Ask an Expert: What Skills Do I Need to Run a Startup?

This refers to your ability to acknowledge mistakes when they occur and use them as valuable lessons about yourself and your business.

Doing so will help you see the gaps in your business, lean on people with more knowledge or experience, and course-correct as you move forward. Moreover, it will free you from being over-critical or fixating on things that may hold you back.

Steve Blank proposed a theoretical model for a startup team that includes founding members with the following core skills: visionary, hacker/hardware, hustler, designer.

• The visionary is “the person with the dream,” the one who has the inspiration and charisma to draw others to the idea.
• The hacker is the “expert” who makes the product or service. 
• The hustler is usually someone who can manage everything from operations to sales.
• The designer is usually the UI/UX specialist, someone who can bridge the gap between the client, the consumer or audience, and the technology.

Don’t look at leadership as just a competency. Rather, it’s a relationship that you build with those who work with you and for you. You cannot impose this relationship but have to earn it over time — through daily acts of checking in with your team, communicating your vision, and caring for your employees.

You may be great at setting goals but are you in touch with your employee’s realities? Ask yourself: Do my employees feel reassured in the company’s vision? Am I communicating with clarity? Are there concerns that I may be overseeing? How do I build trust among different teams?