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I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill

– Edward Appleton

Attitude Vs professional skill

The world of startup is a fantastic one, its challenges are fairly common – lack of resources and huge ambitions. Quite a toxic combination if you ask me, but I am amazed each time I see the temerity to make things work and the number of them who succeed against all odds.

There are times where I have told myself – this sure feels like magic, how on earth did it all happen. There have also been times where I have sheepishly asked myself – “What on earth was I thinking?”

Well, either of these thoughts have a lot of importance, but for today’s analysis – I will try and limit myself to the lack of resources and the never ending need to be fulfilled to make business ends meet.

1. The cost of professional skill – startups

In one of our earlier discussions, we went through hiring employees in a startup. We all know the challenges – great skill requires an adequate ability to pay. As a startup, our limitation is in attracting these skills and providing them adequate structure and certainty to keep this engaged and make it work for us.

Most often, it has been a struggle to get the best skills in the company. Of the many reasons, lack of funds most often stands out.

Added to that, one of the key requirements of a startup employee is the ability to wear multiple hats. This makes recruitment for a startup even harder. Specialists tend to be great at certain specific areas of work, but not always the best at tying them together.

What to do in order to fill this gap? Naturally as a startup, we cannot afford to hire one person for each of these requirements. What is a fair compromise?

2. Attitude Vs skill

This is the second time I have used this sub heading in the discussion. Probably it is my way of reemphasising the importance of key resources/ teams in a startup. We need wonderful people who can carry the vision and make a tremendous change.

A startup demands more leaders and leaders in all segments of work.

If there is a compromise between skill and leadership/attitude – what would you prefer as a startup founder? From my perspective, the answer is simple. Finding people who are great to work with is often a huge challenge.

More often than not, skills are transferrable. They may be expensive, but they are easier to find compared to the intangible attitude of a key recruit in your team.

If it was simply up to me, my preference would certainly be to a person who I think can take the vision a long way. Sure, we will need technical skill – a perfect combination of both will be exemplary, but we all know how unrealistic that can be.

3. Attitude in Startup

Although the quote recommends enthusiasm highly, I would still question that a little bit. i don’t really want an empty enthusiasm without content- both of these need to be tempered to achieve the desired results.

We are never in a purely objective world where these two requirements are mutually exclusive. A recruitment drive starts with some key requirements in mind. If we need a professional resource, the requirement is to have at least 40% of the skill. Even then, the attitude makes a difference.

If we can find someone who can fit the culture – that’s often a much bigger win as compared to a singular professional skill and experience.

I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill

– Edward Appleton