In order for a company to be successful at all, it needs three types of people: Finders, Minders and Grinders. These roles need the support of each other. Here is how they are distinguished and intertwined.

1. Finders, Minders, Grinders:
Three Essential Roles in Your Business
by Rich Levandov,
Partner at Avalon Ventures

3. What leads one company to
succeed beyond imagination
while others fail miserably?

4. Ask 10 people involved with the company
and you’ll get 10 different stories…

5. For one company, it was the founder.
For another, it was early access to customers.
For a third, it was competitive pricing.
The list goes on…

6. On the other hand, there are companies that tackle a
smart area in an emerging market, have a great team,
diligently work, yet still fail miserably.

7. A company’s success or failure truly boils down to
three things:
Finders, Minders and Grinders.
For any company to be successful at all, it needs
these three specific types of people.

8. From product positioning to finding
customers, it is the job of Finders to
get your offering in front of the right
people.
1. Finders: Marketing + Sales

9. The role of a Finder changes over time and
involves fulfilling very different needs in the
early stages (i.e. getting your first customers)
Versus the later stages (i.e. getting you to
your next million customers).
Finders

10. Founders sometimes underplay this role, or are very
reticent to be “salesy”, but at their best, Finders are not
just salespeople or marketers but “people people” who
know how to find customers and what to say to them.
Finders

11. 2. Minders: Management
You can’t do everything alone; a
crucial element for success is being
able to inspire people to go through
the journey with you.

12. A poor concept Founders
have of management is the
stereotype of a micro-
manager ruling over others
with a task list.
Minders

13. Founders need to be the captain
of their Minders, steering the
vessel straight on course,
adapting where necessary, and
enabling them to succeed.
Minders

14. In the early days, the founder is usually
the sole Minder. As the company grows,
this role multiplies and divides and
becomes one of the most crucial parts
of a company’s future success.
Minders

15. It is the job of a founder to enable their Minders to
succeed and intervene only at strategic points.
Minders

16. 3. Grinders: Engineering
Your idea doesn’t matter without your
ability to execute. This is where
Grinders come in. Without Grinders,
your company stays in ideation mode.

17. Grinders
A telltale sign of a company
lacking Grinders are great
meetings that fail to produce
any results.

18. Grinders
While in many cases the role of a Grinder applies to
the Engineering team, it also applies more broadly to
the growth hacker culture of getting things done.
Thanks to YCombinator and many others, this role
has received the appreciation it deserves.

19. A Word to Founders
At the end of the day, Finders, Minders
and Grinders need each other. As the
lifeblood of the organization, you need
to embody all three roles too.

20. A Word to Founders
As a Founder, you must cast a vision so others
catch it, guide others on the path to success, and
be the primary grinder — getting things done no
matter what so others follow by example.

21. A Word to Founders
As a company grows, many of the more painful
junctures are the ones where a Founder needs
to let go of these roles and invite others to take
these responsibilities so that the organization
can grow.

22. Learn more!
Visit http://avalon-ventures.com/blog for more actionable advice
on early stage startups, VC funding and other entrepreneurial tips.