Entrepreneurs top common skills (3) – Team Building

Many of the best examples of successful entrepreneurs I know about started their ventures with a DIY concept. They got the idea, they mulled over it, they created a vision for their project and they started working on it. Eventually they generated revenues and they were able to prove that the idea was profitable and it had a chance to become a real business.

This is a very exciting moment for an entrepreneur. You have worked hard, usually just on your own, to demonstrate, usually just to yourself, that IT’S GONNA WORK!!!

Up to this point everything has been handled by the entrepreneur. But there is a whole new world from this phase to the next one: if you want to increase your revenues, you need to grow and you definitely need PEOPLE to help you. You need to start hiring employees.

This is a threshold that every startup has to tackle and it seems to be easier than what it really is. Bringing great people on board is one of the most critical requirements of every company to be successful. The entrepreneur has to identify, attract and select the employees that will help him to expand his business.

Finding the correct technical skills and education is not usually the problem. The key factor is being able to find people who match your company culture and values. The entrepreneur probably has not formally defined at this point a set of values and a culture description for his project. But without any doubt they already exist. They exist as they are intimately embedded within the entrepreneur’s personality.

So, here is the challenge: You have to find skilled and educated people for the job and they have to perfectly match your culture and values.

Most of the existing hiring methodologies are focused on the first part of the challenge but they almost ignore the second one. I am going to present two examples that are just brilliant in identifying the alignment between the candidate and the company values and culture.

Let’s have a look at Zapoos. For those who are not familiar with this company it is one of the greatest examples of successful online retailers in the world. They started selling shoes in 1999 and nowadays the company sells a wide variety of products.

If you have the time, watch Zapoos’ CEO, Tony Hsieh, in this video explaining how they hire people for their organization. I hope you will find it self-explanatory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BpWz-vw35M&app=desktop

Southwest Airlines is another great example of a company that has been able to create and maintain a unique culture for many years after its creation. Every new employee who joins the company is expected to contribute to this culture. For them the costumer is the most important part of the company and they demonstrate it on every possible occasion they have.

A couple of quotes to finalize today:

“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." - Henry Ford

Coming next week: Creativity and Adaptability