Successful Companies Require Successful Teams

Successful companies are run by successful teams. As a venture capitalist, Jimmy Treybig analyzes the potential of start-up enterprises by evaluating the team. He believes that people are the reason companies become wildly successful, therefore management teams that have the following characteristics are the ones in which he prefers to invest:

• The members are smart, highly motivated individuals who have achieved success in their life in some form (e.g., sports, business, etc.).
   
• The members are cohesive and enthusiastic.
   
• Some of the members have start-up experience. If the management team thinks just like a much larger, perhaps similar, company, it will not find the major differences that let it win. Management teams whose members hail from a variety of companies and a variety of industries have stronger cross-functional capabilities and will be better able to weather creative challenges.
   
• Most of the executive team is in place. Although the management team does not initially need all of its members in place, it is extremely beneficial if the CEO position is filled. If the CEO has led a start-up before, that’s even better. If the CEO has not held that position before, he or she must have great leadership qualities, be confident, be a good listener, and have a record of hiring outstanding people.
   
• The members have diverse backgrounds not only in regard to company size and variety of industries but also in gender and race. If you start without diversity on your team, it is very difficult to achieve it later. Diversity is extremely important to be competitive in today’s worldwide economy. A team comprised of all white men will be less likely to relate to, for example, the Chinese or Japanese and is less likely to take advantage of a significant portion of the available outstanding people in the workforce. Given the world’s diversity, statistics dictate that the best people are spread among different races, religions, ethnicities, and genders. And in today’s global and consumer-driven markets, white males are likely better off with input from women and people of different ethnicities.