Each chapter is made up of essays whose titles complete the following:
Under no circumstances should you...

Chap 2 - Building A Team - Monday, August 24, 2009 9:42 - Comments

…Not Focus On Building A Great Extended Team

So much ink is contributed to the topic of finding good co-founders and hiring great employees, but very few offering advice steer you in the direction of needing to focus on your extended team. While the people with whom you are working day to day will have a great deal of impact on the success or failure of your project or business, the people with whom you interact less often might actually save your ass.

The line item on your income statement of “professional services” can be a pretty broad one, and mostly encompasses service providers which are considered non-core to your business. Until you are a large company, you will most likely be outsourcing a good deal of services to these providers, and finding the right partner can mean the difference between good work and wasted money. There may be service providers whose services are specific to your industry, but more generally, every business needs a lawyer, a banker, and an accountant. You may also need a professional recruiter and a commercial real estate broker.

Regardless of the type of service which is being rendered to you from these providers, it’s of utmost important that you find a provider that is right for you. This is going to depend on a few variables, but when in my past I have sought out these providers for my businesses, I learned (through mistakes) to ask the following questions: Continue Reading…