Building a tech startup and perhaps any business is all about having a vision, being able to articulate it, assembling a team and executing it. It helps execution if the know-how is there to start with. You know what needs to be done, how to do it and when to do it. You may not need to be a specialist in each area but you need to have the ability to find individuals who can be. You would need constant supervision to ensure the team does not divert from the path and this is where the knowledge and experiences come in. Whilst micromanagement is essential in the early days, you need to know when to delegate and how. It’s paramount to establish checks and balances, otherwise, the ship you are building could end up sunk in front of your own eyes.
Of course, you also need to ensure you have the cash flow to fund the business and especially pay your suppliers and any creditors you have. Nothing worse than a creditor calling in what is owed and you having to liquidate the company, if there is no wiggle room left. There is always wiggle room but these could lead to significant founder equity dilution.
Let’s explore how SkilledUp Life fares with above:
- Vision: Create an environment where cash-starved tech founders can build teams with skilled volunteers (once subscribed) to realise their startup dreams.
- Articulate the vision: SkilledUp Life brings together over 40,000 Skilled Volunteers from 134 countries looking to gain more experience and skills to improve their career prospects with cash-starved tech founders and their tech startups that require talent to survive and grow.
- assembling the team: Leverage our own SkilledUp Lifers.
- Executing it: Build a two-sided marketplace with a supply-side to attract and service volunteers and the other side for early-stage tech startups. We have a team of circa 90 scattered across multiple functional teams.
- Know-how: I have plenty of experience in building tech startups but had no experience in building and maintaining large teams.