A young trekker friend recently asked me what are the key skills he would need for starting his own company, which is something he intends to do in the future. Since we were just chatting, I asked him for some time to put together my thoughts on this subject. Not that I'm an expert on the topic but I can surely speak from second-hand experience, having been part of many startups and small IT companies. Some of these have done reasonably well, others have done spectacularly badly and some have just maintained a status quo (which I personally believe is worse than a spectacular failure, but that's another blog post). So here are the 5 top skills that I believe my friend needs to develop before he starts his own company:
Communication
Any company needs to sell something - an idea, a product or a service - in order to succeed. So the very first skill you need is the ability to communicate your company's offerings. Of course, you can always employ a sales guy to handle the actual selling but as an entrepreneur, you need to be in the forefront of marketing your company and its products. Years before you actually start your firm, you need to start building a network of contacts. This network will eventually give you the leads that your sales team would exploit, to win business for your company. Once you get the deals, you need to keep communicating with your customers to ensure timely payments, to get contract renewals or new deals and to gather more leads.
Leadership
In most fields, you cannot be a one-man company. That may be how you start off but eventually you have to build and lead a team of specialists in various functions like sales, delivery, support, admin, etc. Leading is not just about coordinating - you have to define your company values, communicate those to the team, and lead by example. Communication plays a very key role in keeping your team engaged. Initially there may be hiccups and setbacks. But if you keep your team informed about the problems, they will support you through thick and thin. Even when the business is doing well, you cannot afford to neglect your communication duties as a leader. Many promising companies have floundered by losing the support of their core team.
Problem Solving
Many people wonder whether technical skills are necessary to start your own company. For example, do you need to be a baker to start a cake shop? Or do you need to be a web programmer to start a dot-com? The answer is clearly No. But at the same time, you cannot be totally unaware of the subject. Even if you have experts to do the dirty work, you still need to understand the problems your business is facing and you need the skills to solve those problems. Simply put, problem solving is the process of identifying, analyzing and solving problems. This is a skill that you pick up through work experience more than anything else. So I would advise my friend to work in the chosen field for 5-10 years before he starts his own company.
Empathy
Earlier, I talked about the importance of communicating with your team about your successes and failures. But mere communication is not enough, especially in tough times. Telling your employees about your problems will not automatically buy you their support. For example, if the company runs into losses in a recession year, you cannot just expect the team members to work for a fraction of their salary. You need to be able to put yourself in their shoes and understand their problems, especially financial ones. Then you need to provide solutions for those problems, even at the cost of your profit calculations. At the same time, you need to ensure that you are investing in the right people, those who would stick with you in the long run.
Humility
In my view, it is easier to be a leader in a period of failure than in a period of success. The intoxicating sweetness of success has a tendency to go to your head, impairing your judgement and taking you to the edge of pitfalls. Maybe CXOs of large corporations can afford their eccentric ego trips and subsequent losses, but you cannot. Keep yourself humble at all times and resist the temptation to believe the larger than life image of your company that is created by your marketing team. Remember that the competition is always out there, waiting for you to make one false move. Stay focussed on your customers, stay in touch with your employees and stay rooted to your company's values and core competencies and your business plan.
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