Dear Steemians,
Today, I wanted to talk about my thoughts on the different types of a really good team for your business.
The Team
I've had my experience with 2 different startups and a whole slew of startups I saw from the side as an investment. What I have come to realize is something that I have mentioned before. Many of the ideas out there aren't really stupid, what's really difficult is the execution. The core of an execution is a really strong team to implement all of the theories and hypotheses out there. I see two different team styles that could work in the long run: 1) The King Approach, and 2) The Coalition Approach.
The King
The King consists of one really strong leader and a strong middle management execution team. It is a brute force top-down approach where the leader sets up the game plan and the middle management is there to execute. I've seen this really works for someone on their second+ startup. The series goes like this:
The huge pro on The King is that this approach is wildly fast in its style. As a result, the whole company gets engulfed in this tidal wave and will have no time to rest (a slight con), but even with no rest, people are so busy and excited on the implementation towards this goal, that they are hugely motivated until the finish. The con is that the leader cannot be perfect and is bound to make some mistakes. When the mistakes or ill-thought-out theories get implemented, it is executed also in a fast manner.
One great example in Korea of The King is Coupang, a rival start-up to TMON. Bom Kim has been wildly successful in starting a company from scratch. Here is a recent news article that you might find interesting regarding Bom.
The Coalition
The Coalition is more of a partnership. While there is a clear CEO, there is also a group of partners that the CEO heavily relies on, more specifically a group of C's. This usually happens with someone on their first startup, from what I can tell, and it goes somewhat like this:
Now, what do people think are the pros and cons to The Coalition? It's actually a mediation between the pros and cons of the The King. Because it is still a startup, a successful coalition will still be fast in its execution, but it will also be noticeably slower than a one-man show. At the same time, because of so many people taking a look at any given problem, the risks of running your backs against a wall will also be lower. One result of The Coalition that I have seen is that at a certain point in the company's growth, it will be necessary for The Coalition to become The King.
Remember how I mentioned that this usually happens in the initial startup? What ends up happening is that in the course of a company's growth, there will be a need to supplant the initial team with people who have more experience. That is to say, unless someone really grows up fast in their role and can pack a decade+ amount of experience in a few years.
The real tricky part at this stage is to leave on friendly terms. I've seen this in my first startup, TMON. We all came together with a common goal to bring everything offline, online. As our company grew from nothing to billings in excess of a billion dollars, we really needed an experienced management to take our company to the next stage of growth. As a result, four out of the five founders of TMON, eventually gave up the management roles to experienced hires.
It's very hard to "go down the ladder" emotionally, and as a result, most founders will leave the company. I also found it hard (I'll talk about that in another blabber), and eventually founded another company Althea. What's been really fortunate for the founders of TMON is that we stayed a close-knit group after we left the company and we still get together frequently to have fun!
Conclusion
What do you think is my personal favorite out of the two? I honestly like The King, but who wouldn't. You make all of the decisions. There are no walls, but, I mean, would I take back my experience at TMON and say that I should have tried out The King on my first get-go? No. I'm not going to go out and be all arrogant and say that I would be an awesome king. There was a slew of valuable experiences and knowledge that I gained from The Coalition that I would never take back. Without TMON, I would have no Althea.
For all the first-timers out there, I would heavily opt for The Coalition, but at the same time, everyone on the team should know exactly what they are getting into. Then with that valuable experience, gauge yourself to see what the best next step would be.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Chris
More about myself:
Steemit Introductory Post
Althea Talk Series:
Althea Talk #001: Introduction
Althea Talk #002: My Journey Into Skincare
Startup Blabber Series:
Startup Blabber #001: Communication Within a Team
Startup Blabber #002: Most Important Aspect of a Startup
Startup Blabber #003: There shall always be conflict!
