Startup Blabber #004: The Hamptons Five
Dear Steemians,
Today, I wanted to talk about my thoughts on the different types of a really good team for your business.
The Team
I've had my experience with 2 different startups and a whole slew of startups I saw from the side as an investment. What I have come to realize is something that I have mentioned before. Many of the ideas out there aren't really stupid, what's really difficult is the execution. The core of an execution is a really strong team to implement all of the theories and hypotheses out there. I see two different team styles that could work in the long run: 1) The King Approach, and 2) The Coalition Approach.
The King
The King consists of one really strong leader and a strong middle management execution team. It is a brute force top-down approach where the leader sets up the game plan and the middle management is there to execute. I've seen this really works for someone on their second+ startup. The series goes like this:
- He (She) had a really strong first startup
- He managed a great exit
- People saw the execution from start to finish
- People believed in this leader
- He started a new company with a great goal
- People trusted him to lead the way and were willing to follow him without hesitation
The huge pro on The King is that this approach is wildly fast in its style. As a result, the whole company gets engulfed in this tidal wave and will have no time to rest (a slight con), but even with no rest, people are so busy and excited on the implementation towards this goal, that they are hugely motivated until the finish. The con is that the leader cannot be perfect and is bound to make some mistakes. When the mistakes or ill-thought-out theories get implemented, it is executed also in a fast manner.
One great example in Korea of The King is Coupang, a rival start-up to TMON. Bom Kim has been wildly successful in starting a company from scratch. Here is a recent news article that you might find interesting regarding Bom.
The Coalition
The Coalition is more of a partnership. While there is a clear CEO, there is also a group of partners that the CEO heavily relies on, more specifically a group of C's. This usually happens with someone on their first startup, from what I can tell, and it goes somewhat like this:
- Someone (the eventual CEO) has a super great idea
- Since it's his (her) first startup, he has no idea how to start
- He starts asking around and before creating a company, begins to assemble a team
- The team becomes the coalition
- Roles & Responsibilities are doled out according to the strengths of the starting team
- A company is created
- A coalition is created
Now, what do people think are the pros and cons to The Coalition? It's actually a mediation between the pros and cons of the The King. Because it is still a startup, a successful coalition will still be fast in its execution, but it will also be noticeably slower than a one-man show. At the same time, because of so many people taking a look at any given problem, the risks of running your backs against a wall will also be lower. One result of The Coalition that I have seen is that at a certain point in the company's growth, it will be necessary for The Coalition to become The King.
Remember how I mentioned that this usually happens in the initial startup? What ends up happening is that in the course of a company's growth, there will be a need to supplant the initial team with people who have more experience. That is to say, unless someone really grows up fast in their role and can pack a decade+ amount of experience in a few years.
The real tricky part at this stage is to leave on friendly terms. I've seen this in my first startup, TMON. We all came together with a common goal to bring everything offline, online. As our company grew from nothing to billings in excess of a billion dollars, we really needed an experienced management to take our company to the next stage of growth. As a result, four out of the five founders of TMON, eventually gave up the management roles to experienced hires.
It's very hard to "go down the ladder" emotionally, and as a result, most founders will leave the company. I also found it hard (I'll talk about that in another blabber), and eventually founded another company Althea. What's been really fortunate for the founders of TMON is that we stayed a close-knit group after we left the company and we still get together frequently to have fun!
Conclusion
What do you think is my personal favorite out of the two? I honestly like The King, but who wouldn't. You make all of the decisions. There are no walls, but, I mean, would I take back my experience at TMON and say that I should have tried out The King on my first get-go? No. I'm not going to go out and be all arrogant and say that I would be an awesome king. There was a slew of valuable experiences and knowledge that I gained from The Coalition that I would never take back. Without TMON, I would have no Althea.
For all the first-timers out there, I would heavily opt for The Coalition, but at the same time, everyone on the team should know exactly what they are getting into. Then with that valuable experience, gauge yourself to see what the best next step would be.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Chris
More about myself:
Steemit Introductory Post
Althea Talk Series:
Althea Talk #001: Introduction
Althea Talk #002: My Journey Into Skincare
Startup Blabber Series:
Startup Blabber #001: Communication Within a Team
Startup Blabber #002: Most Important Aspect of a Startup
Startup Blabber #003: There shall always be conflict!
Well this collection of idea was greatly put together and I'm sure other steemitians would agree
Its great ideal post you have presented beautifully for steemian i like the most team because if you have great team you can achieve your goal but ofcourse king is necessary for having strong powers and bravery like a loin to act on their decissions
From my personal experience, working in a team that knows how to work with each other is great. Getting to the point where you actually have such a team though can be remarkably painful.
During the time it takes to get to that point, chances are that you found ways to become an actual leader by yourself. God knows, opportunities for making that a reality exist, probably now more than ever.
You make a lot of valid points! Seems like you have a lot of experience with this. Could I ask you to share some?
People here in germany have a very weird mindset when it comes to finances and business. Especially in the area I am living in.
For the most part, nobody is happy with their jobs or their job conditions, people moan and complan constantly about this and that or just. Now if you come along having some kind of idea or concept that could break that cycle, they will still reject it or make up apologizes for not wanting to participate.
TThe time and effort it would take for building a functioning team in order to create a flourishing business would be tremendous and the payout, if any, minimal.
I know a couple people who managed to create nice lifes by themselves and most of them managed to get to that point by relying on themselves and improving constantly while those that tried to find success by building and relying on teams ended up having to babysit people who were never really willing or caring in the first place.
Thanks for the information. Is the startup culture alive and happening in Germany? I know of the Rocket guys, but other than that, I haven't been aware too much of what is happening in Europe.
I think you hit the nail. Ultimately, people who "rely on themselves and improve themselves constantly" are the guys to ultimately find success at a much higher clip.
That is an interesting question. There are a couple of people who try to do something else than just 9to5ing in someone elses business. Which sounds good in theory, but these people usually fail because they either start doing things that have been tried and failed plenty of times before by other people, like opening diners and restaurants of sorts.
Just a week ago, I met a man who wanted to apply for a call center job where he would earn basicly close to minimum wage. Talking to the guy, I found out that he actually used to have two restaurants in the area, but sold them off because it was too taxing for him physically and mentally and apparently, they weren't doing too good financially either.
Starting a business in germany is possible, but it's hard and most people get discouraged long before ever reaching the point this man left behind,
That being said, I do notice that the younger generation is a bit more open towards all sorts of topics. Probably one of the percs of having been grown up with the internet. Met a 20 year old guy just a couple days who was able to tell me things about topics like Dropshipping which I never knew much about.
That being said, there may still be hope for the future.
I think I see that in Korea as well. Most of the stats on Korea on "startups" are actually people who retired from the workforce between the ages of 50 and 60. These people still have 20+ years of life ahead of them, but cannot sustain their lifestyle based on their current retirement income. As a result, they are prone to opening cafes, restaurants, or other food-related businesses that they actually have no experience in, which probably would not end well. As a result, most "startups" fail within their first year.
That being said, I think there is more promise for people that are younger. They are still fresh with ideas, with no dependents, and have the stamina to go through the vigorous stages of a startup. They might make much more mistakes, but then again, they can make those mistakes, as long as they plow through it all with perseverance.
Talking about retirement and retirement plans would be an entirely different beast to tackle. That topic looks rather dire in here as well, but from what I have heard, that seems to be the case almost everywhere.
To be honest, I find topics like these very tiresome. If I had my will, I would be able to just live without having to waste thought on getting, having, saving or making money in any way, shape or form and could focus on things that are much more interesting or promising. But that is probably a form of luxury no money can buy.
Regarding the youth, the next generation, I do agree that they have a lot of potencial going for them and them making mistakes is a good thing because with every mistake that is being made comes a lesson. The only thing I wish for all the youths on this planet would be better rolemodels and teachers.
I described how people look at themes like work and finances and of course, these views are being pushed onto the next generation. I consider that to be actual damage being done to them and it is damage that is very hard to repair.
I know a girl, an actually passionate and dedicated writer. I told her about steemit and that this platform is a great way to post some of her things, get feedback from interesting people from all kinds of places with the added benefit of maybe being able to make some extra money on top of it.
Obviously, she rejected because she thinks that the idea of making money off of such things is wrong. Occurances like this makes me wonder what some people are being thought in their homes.
As much potencial as the upcoming generation has, they need much better rolemodels and teachers that help them embrace and utilize said potencial.
Actually, I don't think I will talk about retirement plans at all. My knowledge on such matters is so low that I'm not sure if I can formulate a good opinion on those topics.
With regards to steemit, I do see a lot of good from this platform, which is why I decided to join and even blog in the first place. There are some grounds to the girl in your response. Ideally, in some utopian society, you would not want to be "paid" for your opinions, but I'm not sure I am in the same boat as hers. The contribution from incentivized work and from unincentivized work is fundamentally different.
Good topic