Session 10: February 5, 2009
Building the Startup Team

Quote of the Day

"Never, never, never, never give up." ~ Winston Churchill

Summary

Building a winning team is essential to any successful startup. How do you attract, organize, inspire and motivate a team to do the impossible? Equally important, how do you assimilate new team members and redistribute roles and responsibilities when new team members come on board?  Founders have a myriad of Human Relations (“HR”) related tasks when building a team. The NanoGene case examines the big five: recruiting and assimilating the right players; assigning roles and responsibilities; determining who owns how much stock; developing a compensation policy; creating an innovative culture.

Required Readings (Policy on Required Readings.)

• Technology Ventures (Dorf and Byers): Ch 12 The New Enterprise Organization (Highlights: 12.3, 12.4, 12.7, 12.9, 12.10)
• Case:   NanoGene [in the course reader]
• Visit available Fenwick & West's Start-ups and Venture Capital Publications
• Read the latest quarterly "Trends in Legal Terms in Venture Financing" survey.
• Review "Venture Capital for High Technology Companies"
• Watch the following short video clips:
• Jeff Hawkins (Palm) - Defining Company Culture
• Jerry Kaplan (egghead.com) - Personality of a Company - Establishing Culture and Values Early On
• Lynn Reedy (eBay) - Leadership Characteristics at eBay
• John Thompson (Symantec) - Measuring Success - You Measure What Matters

Study Questions (Policy on Study Questions.)

• Evaluate the Nanogene founding team and the resources they bring to the venture.
• Independent of the equity ownership issue, what are two risks associated with this founding team?
• How would these risks be reduced if Paige Miller joined the team?
• Although Susan Stone (the VC) likes NanoGene's technology and business prospects, she seems concerned by the equity split among the founders. It's exactly the same for all
• What consequences for NanoGene might she fear from the present even equity split?

 

Team Case Analysis (Policy on Case Analyses.)

I [would/would not -- choose one] hire Paige Miller because ...