Hi there!!! If you are new to this series I request you to Read from the start.
Also Note: A good amount of inspiration in writing this came from Ankur Warikoo
As an intellectually average undergrad student in a Tier-3 Engineering college the recruitment process for my start-up was pretty straightforward: "Best Friends".
Because they were/are the only people whom I could've put trust in a variety of initiatives of my college life at that point in life and they would at least believe in my vision for the company initially.
So I pitched In, And Most of them agreed to work on our e-commerce business website(Our MVP) during our 1 Week Mid Semester Break. Pretty quick, right??
What made me fail recruitment overall?
In a team of friends everyone wants to work with you to help you or to have a piece of the pie that you're baking, I misunderstood their help with their interest and their being on the same page with me, they were not interested they were being helpful to a friend.
I sold democracy which gave equality of vote and power to people who didn't understand how to use it, I wronged here, some startups require autocracy just to train it's people how to use powers in a democracy.
Everything in a startup can look urgent, only the wise can sort out the important things from all the urgent and delegate respect to what seems important for the present and for the future, I did a bad job delegating.
I shared my vision with the team, but was not available to hear their opinion or if they felt feasible about it.
I assigned people their duties, but didn't tell how to accomplish things, I did a poor job of assigning roles that people had to play.
I assumed that when I'll initiate something, the team will understand the rationale behind it, but they couldn't. I lacked clarity and as a result they lacked it too.
I assumed that if I sugar coat what I felt wrong about a team members way of work, they'll feel less hurt, I was wrong, it left them even more confused.
I assumed that "we are not like others", and by doing so I assumed that there is nothing wrong with us, but that's never true differences exist and the only way to disregard them is to focus on the ways we can do so.
I Assumed that everyone's equal and every vote counts. But I Recently figured out that, it doesn't, Everyone comes with their strengths. And their vote should count in accordance to their strength and not just their presence.
I assured equal equity to team from the beginning irrespective of the leads they get in, profit one brings in, eventually this showed adverse effects, I should've done otherwise I should've hold before I promised/assured, I failed.
Not assuming things, being direct and clear could've been the best things I would've done.