and sympathize with the need to not worry about rent money. So, I'm OK with folks keeping their jobs and working on this venture on the side for a short while until we can build some value (read product). But this requires commitment, and that's in lockstep with passion. The idea has to hijack the person's heart and mind so much they start thinking it's theirs, and when they've reached that point, moonlighting while working for equity seems like the smart thing to do. Even if you could get the funding, this might be a good litmus test for commitment.

Just a couple of days ago I was in a discussion with an engineer who's currently in a startup. He was comparing the quality of the people who were there in the early days, when the whole company fit into one room, to those who came on board a few months later, on the heels of a substantial investment. He felt the later arrivals were as smart and competent as the ones already there, but they acted differently. They more often needed to be asked to work weekends (while the early stage team took that as the norm) and they didn't often try to do, or get involved, in everything in the company (once again the early team members had to be in the middle of all that went on). Basically, the first-on-board acted as if they owned the company, while the others acted as employees, albeit ones with vested interests in the success of the company.

It's a heady rush to found a team of passionate, committed people who take ownership, or to be part of such a team where you feel you're personally responsible for the future of the venture (and yes, equity comes in play here too). What's more, such a team is a necessity if you want your venture to end up being something more than an expired domain name and a scratched-out business card down the line. It's worth the founder's while to look for someone with the right stuff and make that the highest priority.