How to build startup teams

Everything I have learned about building startup teams in an actionable guide!

In this guide, I take you through the step-by-step systems I've used to build executive teams and helped 100+ founders build and scale the right team for their startups.

Talent is the true bottleneck of any startup!

Getting the right people to join your company is not an easy task and top talent can work almost anywhere.

In addition to finding the right people and convincing them to join the team, it's also about proper onboarding, keeping teams performant and ensuring talent is rewarded for hard work, which will make them even more committed.

These playbooks and systems will be presented in the context of hiring for startups but most of them can actually be used to build the right team in any organization.

This is an opinionated guide. I only cover topics that I have first-hand experience with so you can learn from all the mistakes I've made over the years.

Contents

Chapter 1: Before recruiting

• Defining a culture: vision, mission, and values
• How to identify your company values
• When to hire

Chapter 2: The recruiting process

• Always be scouting
• Eyes on the prize: role scorecard
• Building the scorecard
• Job description
• Screen fast
• Go deep with the best candidates

Chapter 3: Crafting a compelling offer

• Compensation
• The importance of stock options
• Stock options dynamics
• Making the offer
• Reference interviews
• Measure and iterate

Chapter 4: Onboarding

• Before the 1st day
• The 1st day
• First week
• First 30 days

Chapter 5: Retaining

• Regular activities
• Stock options as a way to retain the best talent
• Maintaining a strong team

FAQs

Who is this guide for?

This guide is for founders and startup leaders who are building or scaling a high-performing team.

Why is building the right team important for a startup?

Building the right team is one of the highest-leverage activities every founder should focus on from the very beginning.

If you are a startup founder (especially the CEO), your job is to hire the right people and empower them to take over more and more responsibilities.

Everything else (i.e. raising money, large partnerships and accolades) are lagging indicators of a high-performing team that can deliver and execute.

Why the heck should I listen to you? Who are you?

My name is Giammarco Pacifico. I'm a bioengineer by training who left a corporate job to join the startup world.

Over the past decade, I led a global startup accelerator, whose founders have raised over $385M, launched my own healthtech startup to help chronic patients, joined a seed venture capital firm and helped scale a fast-growing company to 400+ employees and $100M raised.

You absolutely do not have to listen to me, but building startup teams throughout all these years has been one of my greatest achievements.

How much does it cost?

€0. The guide is free (just put a zero in the price box).