Avoid the Costly Mistake of Assembling the Wrong Leadership Team Make the leadership team transition from founder-led to a seasoned mix of diverse professionals.

In the early days of building a start-up, there are several things that people tell you to focus your time and attention on. You need to have a strong business plan, an addressable market, an understanding of customer personas, product-market fit, etc. And while all of these things are key aspects of ensuring the short and long-term success of a start-up, there's a less-discussed aspect that holds just as much, if not more, bearing on whether your business is going to be a success.

We know that people make up the heart of any business, and over the last few years, particularly in tech, there's been a strong focus on building a strong, people-focused culture. Yet, what many start-up CEOs fail to speak about is the impact of leadership teams on driving this culture. More specifically, they fail to discuss the importance of making the transition from a founder-led leadership team to a leadership team made up of a diverse mix of seasoned senior professionals, all while maintaining the same values and culture that they started with.

Transitioning to a strong leadership team made up of company veterans and newer, seasoned professionals can be difficult. I learned this the hard way while scaling my own business, but I also learned some key lessons that have helped me build the strong and dynamic senior team I have today.