McKinsey & Company highlighted that founders’ behaviors and leadership styles directly influence how employees engage with their work and with each other.

According to CB Insights, around 23% of startup failures can be attributed to issues related to team and culture.

In short, as a startup founder, your team culture starts with you.

As an ops partner at a startup, in essence, I make sure everything works smoothly.

The team knows what to do, when, and why, and performs well and enjoys their work.

New teammates know how they could start contributing asap.

I’m the type of person who prefers preparation and thinking through, creating options for ideation and decisions, organizing teamwork, and acting according to a plan we agreed upon.

This may sound counterintuitive for a fast-paced startup environment.

Should I be attached to corporates forever, like Prometheus to the Rock?…

As a founder or an executive, you have to have plans and follow them.

You can correct them based on the outcomes you get.

But you cannot refer to the uncertainty of a startup environment every time you change plans, don’t keep promises, or simply don’t pay a salary.

Indeed, a startup operates with many unknowns: unvalidated market needs, unvalidated solutions, etc.

Having many unknowns can be stressful enough.

Especially for the early-stage startup founders and their understaffed teams due to budget constraints.

And, yet, the goal of a startup is to make all those unknowns become known, so that you either learn & pivot, become a business, or shut it down.

No need for your team to have more stressors.

I cannot stand systemic last-minute changes and cancellations.

Especially when that’s related to the team meetings.

And especially when that’s done by a founding team without prior notification.

That’s a bold red flag for the team. It shows a lack of respect.

Unless you meet for a chitchat or a session with your shrink, a team meeting requires planning & preparation (remember, 80% is preparation, 20% is execution?), so that you start and finish on time, and as a result, everyone knows what should happen, when, by who, etc.

As always, start with yourself. As a founder, you are a role model for the rest of the team.

Your team culture starts with you.

So, wanna know how to ruin your startup culture?

Do either one or all of the following regularly:

• Cancel the meetings last-minute
• Dropout in the middle of the team call (this one is especially effective to ruin the remote-only culture)
• Keep no contact, when your team needs you
• Delay salary payouts
• Stop paying salary saying you have some problems again with your bank or you expect money from someone else (e.g. investor, customer, etc.)

All that creates anxiety, so people start looking for other jobs.

Good Night and Good Luck!

P.S. Sometimes, under stress, founders forget they got the power of a team. Use it. Open up to your team, be honest, and brainstorm possible options and solutions! Even if they may not sound ideal. You will see wonders.

P.P.S. Let’s drop out of the CB & McKinsey statistics and make a success story.