So, why should you have associates? In entrepreneurship, people often go faster alone, but they go much further when they unite. And, even if you are very talented, your skills might not be sufficient to cover all the needs required for your project. Innovative entrepreneurship products are most of the time concerned by human issues. Here are a few ingredients. Complementary skills and psychological profiles. Complementarity is a key in entrepreneurship. You need to clearly know what your skills are, so you add more value to them. You must also notice areas where you don't feel very comfortable. This exercise is difficult as it requires humility. This is not only about technical and fonctional skills. Social skills, qualities of each associate will create a unique coktail for your project. You will need innovation and agility capacities, an open mind, the capacity to create links, creativity, audacity. You are also allowed to make mistakes. Chose people who will be able to progress by iteration who will go further than already made solutions, who have already been succesful in the past. Perspective on money. This is a spicy ingredient. You are much too shy about this important subject. How much does everyone need to live? How long will you manage living before the jackpot? Take age and status differences into account. When you will need to pay for your children's studies, your partner will want to invest in the company. For some people money is an aim, fo others it's an indicator. Both are laudable, but it's better to know about it and to agree on this point. Personnal systems and projections. Who does your potential associate live with? In his family, socialy. Who supports him? What are his network, his culture, his education, his personal story, his faithfulness? Ask yourself about your project in short and long term. Some things can be predictable. You know how old your children will be in five years, ten years, and what they could need from you. You also know that if your associate is 50 today, you will need to anticipate a transmission. And, as we all know, choosing is also giving something up. So what will you give up to get an associate? Perspective on success. What would be success? To resell in the short term? To create a company that you would leave as a legacy to your children? To be a big team or to keep the idea of "small is beautiful"? According to what you aim and how fast you want things to happen, you will not have the same needs. Make a list of your key indicators to success for the next years. So you will get precious information on the vision and ambition that each has and on your conformity. Collective vision and goals. To succeed, you need a clear and shared vision. Without the aim of perfomance there will be no successful team. The challenge that you wish to take-up together will bring directions to the team, dynamism and motivation, and above all give a meaning to short term actions. We often spend too much time learning how to work instead of taking-up challenges together, which is the best way to get to know each other. Prepare for the worst. It is much easier to reason on a upstream disastrous scenario than in a real crisis where your personal life is in danger. I am not telling you to be pessimistic, on the contrary, this way essential points are put on the table and you can think of the options you have in case of troubles or failure. List your deal breakers, whatever they are; money, liberty of action, balance, behaviour, role and responsabilities of each person. Thinking of your fears is the best way to find solutions to them. Conflict management. Good news: you encounter your first difficulties! Indeed, you have the opportunity to grow and go further. Face chaos can get you more performance as it forces you to cast doubt on your operational modes and to modify what goes wrong. You will even have to follow a few rules after you will realise that they were missing in your success. The risk may be even more important in teams that you already know well where tacit rules are not enough. The more things are fixed upstream by thinking of the possible deal breakers, by clarifying things, the less violent the crisis will be. Teams grow more in the face of adversity than in success. If the crisis is insurmontable, you will need to decide who is more likely to preserve the stakeholders. Remember that the one who has power in a relationship is the one who is ready to give up something. This person will need courage to change what can be changed and wisdon to accept what will never change. So what is the recipe of the ideal team? We managed to identify a few igredients. First, a limited number of individuals. At the beginning of a project, having too many people around the table may act as an impediment. There will be the "heart" team with its vision and strategy and the expanded team. Complementary, technical and fonctional skills are of course needed, but also social skills, personality traits and personal qualities. Commitment in the project. This doesn't mean you must work yourself to death. Know you limits and ressource yourself, this is absolutly essential. However everyone's commitment isn't optional. Passion. It is easier to be fully engaged when you are passionate about what your do, about the project of the company you work on or about the people with whom you work. Passion is the fuel to tenacity. Commun goals. A clear and shared vision will give meaning to everyone's action even (and above all) when they are difficult or thankless. Collective approach. A vision isn't enough, you need strategy and organisation to perform. A succesful team makes its own rules, respects them and makes them be respected. Solidarity. You have to worry about others' success and feel co-responsible in case of success or failure. Pleasure and humour. You don't necessarily need to become best friends, but pleasure avoids other displeasures and is the best motivation, so you shouldn't do without it and create opportunities for it. Celebrate success, thank others, have fun, make a team feeling proud,... these are big morale boosters for everyone. It creates a feeling of belonging and the retention of talents. Don't forget that feelings are contagious, so smile. Communication, again and again. Whatever you do; communicate. Even when you withdraw into silence. As no communication isn't possible, it might as well be rightly done. Be courageous enough to say things, be authentic and respectful. All the ingredients that I referred to will generate faith, or, on the contrary will diminish it. Faith is never given 'ad vitam', it will grow through time, that's why taking-up challenges together is so important: it will keep developing it. Finally, beyond the idea of creating value from the economic viewpoint, entrepreneurship is also a humanist quest. The route leading to it are not Stations of the Cross, even if it can look like it, but it is an initiatory way which will necessarily cross paths with wonderful people Harmony and natural collective efficiency are rare chances but you have the choice to seize them. Focus and time spent are needed to reach it.
