Posts Tagged ‘Small Biz tools’
Why you need to Build the Right Team for small business success
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010On Sundays, my husband and I usually try to plan out our week… which in turn yields discussions of when I have KikScore conference calls to when he can go have some beers with his buds, while juggling our 2-year old daughter’s bedtime schedule. The KikScore conference calls change in frequency week to week, depending on the next big item we are working to push through or brainstorm on. And I realized that having a key team and truly enjoying the people you do business with is crucial to not only its success, but your own sanity. I was reading in Business Week about Hunch, and Caterina Fake brings up a very critical component of small business success — Building the Right Team.
Anyone can come up with a business idea, but taking that idea and making it a viable venture that can grow and prosper requires more brain power than one can share. Creating a team of that nature isn’t easy by any means. When I explain the KikScore story (at least since my involvement) to family and friends… it’s best summarized as: KikScore is the side-business I’ve been working on with a group of talented friends – ranging from development, project management, business development and lawyers… a few from previous jobs/lives and combination thereof. The thing is, I wasn’t the one with the big idea, but when the core founders Mike, Raj and Joel approached me to jump in and help streamline the KikScore scoring algorithm, I was honored and ecstatic to be part of an entrepreneurial journey.
The team continued to build from there as we quickly found that off-shoring all of our development was not only costly and time-consuming, but left us with little control over the integrity of the code. So we searched (again from previous jobs/lives) to find an in-house development resource that could oversee the coding efforts and allow us to piecemeal items off-shore as needed, but not as a 100% solution.
Since we are still a night/weekend business, we have many conference calls and e-mails flying about daily. Another key component to a strong team is keeping the communication open and being able to speak your mind — we argue, which in turn generates new ideas and challenges each of us to listen with respect. This re-iterates the need for a strong team focus. Each member has their primary role (albeit marketing, development, design, etc) but we all wear multiple hats when it comes to driving the KikScore business forward and setting priorities. In a start-up environment, flexibility is vital – what was a hot priority last week, can take a complete 180 turn the following week based upon customer feedback or some unforeseen influence. The team needs to be able to react, respond and regroup — effectively.
If you are working on a new business idea, who will you pull into your inner circle to make it happen? Be selective… you’ll be spending way more time (on late night conference calls, etc.) with them, than with your family.