Power from the people

Lists are ubiquitous and ever popular. They give the illusion of control - if you can just check off these 10 things you'll lose weight, get into your dream college, find your soul mate and build an amazing company from scratch. Ah, if only. But, lists are still useful if you don't treat them as the 'check' kind and I particularly enjoy reading the entrepreneurial ones (by entrepreneurs) to see what truths they hold dear.

For example, I recently read list of tips for entrepreneurs from Kevin Rose, Digg's founder (you can read the list here). While the focus is on web startups, there are many good things on that list and after the first one ('just build it' - can't top that), my favorites are 'hire your boss' and 'demand excellence'.

The 'hire your boss' bit is about hiring people who you'd respect and you'd want to work for, even if you're hiring them to work for you. And the 'excellence' one is to hire passionate people who are as consumed by your vision as you are. In my experiences both at large corporations and startups, I always had the most success when I hired super smart people who were super committed to doing a great job. They were not always the people with the top college or top company pedigrees, but they definitely had a 'spark' and certain common characteristics: early and complete commitment to the goal, quick at learning, uncompromising in quality and integrity but understanding business constraints, and able to consider challenges as just 'stuff to resolve'. Most of all they enjoyed their jobs and it was exciting to work with them.

I've mentioned this in previous posts about having team members with 'fire in the belly' and 'the right stuff'. An early stage startup needs a passionate team even more than an established one as there's more chaos to be endured, more challenges to be met and hurdles to be jumped which would be difficult to manage with a team that's not emotionally vested in the outcome. But even though you may not have your dream team yet when you get started on the venture, figure out a way to do that without compromising on your management team. It is better to take your time, even if you have to work with consultants for a while, and hold out until you find people who mirror your passion instead of taking on those with extensive resumes but the involvement burner set to low. More than money, your startup is powered by people, the ones who're as crazy about your idea as you are - not to mention, it's way more fun than being the lone crazy in the group!