Entrepreneurship & Innovation

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Startup America has some advices for picking team members. These tips include:

• determining shared values
• spend time together and meet their friends
• consider worst case scenarios
• identify if egos will impair the nimbleness of the company

I would add that some hard conversation are needed to determine if a possible new member or potential co-founder is appropriate for the task. Things that I would be interested in know include:

• does the person actual have the experience and credentials that they claim to have?
• does the person have a family member that has serious medical condition that they are financial responsible for?
• does the person work hard (like pull 2 or 3 times their weight)?
• is the person able to work toward goals even when the sky is falling and there seems to be no hope.

In some cases, the answer may be yes to the these question but that does not mean that you should not bring them on board. It would just just change the timing when the company is more stable (if you can say this about a startup), or change the job that they would do.