Team

Most people agree the most important ingredient in a startup is the team. I witnessed first-hand how important the team is. The Seed Stage Records (SSR) team was a diverse and talented group that generated a lot of great ideas for what SSR could become. But what ultimately killed SSR was the team’s lack of experience and leadership.

The founder, whom I really like and have a lot of respect for, didn’t have the leadership skills to step up and take control of the group, make tough strategic decisions, and drive the team to set and reach milestones. There were a few people with “strong personalities” that continually derailed the group and questioned its direction. The result was that the group spent most of the time endlessly debating features, pricing, and strategy.

While SSR was struggling to make decisions, I was checking in on other groups and lending my skills where needed. The groups that were making the most progress were composed of serial entrepreneurs, seasoned business execs, and developers that could deliver. The SSR team was talented but there was no one on the team that had experience building the platform and features SSR wanted to deliver. Instead of hustling to build an alpha version, the SSR team spent alot of time trying to figure if and how the product could be built.

Lessons Learned: Pick a startup based on the team not on the idea. Make sure the team has a good dynamic. Make sure the team is composed of people who can actually build the product.

Strategy

By late Saturday night it was apparent that SSR was struggling and desperately needed help. Lance Weatherby was nice enough to drop by shortly after midnight to hold an inspirational strategy session. After observing the group debate strategy, Lance stepped in and asked everyone to take out a sheet of paper and finish this sentence: “Seed Stage records is ____________.”

(Here’s a good template for doing this exercise.)

Lance then wrote down the answers on the whiteboard, which revealed that the team had very different ideas on what SSR should be. Lance led a few more exercises to help the team make a decision on what exactly SSR should do, what it would take to do it, and who would be responsible for the various parts.

Lance’s last minute intervention (thanks Lance!) made it apparent that the team had never agreed on strategy and value proposition. This caused much confusion and led to the stalemate debates that were preventing progress.

Lessons Learned: Decide on strategy and value proposition early on and make sure everyone is aware of and understands it.

Leadership

Lance’s intervention, which several SSR members noted was the highlight of their weekend, illustrated that SSR had a real lack of leadership. SSR needed someone to stand up, lead and make tough decisions that might upset some of the team.

As I tweeted Saturday afternoon, there’s a reason startups have CEOs: someone needs to have the authority to make difficult decisions. SSR was run more as a democracy where everyone had an equal voice. This is no way to run a startup and was the root of many problems.

In addition to needing a CEO who would make decisions, SSR needed other clearly defined roles. SSR needed a product manager, a project manager, a marketer, etc. Instead of assigning roles, team members jumped from task to task  which resulted in duplicate and unfinished work.

Lessons Learned: Leadership and roles are critical. Having a CEO who makes tough decisions and people with specific roles is a must.

While I am disappointed that SSR failed (some group members might move forward on the project), I am grateful for having had the opportunity to work with them, witness the problems and learn from the mistakes.

What are your thoughts about these lessons? What would you add?

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