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management team

Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 5 months ago

page director: Brian D. Butler

contributors:   

if you are interested in contributing see here

 

Table of Contents:


 

 

Related pages from KookyPlan:

 

 

Why is the team important?

 

This discussion is in relation to innovation, and the importance of investing in people in the early-stage venture capital process:

 

When looking for VC funding, it is important to realize the importance of the team.  We always hear this.  But, why do VCs put such a large emphasis on the team?   I have a theory on this one:  its because essentially, the VC don’t know which ideas are going to be successful.  They don’t believe heavily in one technology or another (if they did, they would likely be entrepreneurs themselves).  Because they hear ideas all day long, they need a way to separate out the good from the bad and the ugly.

 

There is an essential momentum that VCs need to overcome, and need to avoid being trapped into “group-think” (herd-mentality) as everyone chases the latest trends.  If you think back to when Google was first pitching their ideas to VCs, it was common to hear criticism that “they didn’t have a sustainable business model”.   And later, as we saw money chasing money into ever more social networks, I began to wonder how many of them were just being funded by “me-too” VC funds that chased the latest fad.

 

The conclusion?  the most successful early-stage investments will be ones that ignore common knowledge, and buck the trends, and invest in truly original and innovative solutions.  But, without the comfort of intellectual acceptance from your peers, how do VCs wade into the unknown, and successfully make a career of betting on counter-intuitive ideas?  They key, I believe, is to invest in exceptional people with heightened technological knowledge, insight, and vision.  By seeking out and investing in leading engineers at Yahoo!, for example (many of whom may be looking for new careers now), the early stage investor will be better positioned than chasing new ideas from unknown sources.

 

So, that brings me back to the original question: “why are entrepreneurial teams so important?”.  In response it seems clear that early-stage investors will be better served by investing in people than in ideas.

 

Why?  Because at the early stage, almost all ideas sound great, possible, and world-changing.  But how many of them actually will?  Who knows, but I’ll bet you that the VC’s investing in MIT grads or ex-Google guys will have better success ratios.  Its just a better bet that their ideas are really insightful (and not trend-chasing), and that they will have the skill set (not just they hype) to pull of the transformation.

 

Read more in our discussion:

 

Management Team Building

 

note:  job seekers should visit our page: job search

 

Where to look for Talent

 

Post "help wanted" on Craigslist

  • especially for technology related talent:  post in San Francisco

 

Social Networks

 

Collaboration sites:

 

 

 

Non-Disclosure agreement

 

A key hurdle to overcome when trying to attract talent is "how to discuss the idea without fear that the other guy will take your idea".  This is especially true if you are a business-guy, but your idea is technical in nature, and you need to attract technical help (CTO, etc).  What I suggest is that you should have a non-disclosure agreement ready to sign and email, sign, and get discussing.  Its not iron-clad, no...but it is helpful in establishing rules.

 

here is an example:  

 NDA.doc

 

 

 

Finding talent for Startups

 

Find a Startup near you 

There is an excellent new service (Startup Warrior) that helps you find startups based on map location.  For example, see KookyPlan here

 

 

Venture-backed companies

 

http://www.ventureloop.com/ventureloop/home.php

 

Startup jobboards:

 

  1. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2333202493
  2. http://www.thefunded.com/job/list
  3. http://www.gobignetwork.com/startup-company-job/Default.aspx
  4. add job board to KookyPlan: http://www.personforce.com/

 

 

 

Recruiters Specializing in Startups, VC's:

 

Recruiters

BDP Research and Barthodi                            www.bartholdisearch.com          Brenda DePaz              480-232-2537            execbdp@aol.com

EF Financial                                    www.effinancial.com                   Erika Feinberg              480-767-9200           erika@effinancial.com

Incite Partners                               www.incitepartners.com             Marilyn Evans               480-941-5555           me@incitepartners.com

Murro Consulting                            www.murro.com                         Ingred Murro                 602-224-5000          imurro@murro.com

Outsource HR                                 www.spectrumhronline.com        Tom Zgainer                 480-585-6601           tcz@fiesta.net

Pearson & Associates                    www.pearson-assoc.com            Chuck Pearson             480-368-9100           contact@pearson-assoc.com

Resource Ocean                            www.resourceocean.com                                                 866-852-0679           helpdesk@resourceocean.com

SSA Exec Search                            www.ssaexec.com                       Susan Schultz              480-998-1744           mail@ssaexec.com

Swartz & Associates                      www.swartz.com                         Bill Swartz                    480-998-9159           bill@swartz.com

 

High Tech JobBoards worth checking out:

 

Dice-com

 

Craigslist.com has a surprising collection ability to place high-tech jobs.  But, you have to pick your location correctly.  Try San Francisco area and look under jobs here:  sample from S.F

 

 

 

Job Board from Venture Beat

Tech jobs from TechCrunch.com

 

 

Stealing talent from Competitors

 

Non-compete clauses:  

 

How can you hire employees that already work for a cometitor, but signed a non compete clause? 

interesting discussion here: The Noncompete Ruling Won’t Change Anything, Anywhere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links to KookyPlan pages 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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