Our StartupTherapy process includes 10 key discussion questions/topics and this post walks you through the questions 6 to 10! Together, these 10 questions will begin to help you address culture, communications, power dynamics, vision and commitment. If you’ve read through the other two posts, you know it requires a level of emotional openness and candor that not every team is comfortable with. But you’d better get comfortable or your startup will likely collapse.
I’ve got a lot of posts and resources about StartupTherapy™, but this is about how to conduct an in depth StartupTherapy™ process with your own team.
Visit How to Conduct a StartupTherapy™ Session – Part 1 – Pre-Work for first steps (pre-work) and then How to Conduct a StartupTherapy™ Session – Part 2 (First 5 Questions) for the second part of the process.
When Did Entrepreneurship become Emotional? There are 10 Key StartupTherapy™ questions to discuss with founding team and this post covers questions 6-10
What should we ask during StartupTherapy™? (Q 6-10)
Remember to go around the room with the founding team (and eventually your leadership team)
6.Vision
- Each person’s Vision for the startup and its purpose in the world
- Where will the company be in 5 yrs? 10 yrs?
- Looking back, how will we know we accomplished our mission?
- Are those visions consistent?
- When Issues Arise, How will you resolve them?
- VC’s often don’t like 50/50 founder splits because of the final decision problem!
- Right People on the Bus? (See Jim Collins!)
- Right Vision for the Bus?
7. Values Of the company – Culture matters!
- Values of the Company – What does each person think the company stands for?
- How will we treat people?
- How will we lead and manage?
- Up and Out (with annual rankings and firing.. See Netflix, law firms etc)?
- Mentorship?
- Constant Growth Mindset?
- Does everyone agree?
- What happens when values conflict?
- Examples of values that may have been abandoned over time but that started out as powerful frameworks!
- Google “do no evil” (yes they dropped it…)
- Ben & Jerry’s (a lot of conflict with their acquirer over what they claimed their values were)
- Whole Foods (Is “Whole Paycheck” really a positive framework?
7. Values Of the company – Culture matters so Create it!
- The values of the founders shape, for good or ill, the culture and future of the company
- BE DELIBERATE
- Communicate values and reinforce those values (over and over!)
- Walk the Talk!
- Founders who act in ways that conflict with values destroy trust
8. Talent Gap Analysis
Assessment of talent the team thinks is needed to succeed
- Remember you don’t have to have it all to either raise capital or win SBIR/STTR funding, but you’d better be able to describe what you need!
- Talent the team thinks they already have
- See questions 4 and 5 – they will have shed a lot of light on what you already have
- What resources can you tap to fill in the gaps?
- Recruiting? Advisory Board? Consultants?
- Remember you don’t need everyone all at once
- Remember to hire workers first and then managers… Don’t be so top heavy there is no one to do the WORK!
8. Talent Gap Analysis – More Thoughts
- No one has all the skills
- AI “can” amplify skills or fill in gaps, but only if you know what it should be doing!
- Everybody better have some (needed) skills
- I remember a team I ran this process for
- One member of the team was enthusiastic, but had no needed skills for the startup.
- It was obvious to everyone as we went around the room (except perhaps that individual….)
- This was difficult, but easier than if they had founders stock!
- I remember a team I ran this process for
- Family? Best Friends?
- It can work if everyone behaves professionally!
- Right People on the Bus?
9.Financing Strategy
Financing strategy – what is the plan and preferred strategy?- Bootstrap/self funded?
- Partner/customer funded?
- Investor funded – Angel, VC?
- Government – SBIR/STTR, BAA, gov’t contracts?
- Does the team have what it takes for the preferred strategy?
- Raising from investors requires different skills than either SBIR/STTR or other government contracting
- I promise you need coaching for these funding strategies! Get help from someone who has done it!
10. Business Model
- Discuss the proposed or expected Business Model.
- There are a lot of them! Think closely about how you actually make money
- Models have tradeoffs – how do those tradeoffs interact with your values?
- Is there agreement?
- Serious Disagreement?
- Will this be a source of permanent conflict?
- If you can’t get to a consistent view of the business model, things could be very very difficult!
I’ve found that when the going gets tough, the successful get talking.
If you see major disagreements on some of these 10 questions, you must face the fact that those disagreements will not magically disappear. The discussion matters. The approach to conflict resolution probably matters even more! Does one person try and impose their view? shut down discussion? Are all the members of the team willing to preserve the vision and fight for the values, but come to consensus and committment on the impelementation? If not, is it worth starting?
Visit How to Conduct a StartupTherapy™ Session – Part 1 – Pre-Work for first steps. Visit How to Conduct a StartupTherapy™ Session – Part 2 (First 5 Questions) for the second part of the process. This is part 3 of StartupTherapy™ and the last 5 questions.
If you want advice and support as you build out your team, check out our StartupTherapy™ Resources and Help page! Lots of great help.
If you are looking to raise capital in this market, I strongly encourage you to get help! Don’t go it alone!
We have lots of NO COST content on our blog, as well as our modestly priced resources on Capital Raising Coaching and Potential Investor Identification – “Designing the Perfect Investor™” and “InvestorFind™ Investor Identification Support“.
In addition, if you are interested in Individual Coaching see our offerings on CEO and Entrepreneur Coaching. If you’d like more details, email venturewrenchcommunity [at] gmail.com.
Interested in creating an SBIR proposal?
Click to Get our free guide “40 Ways to Improve your SBIR/STTR proposal!
If you are planning to raise funding for your startup,
Click to Get our FREE VentureWrench Guide to Investor Capital
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