Answer: Building a strong team

Questions:

1. Why do you think that team is so important in a start-up company?
2. Think about a team that you were involved with. Use examples from sports, school clubs and activities or classroom projects. What was it about the team that made it successful (or not)?
3. Which of the skills on the list do you think are innate (you are born with them) vs. can be developed through education or experience?

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Harvard Business Review): 

Respondents rated assembling a founding team as the highest-priority skill for a future technology venture leader. One commented, “No 24-year-old engineer can acquire all of these skills in five years. So, the crucial skill is learning how to form a founding team that can cover the gaps. A founder must be able to assess their own strengths and weaknesses and know how to recruit and motivate complementary founding team members.” Another added, “If you don’t get decisions about potential cofounders right — for example, if your cofounder is not fully committed — it will likely kill your company.”

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Here's our current lesson on Entrepreneurship. Next month we are launching a new mini-Unit on the topic. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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