Tag Archives: management

Team Configurations for Startups

Posted on by

Startups so young they haven’t even started officially using the term “team configuration” still need to decide their team configuration. They ask themselves:  what team do we start with? Very often the answer boils down to the answer for what team can we start with. Startups don’t have the luxury of choice primarily because they are constrained monetarily. At the same time, though, they also face the constraint of wanting team members who are aligned on long term objectives.

There are five startups that I now have the good fortune of watching develop into full-scale companies. All of them face their own unique situations. Specifically with regard to team configuration, these startups face different problems.

The first, a project management consultancy (with which I am engaged in an advisory role), wants fully committed hands-on people even when the work is project-based. The second startup, a financial literacy and online trading interface firm, needs people who can work on exactly what the company is doing, but without the same grade of pay as large financial companies. The third, an advertising firm, needs good hands for web-based ad development. The fourth already has a 4-member team in place, what it now needs is to move into a field that will utilise their diverse strengths. The fifth is sure of neither its field, nor its team members, and so it is still in an incubatory phase.

Looking at this from the recruit’s side, working for a startup is an investment. The big question to be answered is: am I willing to invest my next 2-3 years (at least) working for this company, and tie my fortunes to its?

Related articles

Business Schools – Training for What?

Posted on by

Business schools across the world are finding themselves in a situation of introspection: what exactly is the need for their existence? More importantly, what do they teach?

Applications for this  year’s Common Admission Test (CAT) that is used as one of the key parameters for admission to the elite Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) came down to a record low of 190,000 this year. For whatever reasons, students seem to be finding b-schools less attractive compared to other options.

To the first question of what b-schools are needed for, there are a few things that business schools can teach. Firstly, there are the business subjects: marketing, finance, operations, human resources and systems, as any first year b-school student would be able to tell you.  Secondly, there is another subject that b-schools try to teach but don’t do so well: strategy. And the top strategy consulting firms end up trying to follow an apprenticeship model so that they fill the gap.

Besides the above, something that b-schools are yet to do well, is being a manager and a leader. That there is strong demand for people who can manage a good business and take all steps required to get things done is very real. Similarly, there is strong demand today for another factor that b-schools are not in the perfect position to teach: leadership.  And women’s leadership as well. Today, all of us – at least those who care enough to have a say in the matters – tend to preach the same old advice about leadership because we haven’t seen what true leadership can do. There is some hope here, though, as b-schools recognize the situation and respond to that.

As the first step, we need to realise that tomorrow’s leaders will face a completely different set of situations today. As I brought up in this thought experiment.

Related articles