Page 30 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business

Entrepreneurs Create the Future • 21

business, key people, the business plan, or start-up and growth capital they
think cash last. Such strategies have a wondrous effect on the company
in two ways: a discipline of leanness permeates the firm, and everyone
knows that every dollar counts; and the principle Conserve Your Eq uity
(CYE) becomes a way of maximizing shareholder value.
The Entrepreneurial Team

There is little dispute to day that the entrepreneurial team is a key ingredient
in the higher potential venture. According to entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki,
“the most important characteristic . . . [of an] entrepreneurial team . . .
[is] being infected with a love for what the team is doing. It’s not work
experience or educational background. I would pick an Apple II repair
department engineer over a Ph.D. from MIT if he ‘gets it,’ loves it, and
wants to change the world with it.” Venture capitalist John Doerr reaf-
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firms father of American venture capital General George Doriot’s dictum:
“I prefer a Grade A entrepreneur and team with a Grade B idea, over a
Grade B team with a Grade A idea.” Doerr stated, “In the world today,
there’s plenty of technology, plenty of entrepreneurs, plenty of money,
plenty of venture capital. What’s in short supply is great teams. Your big-
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gest challenge will be building a great team.” Famous investor Arthur
Rock articulated the importance of the team over two decades ago. He put
it this way: “If you can find good people, they can always change the prod-
uct. Nearly every mistake I’ve made has been I picked the wrong people,
not the wrong idea.” Finally, as we saw earlier, the ventures with more
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than 20 employees and $2 million to $3 million in sales were much more
likely to survive and prosper. In the vast majority of cases, it is very diffi-
cult to grow beyond this without a team of two or more key contributors.
Figure 1.5 depicts the important aspects of the team. Make no mis-
take about it, these teams invariably are formed and led by a very capable
entrepreneurial leader whose track record exhibits both accomplishments
and several qualities that the team must possess. A pacesetter and culture-
creator, the lead entrepreneur is central to the team as both a player and a
coach. The ability and skill in attracting other key management members
and then building the team is one of the most valued capabilities investors

20 Guy Kawasaki Blog, January 4, 2006, blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/the_art_of_
intr.html#axzz0l9v7iSJ2.
21 Fast Company, February–March 1997, 84.
22 Arthur Rock, “Strategy vs. Tactics from a Venture Capitalist,” Harvard Business
Review, November–December 1987, 63–67.