🧠 How to Ensure Your Team Has the Right Skill Set...

3 essential roles for a successful startup team: The Hacker to develop your product swiftly, The Painter to ensure it's visually compelling, and The Hustler to drive growth and secure strategic partnerships, forming the core foundation for startup success.

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You got your idea (or getting there) and it’s time to get going – great! Now, how do you set yourself up with the right skill set/mix of people?

Well, inspired by Paul Graham’s original hackers & painters analogy, and looking at the 3H concept of what any startup needs right at the beginning, we propose building your startup around 3 core functions/roles.

These could be your first 3 employees, or – more likely – 3 founders or a mix thereof. Either way, these are the 3 skills you likely need to start strong.

Your First 3 Team Members

1. The Hacker

This is your coding guru. The Hacker's role is to develop and deliver code swiftly, turning your vision into a tangible product. Speed and efficiency are their mantras, and they thrive on bringing technical solutions to life. Now don’t confuse the “hacker” with someone who has stolen money from your internet banking or even with a normal software developer. The “hacker” in this instance refers to a kind of software developer who is extremely creative in moving fast (i.e. hacks things together) and is adept at taking the shortest route possible to ship.  

“Hacking code together is bad in the long run” you might rightly point out and it's true. But in the early stages of startup speed trumps scale. Why? Because you are still learning and chances are you are going to bin the hacked code soon. If you spend months putting together your scalable product, you will lose a lot of money when you realise it's not exactly what customers want.

How to test if someone is a “hacker”: Give them an idea and ask them to slap a basic version of it together over a weekend. If they come up with something that can be used to solve the problem (or part thereof), chances are, you have a hacker.

2. The Painter

Aesthetic appeal is key. The Painter ensures your product doesn't just work well but looks great too. They bring a blend of design prowess and creative flair, essential for captivating your audience and standing out in a crowded market.

And they double as your branding and marketing material go-to as well. Things that look legit, just sell more easily, and someone with that visual eye that can help you bring legitimacy is worth gold.

How to test if someone is a “painter”: Two things. Firstly, look at their portfolio but secondly, watch them design something in person. Ask them questions along the way to see how they think about aesthetics. A good “painter” generally has a natural feel for what looks slick and feels right.

3. The Hustler

Growth is their game. The Hustler is your business builder, focused on networking, sales, and strategic partnerships. They're the force behind your startup's growth, pushing boundaries and opening doors to new opportunities. A startup is nothing without customers and this guy will do anything and everything to get it done.

How to test if someone is a “hustler”: Give them 24 hours to get an interested prospect you can pitch to. Better still, get them to make a sale (even without the product being done). If they pull that off, selling once the product is live will be a breeze.

What’s more, you can use these core functions as a base to build out the rest of your team as you grow.

Got startup team-building hacks or insights? Hit reply and share with the class…