Disclaimer: We are not therapists, psychologists, or hippy/zen coaches.
What we are is a group of lean start-up guys, coaches and mediators that have worked with teams, in mediation and across a bunch of tech categories. We've started small, built growth teams, we've been in IPO's, and even cancelled an IPO just after the bubble burst. I'll let Chip tell that story if it doesn't hurt too much to rip off the scab? From napkin, to market, to scale, we've been in the blender and it can go pretty sideways sometimes.
Healthy teams argue/debate user experience & product path, market fit into competitive separation, and the list goes on... We deal with silly (and not so silly) ego's, control issues, ownership and partisan decision making. It's not just that a team can go sideways, but it's the distraction, breakdown of trust, and partisan game playing that ultimately makes or breaks a team. Sadly, your team of trusted friends can turn to blame as a weapon, and over time end up acting like strangers. You all end up at the edge of the proverbial cliff wondering if you want to jump, push the person next to you over, or ignore the fact that you are even on the cliff? It hurts just thinking about it...
One of the things we've needed (and rarely acknowledged) was calm and applied guidance, to either walk us away from the ledge or push us over. Sounds obvious (so does eating healthy and getting exercise) but there are very few structured and credible ways to find this unique brand of help. First, your investors likely don't want to hear about it (let alone deal with it), it also feels weak to admit it, and there aren't many truly objective people that you can trust to understand the nuance of your obvious and often subtle conflicts. Sure you have EIR's and lead VC partners, but they both have a seat at the table and are just as likely to be political as anyone. Third party objectivity is probably the most valuable perspective that we can share and work on with start-up teams. Face it, most founder agreements have a mediation clause before any legal action can take place anyway, so our combination of mediation skills blended with entrepreneurial expertise is the ideal mix to give your team the best shot at getting through this difficult period of conflict. We sit in the middle to facilitate a truly objective and credible filter as entrepreneurs helping other entrepreneurs.
Feeling something really important slip away is a suffocating feeling. As entrepreneurs we all understand and work with objective data, feedback, facts. We built this practice because we ourselves needed a way to refresh our outlook and path forward. Think of it as a "team pivot", a path to revitalize instead of being forced to deal with a lawyer/mediator that has no contextual value to you or your team. Working through tough start-up conflict has to start from a place of credibility that only you and your team can validate. The best chance of success will always be if it's done by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.
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