What was your greatest insight about teamwork when you started your startup?

Mary Rumyantzeva, PhD
14 replies
I'll go first. Previously I worked as the Director of the department within a corporation. I used to deal with a highly specialized team of experts. I considered myself as a good professional if I provided them the space and time to do their job. In my startup, I work in close connection with my co-founder and team. At the beginning, I felt uncomfortable working in such close connection. It felt like I was interfering with their business and controlling the process too tightly. Over time, I realized that there are different dynamics in personal relationships here. We need to be close to each other to confront challenges, be agile, and respond to the ever-changing context in the right way. What was your insights about team work in startup?

Replies

Emiliya Strahilova
Founders who have complementary skills and personality traits would have better team dynamics. Which can be actually measured by using psychological research and the right testing tool.
Emiliya Strahilova
@mary_rumyantzeva Sure! My company is a global accelerator that has tested over 175K founders around the world and then followed up with the performance and development of those entrepreneurs. Here, you can find more about the Entrepreneur DNA Test and its methodology: https://dna.fi.co/ We're also launching new features for teams soon👨‍🔬
Mary Rumyantzeva, PhD
@emiliya_strahilova, that's so interesting! Can you share the links for such testing tools?
Mary Rumyantzeva, PhD
@emiliya_strahilova, I've graduated FI and absolutely love both FI Core program and the DNA test. But I'm just curious if you know any tools which can assess if we as a team have complementary skills and personality traits.
Emiliya Strahilova
@mary_rumyantzeva Wow, I'm so glad to hear that. Small world! This is an amazing tool based on neuroscience that I've recently discovered:https://capaciotalent.com/. Maybe you'll find it interesting. And, stay tuned because FI is developing the Entrepreneur DNA test to facilitate co-founders matching, team dynamics, and team development 🧬 We'll be launching every new version here on Product Hunt!
Mary Rumyantzeva, PhD
@emiliya_strahilova, thank you for sharing! Would love to check out your new launches!
Sandy
i didn't run a startup. i worked in a manager position. i realized it was hard to motivate people with an unfinished product and if they weren't compensated fairly. it seems simple, i know, but when inexperienced i couldn't see how these problems would add up until the rubber met the road.
Xavier JJ
@sandymakesplans I kind of agree on this. It is hard to be motivating people and I'm still training on this. Well it be might be a life long process :)
Mary Rumyantzeva, PhD
@sandymakesplans @dailyfitnessai, our team is from eastern Europe. I think it helps a lot to keep people motivated. The experience in the USA market is highly valuable in the eyes of local employers. So the team knows that even if everything goes wrong, this experience would be helpful in their professional life. It helps a lot to keep the team motivated.
Sandy
@dailyfitnessai money and benefits are primary, but even then it's not the end-all-be-all. there are well-paying jobs i am qualified for that i will never take because the job is bs.
Sandy
@mary_rumyantzeva you outsource to the us market?
Xavier JJ
I value diversity rather than similarity. Especially in a start up, I don't want everybody to be agreeing with me.
Mary Rumyantzeva, PhD
@dailyfitnessai, that sounds great! In our case, we faced the downside of such an attitude when too much time is wasted on debating things. So, in most cases, if we don't agree with each other, we just test and see how it goes. Hopefully, the early stage allows to test, make mistakes and adjust them.
Xavier JJ
@mary_rumyantzeva That's a great insight for me to learn, thanks!