The Team
In this section, you want to describe your management team and any other key employees.
Most investors will agree that the quality of the management team is the best predictor of a startup's success. Do not compromise when it comes to the team. Determine what roles you need to fill and find a strong player for each role.
The more complete your team is, the more likely it is that you'll get funded (and a more complete, solid team will get a better valuation.) Likely roles for an early stage startup could include:
- CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
- CTO (Chief Technology Officer)
- VP of Marketing and/or VP of Business Development
- VP of Engineering
- Controller or Office Manager
- VP of Sales
If your management team is incomplete, start looking for the right candidates to fill in the holes. If you have an advisor who has strength in an area where your missing a team member, be sure to mention that.
Evolving The Team
One of the items in our "Critical Success Factors" states that the founders need to be ready to replace themselves. The team that starts a company might not be (probably is not) the team to manage it through multiple stages of growth. Moving-out the old management team is a tough thing to do, but can be the right thing for the company.
There is a link to Robert Wiltbank's article on changing the management team in the "Build the Team" section of the Articles and Papers page.