Winners Find a Way

(5 Marks of a Winning Startup Team)

Great teams, no matter how poorly they played for the majority of the game, find ways to win. No more apparent than the (fantastic) 2014 FIFA World Cup, where games go deep into extra time only to have the favorites somehow find their way into the net.

In the heat of the battle, when the momentum turns and everyone is tired, some players will hang their heads while others reach deeper and grind harder. Things always go wrong (shocker), so which player do you want to be?

Startups are no different. Over the years I’ve been privileged to work beside some incredible startup teams with unique moxie and tenacity. At Promus Ventures, here are five things we look for in great teams:

1. Their feet do the talking — St. Crispin’s Day speeches are great, but do you fight on the battlefield as well? Great leaders keep their rhetoric to a minimum and focus on making great products that sing.
2. They understand the sacrifice — Winning requires sacrifice in the small things every day. It requires late nights and focused work. No one ever said it would be easy.
3. They are always learning — Great teams are always expanding their minds, learning from others, never consider themselves experts. Creativity comes from opening up to other ideas and areas.
4. Their network is constantly growing — Life is meant for community, and that means meeting people outside of your startup as well. Work with great companies that let your startup focus better. Keep meeting investors and advisors that can shed key insights to your business.
5. The hacking never stops — The best teams keep searching for ways through the problem. Certain nodes of a system will always be problematic. Do what it takes to find solutions that win, and keep putting that on the field each day.

There’s more of a fine line between winning and losing than you may think. So many games come down to the last play, but an entire game is a series of plays, and every one important. Yes, luck plays a role, but the harder one works, the luckier he or she gets.

Competition for anything of value will be fierce. Winners will always find a way to win, regardless of the path that got them there.

I’ll win ugly every game on the way to being undefeated.