„People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it!” Simon Sinek

My semester comes to an end and the final pitch of our project will be in a few days. The topic of our latest lecture in “How to Start a Startup” focused on culture again, but especially on how to hire great team members and how to retain them.
A question most young co-founders ask themselves probably is:

“How do I find and convince good skilled people to work for my startup, especially in the early stage?”

Well, basically there is no answer to this question and no place where these people are waiting to be fetched. Open your eyes and mouth and start talking to your family and friends, use the opportunity of your network to find the right people you are looking for. In my opinion, students should be more encouraged to do an exchange semester and to get involved in associations so that they built up their own network during their time in University. There is no better place on earth that gives students the opportunity to meet people with different backgrounds, skills and career prospects . For instance, our startup-team consists of two computer scientists, an engineer and two business students, five different nationalities and sometimes five different viewing points…

However, that is the challenge we have to face: we learn to communicate with each other to improve not only our product/project but also our personal skills. The lesson learned for me is share your ideas and talk to your fellow students. Do not just connect on Facebook, but be professional and use platforms like LinkedIn as well.

“Why?” 

A main word that Bala mentioned a few times in his talk. I got very much inspired by the TED-Talk of Simon Sinek which my girlfriend recommended to me for my Leadership class.

"...very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by "why" I don't mean "to make a profit." That's a result. It's always a result. By "why," I mean: What's your purpose? What's your cause? What's your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?"

His viewing point is based on the ‘golden circle’ – it shows simply how successful companies like Apple think, act and communicate all the way through. Actually, it is an approach everyone should use or at least spend some thoughts on. If you get the message from Simon, you know how you will convince the people to work for you and how to retain them.

Culture fits in your company like your personal values in your action. Create an environment in your business that motivates your employees to work for you because it is a great place and they love what the company is doing rather than your incentives.