2nd Lecture: The team and the execution of a start up

ffreix business,

Today, we went a little bit deeper in the start up creation, with a very practical approach. Bala gave us some good tips regarding the early start of the start up and especially on how to build his team and with, to me, the most important part of the start up : the execution.

But first, we started by enumerating the bad reason to create a start-up and some of the counter-intuitive idea about a start-up. To illustrate it I found this funny cartoon by Anna Vital :

The real reason why you should start your own start up is simple : change the future.

To build your team, just find co-fonder. You’ll hire people when your business will run. Your co-founders (3 is the best figure) must be smarter than you are and relentlessly resourceful. An other critical point is your investors pick. You must choose them as if they were your team members. They have money but can destroy your company very easily. The best is to  have at least 2 investors competing for your company.

If you want to learn more about the ideal start-up team composition, take a look on this post from Bala Blog.

For me, the most interesting topic dealt with the start up execution. Indeed, I am not one of those who think that the idea or the product is the most important key of success. Looking back to one of the last start-up success story : Snapchat. The idea is not revolutionary, the product is not outstanding. They managed to create a simple use app, and communicated well. They were not pioneer, they won’t change the future and didn’t respond a specific demand. They just executed perfectly.

So, for a good execution 3 criteria of success :

  • The focus, “it determines your reality”
  • The prioritization
  • The intensity

The CEO is the guarantor of these criteria, by defining the vision, creating the team, ensuring that everyone has the necessary resources, over communicating and making sure that all is going swimmingly.
Bala has not talked about it, but to me, the CEO has a 6th role which is to be a role model, he has to be a leader by showing the example.

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