After you’ve chosen your co-founder, it’s time to begin hiring the team that’s going to get your business off the ground. After all, it’s not easy to get a company off the ground with just two people, no matter how many hats you can claim to wear.
Picking your team means more than just finding the ‘I.T. Person’ or the ‘Marketing Person’. With everything that it takes for a startup to move forward, you’ve got to fill more than just roles. Take into consideration these things when hiring your business’ founding team.
Find a Crew that Will Take Action
You could have a team that has all the ideas in the world, but ideas are just scribblings on paper without action. Ensure that your team is the one that will make the cold call, or send out the cold email. The small group of people that you bring on should be ready to spring at a moment’s notice, because time is crucial, and it takes action to keep the wheels turning at your business.
Freelancers Are Just Future Full-Timers
Take advantage of hiring part-time workers early on. The era of gig jobs has never been more prominent, and you may not need a role filled for 40 hours a week just yet. Bringing on freelancers to help you get the jobs you need to be done without overspending. and you never know when a freelancer might become a long-term team member. Get their feet wet first, and once you know they’re a great fit, bring them full-time!
Look for Teammates with Complementary Skills
While assigned roles help ease the process of most businesses, the reality of startups people wearing multiple hats. You’re going to need a team of people that might need to step out of their assigned role for a moment and tackle something that’s outside of their daily duties. Finding someone who knows tech and graphic design could eventually come in handy. When you have more capital, then you’ll be able to work with more streamlined roles. When you’re starting, however, you never know what roadblocks might present themselves, and who you’ll need to overcome them. Finding employees that are able to help in more than one place could help you out of a crucial bind one day.
Self-Awareness is Key
Not everyone has the incredible gift to look into the mirror and realize that there are certain things they don’t excel at. Picking individuals that recognize their weaknesses is just as important as pickling someone who recognizes their strengths. Being self-aware helps avoid unnecessary hiccups along the way, because when you’re getting your company off the ground, every step, forward or backward, has a massive impact.
Be the Personality Your Team Feeds Off Of
Knowing right off the bat the kind of culture you want to maintain is imperative. And it’s up to you to maintain that culture. As the founder of the company, your every move will be closely watched by your team, whether they’re aware of it or not. So make sure that you’re responding to emails on time. The sooner, the better! Be the first to arrive each day and the last to leave. All of these traits are what your team takes notice of, and can help keep them the hard workers you know they are.
Building your startup’s initial team isn’t going to happen overnight. You’ll need a list of what exactly you want to accomplish, and the skills needed to check all the right boxes. Your company depends on your early employees, so make sure they’re ready to sweat as hard as you are.