Expert workshop session delivered at IECT Summer School for Entrepreneurs on August 23, 2023, by Fiona Nielsen.
Fiona is a serial entrepreneur with lots of experience in hiring, leading and laying off people as part of her startup journey. In this presentation Fiona shares practical down to earth tips and examples on how to build a great team at your startup.
Topics include breakdowns of how to:
- Get great people on board
- Always improve your leadership
- Invest in good culture from the start
For example "1. Get great people on board"
Attract the right people to apply/express interest
Describe the role you are looking for and be specific about making the title reflect the job, e.g. “co-founder” or “marketing intern”
Always include the mission and vision of the company. Don’t fluff it.
Consider why anyone would work for you - beyond being paid a salary.
Great candidates have a choice of where to work, they will choose a place where they find meaning, feel motivated and challenged, and feel welcome.
When faced with an opportunity to take on a stretch assignment, new role, or promotion, what’s your reaction? Be Leaderly surveyed more than 1,500 professionals to find out what it takes to say “yes” with confidence. In this webinar, learn what we discovered—and how you can prepare to step up to your next big career opportunity.
Guest speakers:
Shuchi Sharma, Global Vice President and Leader of Gender Intelligence at SAP and Robert F. Solomon Jr., Director of Culture and Engagement, Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
When faced with an opportunity to take on a stretch assignment, new role, or promotion, what’s your reaction? Be Leaderly surveyed more than 1,500 professionals to find out what it takes to say “yes” with confidence. In this webinar, learn what we discovered—and how you can prepare to step up to your next big career opportunity.
Guest speakers:
Shuchi Sharma, Global Vice President and Leader of Gender Intelligence at SAP and Robert F. Solomon Jr., Director of Culture and Engagement, Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
Whether you’re in your first year of university or your last, the time to start planning your career is now. Learn how to prepare and make the most of your time at university in 8 steps, so that by the time you’re ready to graduate, you’re ready to launch straight into a successful career.
From learning how to decide what type of job, employer and workplace you want, to how to sell yourself and make valuable connections by networking, these tips will help uni students and graduates be prepared for the world of work and to find their place within it.
Planning for a successful career never stops. Once you’ve taken the 8 steps listed here, there are a number of other resources you can check out further advice on USQ’s Social Hub and USQ’s career resource centre, Career Hub.
Barry Saiff -Managing Content Development Teams: Inner Mastery for Outer SuccessLavaConConference
n this session you will learn:
• How can you create outsourcing success?
• How can technical communicators influence outsourcing decisions?
• What are the potential pitfalls to watch out for?
• What are the potential benefits to maximize?
• Is outsourcing right for your organization? Is now the time?
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman present the results of two major studies. One
offers findings from polling more than a million employees about their workplace needs.
The other is a 20-year study of how the methods of the world’s greatest managers
differ from those of lesser managers. This study involved interviews with more than
80,000 managers from 400 companies, the largest such investigation ever undertaken. The authors found key differences that fly in the face of traditional thinking about successful managerial practices. This astute, well-written report presents the major principles of great managers, and offers examples of leaders who put their knowledge of effective management into practice. The book’s conclusions rest on in-depth research, not theory.
This painstaking study authoritatively describes how employees feel about management
and explains exactly what great managers do, and why and how they achieve top results.Recommended it to everyone who manages, wants to manage or is managed.
Not very often do you hear children say, “I want to be a fundraiser or mobilise the resources when I grow up!” When I was younger and first making choices about my future, fundraising meant "Pluto" to me. And I am not alone. Fundraising is not something that most people have much understanding about at a young age. It is definitely not about getting donations- you’ll need to inspire passion and learn the art of asking.
Being in advancement, in this very special profession, has given me more of personal satisfaction than I have gotten in any of the other activities I have ever done in my life. It gets me up every day and happy to come to work. It doesn’t get better than that.
70 quick tips for Executive AssistantsJohn Burgher
ooking for inspiration to be the best EA you can be?
Look no further. We’ve surveyed Australia’s Executive and
Personal Assistants and packaged their top quick tips into this 70
Tips for EAs guide. So grab a cuppa and enjoy!
Have your own tips to share? Connect with us below and share
your personal favourites
Whether you’re in your first year of university or your last, the time to start planning your career is now. Learn how to prepare and make the most of your time at university in 8 steps, so that by the time you’re ready to graduate, you’re ready to launch straight into a successful career.
From learning how to decide what type of job, employer and workplace you want, to how to sell yourself and make valuable connections by networking, these tips will help uni students and graduates be prepared for the world of work and to find their place within it.
Planning for a successful career never stops. Once you’ve taken the 8 steps listed here, there are a number of other resources you can check out further advice on USQ’s Social Hub and USQ’s career resource centre, Career Hub.
Barry Saiff -Managing Content Development Teams: Inner Mastery for Outer SuccessLavaConConference
n this session you will learn:
• How can you create outsourcing success?
• How can technical communicators influence outsourcing decisions?
• What are the potential pitfalls to watch out for?
• What are the potential benefits to maximize?
• Is outsourcing right for your organization? Is now the time?
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman present the results of two major studies. One
offers findings from polling more than a million employees about their workplace needs.
The other is a 20-year study of how the methods of the world’s greatest managers
differ from those of lesser managers. This study involved interviews with more than
80,000 managers from 400 companies, the largest such investigation ever undertaken. The authors found key differences that fly in the face of traditional thinking about successful managerial practices. This astute, well-written report presents the major principles of great managers, and offers examples of leaders who put their knowledge of effective management into practice. The book’s conclusions rest on in-depth research, not theory.
This painstaking study authoritatively describes how employees feel about management
and explains exactly what great managers do, and why and how they achieve top results.Recommended it to everyone who manages, wants to manage or is managed.
Not very often do you hear children say, “I want to be a fundraiser or mobilise the resources when I grow up!” When I was younger and first making choices about my future, fundraising meant "Pluto" to me. And I am not alone. Fundraising is not something that most people have much understanding about at a young age. It is definitely not about getting donations- you’ll need to inspire passion and learn the art of asking.
Being in advancement, in this very special profession, has given me more of personal satisfaction than I have gotten in any of the other activities I have ever done in my life. It gets me up every day and happy to come to work. It doesn’t get better than that.
70 quick tips for Executive AssistantsJohn Burgher
ooking for inspiration to be the best EA you can be?
Look no further. We’ve surveyed Australia’s Executive and
Personal Assistants and packaged their top quick tips into this 70
Tips for EAs guide. So grab a cuppa and enjoy!
Have your own tips to share? Connect with us below and share
your personal favourites
Investing in innovation for genomic medicine - sept 5 2017Fiona Nielsen
Keynote at #TechBBQ 2017 by Fiona Nielsen
The journey of Repositive and how groundbreaking innovation is found in the crossover between traditional business and investment verticals.
Investing in innovation for genomic medicine - the journey of RepositiveFiona Nielsen
by Fiona Nielsen
Presented for UK Pharmacogenetics and Stratified Medicine Network (UK PGx Network) - Entrepreneurship, Disruptive Innovation and Personalised Medicine University of Liverpool London Campus, Finsbury Square, Wednesday 7th June 2017
From bioinformatics scientist to entrepreneur - Women in Omics - ICG11 - 2016Fiona Nielsen
Presented by Fiona Nielsen at the International Conference of Genomics at China National Genebank, Shenzhen http://www.icg-11.org
I present the "WHY" of what I am doing, and how I got here. A personal story of frustration, science and family.
Session chaired by Laurie Goodman, Gigascience
ICG-11 - genomic data projects around the world - nov 5 2016Fiona Nielsen
How to find data for your research
Presented by Fiona Nielsen at the International Conference of Genomics 2016 www.icg-11.org in the session Data Sharing and Analysis chaired by Laurie Goodman, editor-in-chief, GigaScience
SciDataCon - How to increase accessibility and reuse for clinical and persona...Fiona Nielsen
Presented in session 48 - Sharing of sensitive data - presented by Fiona Nielsen on September 12, 2016 at #SciDataCon http://scidatacon.org
We have addressed the most pressing problem for public genomic data, that of data discoverability, by indexing worldwide resources for genomic research data on an online platform (repositive.io) providing a single point of entry to find and access available genomic research data.
http://www.scidatacon.org/2016/sessions/48/paper/26/
http://www.scidatacon.org/2016/sessions/48/
International data week - #RDAPlenary #IDW2016
Workshop - finding and accessing data - Cambridge August 22 2016Fiona Nielsen
Finding and accessing human genomic data for research
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom | Seminar Room G
Monday, 22 August 2016 from 10:00 to 12:00 (BST)
Charlotte, Nadia and Fiona presented an overview of data sources around the world where you can find genomics data for your research and gave examples of the data access application for dbGaP and EGA with specific details relevant for University of Cambridge researchers.
Data dialogue - Human Genomic Data DiscoveryFiona Nielsen
Presenting at The Data Dialogue. Time to Share: Navigating Boundaries & Benefits - Afternoon session: Sharing difficult data.
July 28 - 2016 @ University of Cambridge
http://www.ses.ac.uk/event/data-dialogue-time-share-navigating-boundaries-benefits/
In this talk I present an overview of human genomic data sources around the world, their funding, access policies and type of data they contain. Discussing why data sharing is hard, including issues of data privacy and a research culture that does not incentivise sharing of data and results.
Presented by Fiona Nielsen, founder and CEO of Repositive
http://repositive.io
Genome sharing projects around the world - Open Access is not enough Fiona Nielsen
Presented by Fiona Nielsen at the 2016 conference on Electronic Publishing #Elpub2016 in Goettingen, Germany, June 8th 2016
Take home message 1: Open Access does not equal discoverability
Take home message 2: Lots of genomic research data is not found and reused because it is not discoverable
Take home message 3: Repositive is a portal for searching for genomics data
Read more:
- EPUB conference http://meetings.copernicus.org/elpub2016/programme.html
- Repositive http://repositive.io
From Bioinformatics Scientist to EntrepreneurFiona Nielsen
A 15min presentation at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) Alumni career event on May 28th, 2016.
Thanks to Jørgen Bang Nielsen and IMADA for organising.
Read more:
- SDU http://www.sdu.dk
- Institute for mathematics and computer science (IMADA): http://imada.sdu.dk
- DNAdigest http://DNAdigest.org
- Repositive http://repositive.io
Workshop finding and accessing data - fiona nadia charlotte - cambridge apr...Fiona Nielsen
Workshop presentation on finding and accessing human genomics data for research.
Including statistics of publicly available data sources and tips on how to save time in your workflow of data access.
Organised in collaboration between DNAdigest and Open Data Cambridge.
Read more about our work:
http://DNAdigest.org
http://repositive.io
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/fionanielsen
http://www.data.cam.ac.uk
Pistoia Alliance European Conference, Kings College London, April 19, 2016
Panel introduction to Big (Biomedical) Data and the challenges facing research in biomedical R&D with examples from genomics data around the world. #Pistoia2016
Event link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pistoia-alliance-european-conference-2016-tickets-19618953819
Read more about me and my work at:
http://dnadigest.org
http://repositive.io
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/fionanielsen
Workshop finding and accessing data - fiona - lunteren april 18 2016Fiona Nielsen
Workshop presentation on finding and accessing human genomics data for research.
Including statistics of publicly available data sources and tips on how to save time in your workflow of data access.
Presented at BioSB2016, pre-conference PhD retreat for young researchers in bioinformatics and systems biology at Congrescentrum De Werelt in Lunteren. #BioSB2016 #BioSB16
Link to event:
http://www.youngcb.nl/events/biosb-phd-retreat-2016/
Read more about my work:
http://DNAdigest.org
http://repositive.io
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/fionanielsen
Why i left my job in genomics R&D - Lunteren - april 18 - 2016Fiona Nielsen
Career talk about how I moved from bioinformatics scientist to become an entrepreneur.
Presented at BioSB2016, pre-conference PhD retreat for young researchers in bioinformatics and systems biology at Congrescentrum De Werelt in Lunteren. #BioSB2016 #BioSB16
Link to event:
http://www.youngcb.nl/events/biosb-phd-retreat-2016/
Read more about my work:
http://DNAdigest.org
http://repositive.io
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/fionanielsen
Genome sharing projects around the world nijmegen oct 29 - 2015Fiona Nielsen
Genome sharing projects across the world
Did you ever wonder what happened to the exponential increase in genome sequencing data? It is out there around the world and a lot of it is consented for research use. This means that if you just know where to find the data, you can potentially analyse gigabytes of data to power your research.
In this talk Fiona will present community genome initiatives, the genome sharing projects across the world, how you can benefit from this wealth of data in your work, and how you can boost your academic career by sharing and collaboration.
by Fiona Nielsen, Founder and CEO of DNAdigest and Repositive
With a background in software development Fiona pursued her career in bioinformatics research at Radboud University Nijmegen. Now a scientist-turned-entrepreneur Fiona founded DNAdigest and its social enterprise spin-out Repositive Ltd. Both the charity and company focus on efficient and ethical sharing of genetics data for research to accelerate diagnostics and cures for genetic diseases.
Overcoming barriers for genomic data sharing yaac presentation may 23 2015Fiona Nielsen
Overcoming barriers for genomic data sharing - presented at Young Alliance Against Cancer conference on May 23rd 2015 in Copenhagen. http://young-alliance.org
Repositive is a mission-driven company aiming to facilitate data sharing for genomics research via the online platform http://repositive.io
Repositive was spun out of the charity DNAdigest.
Read more: http://dnadigest.org/repositive-raises-300k-for-genomics-platform/
Find us on Twitter @repositiveio and @DNAdigest
The need to redefine genomic data sharing - moving towards Open Science Oct ...Fiona Nielsen
This presentation was given at the symposium: Genomics for Health and Environment in Nijmegen on Oct 30, 2014
http://www.studiegids.science.ru.nl/2014/science/prospectus/biology_bachelor/course/34732/
The presentation introduces Open Science and Open Access Publishing and discusses these concepts in relation to (human) genomics.
The discussion includes a presentation of the concept behind http://repositive.io, the social enterprise software platform which was spun out of the DNAdigest research activities.
As a special edition to the students in the audience who are curious about their future scientific career, I included a couple of slides about my move from academic research to being a social entrepreneur.
DNAdigest works to promote and enable easier and more efficient sharing of genomics data for research. We educate and engage the community about the hurdles and dilemmas for data sharing as faced from the perspective of stakeholders in academia, industry and patient communities. As part of our work we are working with our community and supporters to prototype new mechanisms and concepts for data sharing and data access.
Please visit our website to learn more about our activities and events: http://DNAdigest.org
Follow us on twitter: @DNAdigest
DNAdigest Eagle Genomics Symposium March 27, 2014Fiona Nielsen
At the Eagle Genomics Symposium Fiona Nielsen CEO and founder of DNAdigest presented a discussion of the trade-off between privacy and open access and how hard-to-access data is hindering progress in genetics research.
Read more at http://DNAdigest.org and have a look at our campaign in support of collaborative open science for human genetics: http://tiny.cc/funddna <-- this is where you can get one of those cool #OpenScience T-shirts ;)
Explore Sarasota Collection's exquisite and long-lasting dining table sets and chairs in Sarasota. Elevate your dining experience with our high-quality collection!
Textile Chemical Brochure - Tradeasia (1).pdfjeffmilton96
Explore Tradeasia’s brochure for eco-friendly textile chemicals. Enhance your textile production with high-quality, sustainable solutions for superior fabric quality.
How to Build a Diversified Investment Portfolio.pdfTrims Creators
Building a diversified investment portfolio is a fundamental strategy to manage risk and optimize returns. For both novice and experienced investors, diversification offers a pathway to a more stable and resilient financial future. Here’s an in-depth guide on how to create and maintain a well-diversified investment portfolio.
Salma Karina Hayat is Conscious Digital Transformation Leader at Kudos | Empowering SMEs via CRM & Digital Automation | Award-Winning Entrepreneur & Philanthropist | Education & Homelessness Advocate
What You're Going to Learn
- How These 4 Leaks Force You To Work Longer And Harder in order to grow your income… improve just one of these and the impact could be life changing.
- How to SHUT DOWN the revolving door of Income Stagnation… you know, where new sales come into your magazine while at the same time existing sponsors exit.
- How to transform your magazine business by fixing the 4 “DON’Ts”...
#1 LEADS Don’t Book
#2 PROSPECTS Don’t Show
#3 PROSPECTS Don’t Buy
#4 CLIENTS Don’t Stay
- How to identify which leak to fix first so you get the biggest bang for your income.
- Get actionable strategies you can use right away to improve your bookings, sales and retention.
When listening about building new Ventures, Marketplaces ideas are something very frequent. On this session we will discuss reasons why you should stay away from it :P , by sharing real stories and misconceptions around them. If you still insist to go for it however, you will at least get an idea of the important and critical strategies to optimize for success like Product, Business Development & Marketing, Operations :)
Reflect Festival Limassol May 2024.
Michael Economou is an Entrepreneur, with Business & Technology foundations and a passion for Innovation. He is working with his team to launch a new venture – Exyde, an AI powered booking platform for Activities & Experiences, aspiring to revolutionize the way we travel and experience the world. Michael has extensive entrepreneurial experience as the co-founder of Ideas2life, AtYourService as well as Foody, an online delivery platform and one of the most prominent ventures in Cyprus’ digital landscape, acquired by Delivery Hero group in 2019. This journey & experience marks a vast expertise in building and scaling marketplaces, enhancing everyday life through technology and making meaningful impact on local communities, which is what Michael and his team are pursuing doing once more with Exyde www.goExyde.com
Best Crypto Marketing Ideas to Lead Your Project to SuccessIntelisync
In this comprehensive slideshow presentation, we delve into the intricacies of crypto marketing, offering invaluable insights and strategies to propel your project to success in the dynamic cryptocurrency landscape. From understanding market trends to building a robust brand identity, engaging with influencers, and analyzing performance metrics, we cover all aspects essential for effective marketing in the crypto space.
Also Intelisync, our cutting-edge service designed to streamline and optimize your marketing efforts, leveraging data-driven insights and innovative strategies to drive growth and visibility for your project.
With a data-driven approach, transparent communication, and a commitment to excellence, InteliSync is your trusted partner for driving meaningful impact in the fast-paced world of Web3. Contact us today to learn more and embark on a journey to crypto marketing mastery!
Ready to elevate your Web3 project to new heights? Contact InteliSync now and unleash the full potential of your crypto venture!
Best Crypto Marketing Ideas to Lead Your Project to Success
EICT Summer School August 2023 - Things I never knew I never knew - about building great teams.pptx
1. Things I never knew
I never knew
about building great teams
Fiona Nielsen - August 2023
2. The recipe is simple
Great teams = Great people
Great leadership
Great work culture
3. Let’s break down
the essentials
1. Get great people on board
2. Always improve your leadership
3. Invest in good culture from the start
These are all a summary of good advice,
but how do you actually DO it?
Is there a recipe?
4. 1. Get great people on board
● Know what you are looking for
● Attract the right people to apply/express interest
● Interview skills to identify the candidate is right
These principles apply for every recruitment from interns to
consultants to board advisors!
5. 1. Get great people on board
● Know what you are looking for
This requires self-reflection and ability to
imagine the future. Both as a founder and as a
company.
What am I/are we good at? What will we need to
be good at to succeed? What kind of skills or
experience would be able to succeed at this?
What kind of personal skills would be needed?
6. 1. Get great people on board
● Know what you are looking for
Helpful tools may be:
● to draw a table of required
skills/experience and which are covered
by the current team
● to sketch the future org chart for the
company
7. 1. Get great people on board
● Attract the right people to apply/express interest
Describe the role you are looking for and be specific about making the title
reflect the job, e.g. “co-founder” or “marketing intern”
Always include the mission and vision of the company. Don’t fluff it.
Consider why anyone would work for you - beyond being paid a salary.
Great candidates have a choice of where to work, they will choose a place
where they find meaning, feel motivated and challenged, and feel welcome.
8. 1. Get great people on board
● Attract the right people to apply/express interest
Describe the role you are looking for and be specific about making the title
reflect the job, e.g. “co-founder” or “marketing intern”
Always include the mission and vision of the company. Don’t fluff it.
Consider why anyone would work for you - beyond being paid a salary.
Great candidates have a choice of where to work, they will choose a place
where they find meaning, feel motivated and challenged, and feel welcome.
9. 1. Get great people on board
● Attract the right people to apply/express interest
Helpful tools may be:
● Websites targeting startup enthusiasts, e.g. workinstartups.com
● Comparing job descriptions from other companies
● ChatGPT/LLMs to help you draft your job spec (always sense-check)
● Once you scale up your recruitment activities, consider using a software tool to
manage your recruitment pipeline (and next scale up after that is to hire HR)
10. 1. Get great people on board
● Attract the right people to apply/express interest
Helpful tools may be:
● Websites targeting startup enthusiasts, e.g. workinstartups.com
● Comparing job descriptions from other companies
● ChatGPT/LLMs to help you draft your job spec (always sense-check)
● Once you scale up your recruitment activities, consider using a software tool to
manage your recruitment pipeline (and next scale up after that is to hire HR)
Top tip
Recruitment agency George James
do NED/advisor searches for free!
Top tip
Use your network to advertise
both online and offline!
11. 1. Get great people on board
● Interview skills to identify the candidate is right
You may have heard the advice: “Hire A players!”
I do not believe in A players… An “A player” from a big corporate
may be anything than an A player in your startup.
Great outcome is a combination of
● The right skills for the job
● The right direction and support at the right time, i.e. good
leadership skills
● The right work culture
13. 1. Get great people on board
● Interview skills to identify the candidate is right
You can learn great interviewing skills from digging into materials and books on how
to “hire A players”. I can recommend the book Topgrading for anyone interested.
TLDR; Here are my key takeaways:
● Define the skills and behaviour you are looking for and ask for past experience.
E.g. “Tell me about a time where you kept a cool head under stress”
● Never ask for “what would you do if?”
● Always take references, ask them about how the candidate did
● Scale the length and depth of your interview process with the seniority of the role
14. 1. Get great people on board
● Interview skills to identify the candidate is right
Make sure you filter for candidate-startup-fit!
Time for a scary startup story!
15. 1. Get great people on board
● Interview skills to identify the candidate is right
Make sure you filter for candidate-startup-fit!
Time for a scary startup story!
Morale of the story:
Always make sure your candidates understand both
the benefits and risks of working in a startup
17. 2. Always improve your leadership
● Set a direction and align incentives
● Prioritise and delegate
● Ask for feedback
This is not a do it once and it is done. This is an ongoing process.
Part of what makes running a company difficult - and fun!
18. 2. Always improve your leadership
● Set a direction and align incentives
How do you get everyone to row in the same direction if they do not
know which direction to go?
Spend time defining and communicating the direction. Make regular
routine of reviewing your long term and short term goals with the team.
19. 2. Always improve your leadership
● Set a direction and align incentives
Make sure your incentive structures are aligned with your business goals
Use an Employee Share Option Scheme (ESOP) to give your team and
advisors a vested interest in the company success.
Always implement vesting schemes for options as well as
for the shareholding of the co-founders
Use cash commission/bonuses for sales people!
20. 2. Always improve your leadership
● Prioritise and delegate
Prioritise: Does your team know what is
top priority to the business?
Delegate: Who does what? Who takes
decisions? Who makes decision on what?
A tool that might help your thinking and
team discussion is a RACI matrix
21. 2. Always improve your leadership
● Ask for feedback
You know you are not perfect.
If you pretend to be perfect or know it all, you risk losing credibility and trust.
● Ask for feedback - make it a habit
● Listen - and check your understanding
● Own your mistakes. Own the performance of the company. Own your learning.
● Share the wins!
22. 3. Invest in good culture from the start
● Invest in your culture
● Give everyone a voice
● Develop leaders
Sometimes you have to let fires burn and leave improvements for later.
Never delay dealing with discontent, disruptive behaviour or indifference
23. 3. Invest in good culture from the start
● Invest in your culture
● Give everyone a voice
● Develop leaders
Sometimes you have to let fires burn and leave improvements for later.
Never delay dealing with discontent, disruptive behaviour or indifference
24. 3. Invest in good culture from the start
● Invest in your culture
● Give everyone a voice
● Develop leaders
Sometimes you have to let fires burn and leave improvements for later.
Never delay dealing with discontent, disruptive behaviour or indifference!
25. 3. Invest in good culture from the start
● Invest in your culture
● No, not ping pong tables…
With your co-founders ask each other what you imagine your company would be like
to work for. Write down concepts you agree on, and hold each other accountable on
occasions where you do not live up to your own aspirations.
Every company is different to work for. Your work culture will depend A LOT on the
founders and the first ~10 hires in your company.
PS. I am in favour of ping pong tables when you can afford it…
26. 3. Invest in good culture from the start
● Give everyone a voice
Great ideas can come from
everywhere, and they do - if you let
them!
Consider having regular AMAs with
your team. How you answer questions
will set the tone and culture for your
company.
27. 3. Invest in good culture from the start
● Develop leaders
Always think long term:
- Not only fix your mistakes,
aim to incorporate the learnings in your culture
- If the CEO is taking the decision today, how can that decision be
delegated next time?
- Who steers the ship when you need a break?
- Give your team the opportunity to grow their responsibilities
29. 1. Get great people on board
● Know what you are looking for
● Attract the right people to apply/express interest
● Interview skills to identify the candidate is right
These principles apply for every recruitment from interns to
consultants to board advisors!
30. 2. Always improve your leadership
● Set a direction and align incentives
● Prioritise and delegate
● Ask for feedback
This is not a do it once and it is done. This is an ongoing process.
Part of what makes running a company difficult - and fun!
31. 3. Invest in good culture from the start
● Invest in your culture
● Give everyone a voice
● Develop leaders
Sometimes you have to let fires burn and leave improvements for later.
Never delay dealing with discontent, disruptive behaviour or indifference
32. Last tip: About business advisers
Everybody has advice
Only you can filter what is relevant and right for your business
Fiona Nielsen
serial entrepreneur in biotech, genomics and data
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionanielsen/
33. Bonus
slides
See my other presentation of things I never knew I never knew, to learn about
- equity calculations
- co-founder agreements
- sharing equity between founders
- equity for advisers and board
Editor's Notes
Example: When I recruited a board for DNAdigest
Example: When we scaled up Repositive