Teams take their cues from the leader, but that means more than just "setting a good example." As a founder or CEO, you have the vision, hunger and passion driving your company's success. Uncovering and nurturing those same drives in your employees is just as important.
My original company, Admitad, which was founded in 2009 as an affiliate network, has now grown into a well known brand with over 700 employees and a much larger reach because of this dedication to fostering founders and bringing people together. Companies of any size can build up their internal teams in a way that makes them excited to come to work and feel like they are a part of something greater than themselves and will be encouraged to innovate.
Find the People Who Burn With Ideas and Fan Those Flames
The first and most important thing is learning to select people with the "spark" to create something. Hiring employees with an entrepreneurial spirit is a good thing. Many view it as a bad investment because this person will want to leave and run with their own ideas in a few years. However, I encourage them to do so for two reasons.
First, if you treat that person well and support their idea, there is a good chance they will end up in a field related to yours, so you now have a synergistic relationship that strengthens your brand. Second, even if the person starts a wholly different company, you now have a broader network, which makes both of you more successful. You also gain a positive reputation, which attracts better talent.
The backbone of your company will be the ones with the greatest commitment, faith and trust. Expertise in your field is helpful, but it's far more critical to find the ones whose values align with yours than who are the "top" candidates in your industry. Remember that you can teach everything except energy, passion and a founder's spirit. Look for a great connection and a hunger to create something better than what's already out there.
Founding From Within Makes You an Industry Beacon
I have always believed that finding the right people will help shape your company's vision and path. As a founder, it's my job to have the initial idea that draws others to me and lets me bring it to life. However, employees who are hungry and passionate can and should have the ability to contribute to that vision, influencing the path the company ultimately follows.
This is a big part of why Mitgo grew out of my original company. We ended up with this network of assets that each wanted to innovate and become leaders in their respective industries. I realized that I could best support them by creating an investor and entrepreneur network.
Of course, I'm ambitious and want my company to grow even larger than something like Amazon. However, I realize that kind of lofty goal won't make me or my team happy in the long run. Instead, I'm convinced the best way to grow and stay passionate is to create checkpoint goals for every 2-3 years. To this end, we introduced the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) program in late 2021, allocating 15% of our shares to the C-suite and midlevel team members, giving them a real stake in the success and direction of the company. Today, at least 50 people have a shared goal through 2025.
This kind of investment, along with my team's excitement around bringing their own ideas to life, infuses the company with a kind of innovative energy that drives us to bigger, better things and makes us a sort of "lighthouse" for the industry. By nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit within the team, it not only becomes easier to attract top talent but also grow into new, up-and-coming fields.
The Entrepreneurial Spirit Keeps Your Company Fresh and Relevant
It's normal for successful startups to eventually transition out of the "startup mindset" and into a more traditional corporate structure. However, this is not always what's best for business. The truth is that conventional systems can often stifle the very creativity and agility that helped you succeed in the first place.
As a leader, you are responsible for maintaining a nurturing environment that allows your team to spread their wings and leave the proverbial nest when the time is right. This means you may need to emphasize research and development projects more, find out what type of work atmosphere motivates your team or offer personalized professional growth opportunities. The right combination of things will vary from one organization to the next.
The important takeaway here is that you should stay within the original values that brought you a team of hungry, passionate employees in the first place, even if that means taking a non-traditional approach to work. With the younger generations especially, the more they feel free to voice their ideas and opinions, the greater your chances are of maintaining the fresh, creative spirit that is so vital for success. We use this approach at Mitgo, and we're so proud that it has earned us the recognition of being a top workplace for our employees as we were ranked one of the 100 global Most Loved Workspaces.
Remember That Nobody is Irreplaceable
This is a hard truth for some founders, but accepting that nobody is irreplaceable (including you!) can be very freeing. In fact, this idea has helped unlock the potential of some founders because it gives them the freedom to hire and fire as needed.
Of course, doing your best to hire well is essential because bad hires are an expensive headache. Hiring mistakes are inevitable, though, so understanding that it's okay to cut ties with an expert who doesn't fit with your culture is a valuable trait.
In that same vein, understanding that anyone can be replaced also allows founders to coach and mentor promising team members without fearing the time when they must let them go to run with their own ideas. That kind of fear can be stifling, so avoiding it creates a more relaxed, open and trusting work environment.
Treat Your Team Like a Second Family, and They'll Do the Same For You
When your team knows you'll do anything possible for them, they will show their appreciation and often return the favor. It's important to always maintain sight of the fact that you're running a business, but find the balance between caring for your employees as people and operating a commercial enterprise.
For instance, many of our employees had family members who lost their jobs during the pandemic. To ease this hardship, we launched a support fund to offer financial support to our team members in need. The fund is still active today: we use it to assist employees facing challenges like serious illness or force majeure life events that cause them severe stress and financial strain.
Another simple way to do this is to consistently review and revise your HR values to ensure you're hiring the best possible people and keeping your culture aligned with your team's values. After the launch of Mitgo, I presented the team with a survey asking for their input on which qualities and values were most important to them. I explained that our previous values were created four years ago and, since we've grown so much, we wanted to revisit them to understand which values the team thought we should implement to achieve our mission.
We used their responses to help management craft updated job descriptions, employee assessments, company positioning and our overall corporate milieu. Everyone offered meaningful inputs, which showed me that by bringing in team members who are passionate and hungry to grow, succeed and change the world, you can create a close-knit professional family that is great for business.
(Photo : Alexander Bachmann)
Alexander Bachmann, the Founder and CEO of Mitgo, a global tech business incubator. Previously, he had founded Admitad as an affiliate network, which is now recognized as one of largest affiliate platforms for advertisers and publishers. Alexander has been in the martech space for over 20 years and has extensive expertise in MarTech/AdTech, Smart Shopping and IT-driven Startup Incubation sectors.
