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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:
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:
- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2333202493
- http://www.thefunded.com/job/list
- http://www.gobignetwork.com/startup-company-job/Default.aspx
- 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
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