Building Your Team
Arjun Bhatnagar ’18 and Andrew Coca ’18 of Hey! HeadsUp (a Babson hatchery business) recently hosted a peer to peer session on building a team for the Butler Venture Accelerator. Hey! headsUp is an interactive service that schedules reminders onto another’s calendar or to-do list. As freshmen in Babson’s undergraduate program, Bhatnagar and Coca have grown their team rapidly in the past year.
One method that had lead to success is that Bhatnagar and Coca were able to find people that were genuinely interested in the vision of Hey! HeadsUp. The co-founders described how they were actually not actively recruit team members at the beginning and through friendly conversations with peers, their now teammates became excited in contributing. They did not approach their peers as having the intention of getting a new team member, they came with the perspective of wanting to share their ideas and get feedback.
Bhatnagar and Coca described how many of their team members are interns and the process of getting interns properly on board. Bhatnagar and Coca wanted to create a learning environment for their team. They built a culture where everyone participated and could provide value.
When looking for potential co-founders, Bhatnagar and Coca recommended finding a partner that is dedicated and is willing to live/breath the business in the same manager as you. That person does not have to have the same expertise, in fact, having complimentary skills is what oftentimes leads to success.
When growing your team, remember that you want individuals that are willing to contribute and have a genuine interest in what you are working for. It is okay if it takes awhile to find that person. Remember, there are different ways that people can be involved. Finding the right person and right balance is what matters in the end.