BUILDING THE

FOUNDING TEAM
CHAPTER 6

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

Entrepreneurship is a Team
Sport

Grow beyond self-employment with the

support of a team
Team can include partners, employees,
advisors, family, vendors, investors
Do more with others than you can alone

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

The Advantages of a Team

Feedback
Higher
social level
of support

Increased
skill set

Extended
network

Moral
support
Capacity
innovation

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

Considering Your Role

Evaluate
your skills

Use your
strengths

Get
feedback on
your actions

What position can you best fill? Dont be crippled by

your weaknesses, but also dont be oblivious to them
either.
Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

Building a Powerful Team

Create a
staffing plan
Find people for
positions
Your personal
network

Your advisor
network

Your extended
network

Friends

Professors

Family

Alums

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

Resources for Creating the

Team
Founders

Employees

Often little or no pay in the

beginning

Raise capital to pay

salaries

Salary from another job or

support from a spouse

Offer stock incentives

Prepare for diminished

personal cash flow

Start positions as parttime until theres enough

cash to pay full-time

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

The Do Nots of Double

Employment

Do not use your employers resources

Do not expropriate intellectual property from
your current employer
Do not solicit your employers customers until
you quit the job
Do not conceal the fact that you are founding
your own venture

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

Types of Compensation
Compensation
name

Advantages

Disadvantages

Founder Shares

Attracts co-founders

Dilutes owners equity

Option pool

Ties employees goals

to those of the
company

Employees may leave

the company if the
price falls

Restricted stock

Vested over time,

expensed at current
share price

Expensed at current
price

Stock
appreciation
rights

Low cost to the

company

Dilutes owners equity

Employees
do not
Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship,
New York: Wiley,
2011.

Phantom stock

Needs cash to be

External Team Members

Accounta
nt

Board of
advisors

Lawyers

Outside
investors

Virtual
Team

Board of
directors

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

Problems Faced by Start-up

Teams

Family
pressure

Burn out

Interpersonal
conflicts

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.

Recap

Entrepreneurship is a team sport

Determine who should be on the team
Create a culture so that team can flourish
Maintaining a team is an ongoing effort

Bygrave & Zacharakis, Entrepreneurship, New York: Wiley, 2011.