Part 2: The Team

Even the most well designed concept would go nowhere without a team to execute.



Sometimes the right choice is no team at all -- but this is not the sustainable or scalable option for most operations.



How does an entrepreneur, and a starving one at that, build a team of like-minded, competent, individuals who will work with and not against the entrepreneur or each other?



I don't know the right answer, but have a running theory:



The optimal team is build both with trusted associates, as well as with experimental new talent.

Unfortunately, payroll takes capital. If you're starving, that capital comes out of the marketing budget or the R&D budget, or food/rent.

So how do you compensate a resource without funding?

Stay tuned for an upcomg post on incentives...

I have launched a social experiment of my own for new talent that includes both experiential incentives and targeted good faith.

My current team includes a few trusted associates, all part-time, and freelanced admin and skilled labor resources. If the experiment above goes well, it will include a few more feet on the ground. Full details to be released after the event is completed.

Keys To Success: Competence

One of things I hope to accomplish on this blog are to capture the elusive concept of "success" in various KPIs.

What exactly is competence? That mystical quality that makes some people get things done, and others just not. That lets some people hit the ground running and face unseen issues with poise, and some just to get flustered.

I frequently hear my clients tell me that my productivity is unbelievable and that my analytics are incomprehensible -- and this is not a bragging point to me but a case study: I don't think of myself as any more capable or intelligent than any other human being, but I deliver what I promise.

I propose that competence is tied to two things: the ability to take calculated risks, and the fortitude to do what is needed to complete a task in the face of unseen obstacles.

Can you invest capital that you don't yet know you have, or build skills that you don't know how to build and then execute with them? I think that's all it takes.

What do you think?