You are thinking of starting a seed-stage startup, and you want to know the best way to build your initial team.

Quickly putting together an initial team for a seed-stage startup can be very difficult; it’s one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face when starting their company. You could easily fall prey to three common pitfalls:

• Taking too long to find people who fill every spot on your list.
• Feeling pressured into agreeing with everyone on how things should be done.
• Overlooking factors that will affect how long each person stays onboard.

Clear Your Vision

In the initial stage of building your startup, it’s important to be clear about what you wish to achieve. Are you looking for a profitable exit, or do you want to build a sustainable social impact organization?

Once your vision and purpose are clear, it becomes easier to find people who share it and will be able to align their goals with those of the company. Your team should know your goals and intentions right from the beginning to work towards them.

Hire the RIGHT People

Following are the things that you should keep in mind while hiring individuals for your startup:

• Identify the Skills You Need
  • The first step to building a successful team is to figure out what skills are necessary for your startup’s success.

• Hire People Who Share Your Vision
  • You want everyone on the team to agree with the company’s overall mission and be willing to stick around as things get difficult and plan changes

• Hire People With Complementary Skills
  • Look for people who have different skill sets than you so that together, you can form a strong team that can overcome any obstacle it faces.

• Hire People Who Are Better than You
  • As a CEO, you should hire people who are capable of doing their jobs better than you are.

It is how you know that when you leave for a meeting or take time off, things will run smoothly in your absence because everyone on the team has each other’s backs and knows what needs to be done without being told by someone else every step of the way.

Create a Productive Environment

Besides the obvious, you want to make sure you create a positive environment and that your employees are happy coming to work.

You will already have enough going on during the initial stages of your business venture.

You don’t need negative attitudes and people that do not believe in what you are doing or what the company stands for.

Keep your office clean, neat, and productive. Your startup team will be more productive and positive if everyone is on the same page.

Room for Mistakes, Improvements, Growth, and Learning

In the early stages, the mistake is bound to happen. Therefore, work on mitigating them as much as possible and ensure everyone can learn from them.

Partner Up with Other Industry Experts

Partnering with other industry experts can be very beneficial for your startup to:

• Create a stronger brand message
• Increase your reach
• Increase your credibility
• Save time and money

Verdict

It cannot be easy to find and keep the right people to help your company thrive. When building your initial team, keep all of these tips to create an environment where things get done, mistakes are made, and lessons are learned.