How to Build a Successful Startup Team: Mistakes to Avoid!

Name: How to Build a Successful Startup Team: Mistakes to Avoid!
Uploaded: 2024-05-26T13:05:30+00:00
Duration: 49 s
Channel: Jason M. Lemkin
Description: In this excerpt, Jason M. Lemkin warns founders against including advisors, mentors, or any non‑core personnel in their investor pitch decks or meetings…

26 May 2024 · 1 min

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In this excerpt, Jason M. Lemkin warns founders against including advisors, mentors, or any non‑core personnel in their investor pitch decks or meetings. He stresses that investors are primarily betting on the founders—especially the CEO—and the long‑term decision‑makers who write code, make product decisions, and interact with customers. Bringing people who are not part of the permanent team dilutes the signal to investors and can undermine confidence in the startup’s ability to become a unicorn.

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be honest, but if you're cagey, no one will believe that you're gonna build a unicorn. Mistake number 3, and this happens more often later in the process and more often in in-person meetings than Zooms these days, but it still happens all the time. Don't bring the wrong people with you and don't put them in your slide deck either. Advisors are great, mentors are great, angels are great, but they're not your team. Do not drag your advisor or someone you're paying shares for to help you raise money to the investor pitch. A few folks will challenge this, but the reality is investors want to meet the founders and particularly the CEO, but the founders, that's who they're betting in. It's, it's usually at least 50% of the bet always, and especially early stage. So don't bring people who aren't part of the long-term team. Don't bring people who aren't writing code, who aren't making decisions, who aren't talking to customers.