Why Core Team is Crucial for Your Startup While the entrepreneur may have big dreams, it is ultimately the team,with whose help he/she can realize the goals.

A business is nothing without the people who work behind the scenes. While the entrepreneur may have big dreams, it is ultimately the team,with whose help he/she can realize the goals.

Hiring the right team is therefore extremely important for any business, and more so for a startup, since it is the team that plays a key role in understanding and executing the founder's vision.

Here are some points that justify the importance of the core team for any startup:

It is the team that executes your "best laid plans' and determines their fate:

You can't realize your vision without the team, since ultimately it is your team that executes your vision by breaking it into short team goals and ensuring that the targets are met, thereby playing a crucial role in turning your vision into a reality.

How well and soon you are able to progress and achieve the milestones along the way is dependent on the quality of the team – their knowledge, skills, competence, attitude and aptitude.

Also, since most startups grapple with the challenge of limited resources and time, the team members should be open to multitasking and wearing multiple hats, as the situation demands, so you – the entrepreneur – can focus on the larger goal and steer the ship in the right direction.

They define the culture of your startup:

An organization's culture is a combination of the natural personality, beliefs and values of the founding team, including the entrepreneur. Therefore, the culture of any startup is heavily affected by the values and beliefs of the core team.

Although building the culture is not an overnight task and needs to be worked upon in the long run, your core team is instrumental in defining it and permeating it down the hierarchy. They serve as vital catalysts in propagating the values that your company stands for.

Since it has a direct bearing on the conduct of your employees and how you are perceived outside, it is important that the "cultural fit' of the core team members be assessed before they are hired to ensure they propagate the values that you stand for and believe in and to avoid any conflicts or disagreements at a later stage.

Complements your skills and competencies and brings synergies to your effort:

The right composition of team members will bring synergies to your effort by complementing each other's skills and competencies, including yours.

For instance, while you might be a creative person, it will work to your advantage if you have a hardcore technical person in your team or vice-versa for your tech startup, because diverse skills are required to run a startup.

You need people who can understand and effectively manage different facets of a business and that it possible only when you have people who come with different skill sets, yet are able to work together in tandem to achieve the larger goals of the startup. Infact, it is important to have diversity in philosophies and talents to cross pollinate and maintain a good balance in the startup.

VCs prefer startups with a solid core team:

It is said that VCs fund a startup based on not just the business plans, but also the core team because they know that these plans can change every day as market conditions change and new opportunities and challenges emerge.

What they look for is a solid team that has the potential to adjust to the changes and the give the startup and edge in the market. It is the team really that determines the fate of a startup, and even the best idea stands to fail in the absence of a team with the right capabilities to execute it.

To share your passion and keep you going through the ups and downs of the journey:

You definitely need someone in your startup to share your passion with, and who better than your core team to share it with! After all, they are the ones who will celebrate when you are doing well, cheer you up during the tough times and constantly work to support you and your dream startup.

All startups at some point of time face unexpected setbacks,be it related to product development, delay in funding or a cash crunch, and this is when your core team will come to your rescue. A good team will stand by you through the testing times and serve as an anchor for your ship to stay afloat.

No idea can be greater than the team that executes it, since without the team it will remain just an idea and not take a larger shape. Therefore, a great team is truly the biggest ingredient forsuccess. It is the pillar on which a startup is built. So choose your core team wisely and see how things start falling into place smoothly, thus making the journey towards your vision far easier and quicker.