Take the online eTeamTool assessment… or purchase your assessment code… or
View the mentor page to see your team
Yes, we know a great startup idea is important and most entrepreneurs will accept the need to develop customers, but do we pay sufficient attention to our startup or innovation team… who we need … and where they fit… and what equity they should receive…
… and did you know that great startup and innovation teams grow 6 times faster than weak teams?
“I highly recommend the eTeamTool to any fast growth or startup business.”
Jon Bradford, Managing Director, Springboard Cambridge, July 2011
So, do you know the real secret to why companies fail to raise money or growth fast?
Okay, if you are still reading then you’ll be on board with the view that the team that is frequently ignored, often with fatal consequences…
… of slow growth or perhaps no growth or worse of all, rapid growth followed by sudden collapse (with the shareholders all started arguing about equity and roles – yes, it happens more often that we like to admit)…
Teams that learn, raise 7x more money….
Research from the Startup Genome found that teams that learn raise 7x more money.
The eTeamTool can assess whether your high growth team has two critical qualities of an ability to listen and learn from customer behaviour and mentor or non-executive advice; as well as the ability to implement this advice.
So how do you put together the best possible team? The team that is not only more likely to succeed but also can raise the money required (if required)?
Well, you could hire someone like Richard Branson, top venture capitalists, business angels or Alan Sugar, with 30+ years of experience. Each would give you their gut feeling but how do you then use that insight?
Or you could use the eTeamTool (and now the Equity Team Tool) to give you the insights and information about the team that will help you decide if the business has the potential to succeed and if not, then how the team can be strengthened to reduce the risk of failure and increase the growth potential.
Balanced team?
Teams which can balance the talent of the founders, inventors and commercial or business people are 6.2x more likely to grow quickly. This growth is not dependent on cash, it is dependent on the skills and attributes in your team. If you don’t have them, you need to identify the gaps and fill those gaps fast.
What they all share is the recognition that a great entrepreneur team can turn a business around or launch a new startup or succeed where others have failed.
So, to make a good investment decision to invest either our time or money and to reduce the risk of failure, we need to understand the potential of team, and, how it can be supported or strengthed to increase the chances of success.
There are plenty of ways to measure business value and market potential. But before now, there’s never been a tool that could evaluate, and show you how to improve, the team who actually run the business.
The eTeamTool will give you an unbiased, non-emotive, picture of the capability, duplication and risk of conflict within the executive team. It will allow you to make changes and provide support to reduce the risk of failure and increase the growth potential and then help you raise funds.
Due Diligence
The eTeamTool will help you optimise your executive team. You’ll make better decisions about which teams to back with your venture money, or, as an entrepreneur, you’ll be able to chose fellow founders, the mentors and non-executive directors who can not only add experience but also the right high growth abilities to your team.
Don’t make a mistake – choosing founders, investors or entrepreneurs is like getting married. A mistake is painful and expensive.
And, the eTeamTool will show you whether the team is optimised for success.
Want to take the online test? See order form…
Getting the right team
The eTeamTool can show you if the team will work and where change is needed – whichever stage the business or innovation team is in.
…it is the difference between winning and losing.
Find out why the eTeamTool can help you tackle your talent issues and help you to unlock your business’s growth potential
William Draper III Author of The Startup Game, Silicon Valley VC and Skype InvestorWhen it comes to investing in new business, you have to have the right entrepreneurial team. Nothing is more important. In fact, nothing is a close second.
Damian Reece Daily Telegraph, Business Editor, May 2011Employers don't want government money - they want governments to provide them with the nation's talent.
Bill Kelly Cameleon AssociatesI have seen too many business plans where the focus is almost entirely on "the numbers" ... I have seen none that directly address the ability of the team to deliver the plan.
Oli RhysMost business plans tend to be weak on at least one of three elements.
Not enough working capital!
Too many skill gaps - or too many chiefs!
Kenneth Usman-Smith Business Support Manager Rochdale CouncilIts all about a 'balanced score card' approach rather than the 'SWOT' that traditionally dominated business plans and can tend to create dangerous imbalance's.
[Businesses] need the customer at the center and lean thinking as the culture.
You are right to see the whole as the real deal breaker, too many fail if they do not.
Alistair Howard Senior Commercial BankerQuite simply a good Management Team can rescue/save an ailing business and a bad Management Team can irrepairably ruin a good business. Whilst a business has to have sound fundamentals lets not forget, it is the Management Team that will implement the model and in my opinion there should be as much diligence on the Teams ability to deliver rather than just focus on the numbers and legals.
Dave Berkus Serial business angel investor with over 70 early stage investmentsGreat management teams mean more to investors than even greater business plans
Nesta Siding with the Angels9 out of 10 earlystage investments fail to deliver
Andy Nash Chair Merrydown PLCThe most common exit of MBOs is receivership
Neil Lewis iBusinessAngelMany entrepreneurs behave as if the invention is all that matters
Nelson Gray Business Angel speaking to Irish Sunday Business PostEarly stage investors aren't interested in the technology behind most start-ups... I don't care how something works... but someone will buy it
Chris Clegg Business Angel speaking to The Angel Investor MagazineThere seems to be a widespread assumption that because a businessman is successful, intelligent and rich, he knows what he is doing; often this is not the case
Jonathan Kestenbaum Chief Exec of NESTAAssembling a strong management team is cruical
Andy Nash Chairman Merrydown PLCA talented group of individuals isn't enough! You must be a team
Andy Nash Chairman Merrydown PLCMake changes [to your executive team] before you set out the deal - or at worst during the deal
NESTA Siding with the AngelsThose business angels who perform at least some due diligence experience fewer failed investments
Dr Laszlo Czaban Manchester Business SchoolPredicting entrepreneurship from personality is flawed
NESTA Siding with the AngelsWhen Business Angels took an active management role the failure rate increased
Sean Baker Co-founder of Iona Technologies and Business AngelYou are not looking for a situation where you know more than the founders - if that's the case, then the team is too weak
Tony Murray Author of The Transformational EntrepreneurI've never seen a startup fail because the technology failed...failure consistently lies at the feet of the senior leadership team. Yet, Business Angels typically struggle to properly evaluate the soft skills of leadership...
...it is the attributes as much as the skills of the leadership team that will greatly determine success. From my research and experience, it is the Emotional Intelligence of senior management...their Self Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness, and Relationship Management abilities
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