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Business Model and Product will follow if you have the right people: In most of our earlier articles, we’ve talked about business ideas, planning, MVP and fundraising etc for a startup. Ultimately, these business ideas require teams to achieve the end goal. The challenge is too big if we want to do this individually. Even if we do, I doubt if that can be classified as a startup – instead, it will only be a small business.

The inspiration for this article is a beautiful quote by Adam Neumann –

People are the most important thing. Business model and product will follow if you have the right people.

Adam Neumann, Co-founder of WeWork

Although the majority of startups are created through an idea – ideas are merely a starting point. As Guy Kawasaki said – ideas are easy, and implementation is hard. From creating an idea, there are several stages before you qualify something as a startup.

Business Model and Product will follow if you have the right people

It all starts with the right team. If you’ve led a team before, you already know that managing and leading a team is hard work. It is difficult even in a company where HR policies are established and good reward structures are in place. However, as a startup, you possess something magical that these companies and teams don’t.

You have the passion and idea, and commitment to making something happen. This demands the right type of people as well. If you’re out hiring, ensure that you hire people who are hungry and want to change the world. You can’t run a startup by hiring people as large corporates do. You don’t have enough to offer. However, you can offer stock options and make them a part of your dream.

Business idea and plans are important

Of course, you can’t just decide to start a company without strong, solid ideas. Ideas truly define whether something is worth pursuing. Once you have an idea, the next step is to test it through a business plan, pitches and customer insight. If business plans take a long time, make use of the business model canvas. It gives you a snapshot of the overall business view.

Ultimately the business idea is about tying various aspects of the business together. Loosely related areas are:

• Problem statement – why this problem is important
• USP – How are you best placed to solve this problem
• Size of the market – how many people want this solution and why
• Commercial appetite – Will anyone be interested in buying your solution
• Financial modelling – to indicate the scale of business generated from your solution

Above all, an investor will be interested in knowing how you’ll solve the problem. They would also expect that you can convince and build a team around your idea because it shows them confidence that someone else apart from you believes in your idea.

Again, I’ll come back to the central theme of this article – Business Model and Product will follow if you have the right people. Get the right people, they will help you develop this business plan.

Sometimes, these right people need not be employees – they can be mentors, guides, non-executive directors, etc.

Building the core team

As a founder, your core team is the most important thing. You will be able to find people/companies to help build a solution or sell your services. However, to create an all-encompassing solution and develop a startup – you need someone who can believe in you and your idea.

By this, I don’t mean that you need someone who agrees with everything you say. This defeats the purpose of innovation. Your business founder needs to be someone who can challenge you constructively and keep bringing you back to the big picture and vice versa.

Ultimately, you want the business to succeed – not just an approach or plan. Plans must be changed to accommodate the business and market needs. And your team will define this success for you.

People are the most important thing. Business model and product will follow if you have the right people.

Adam Neumann, Co-founder of WeWork – More about Adam Neumann wiki page