STEP 03 · SEVEN STEPS
Find the core team and get access to resources
20 April 202614 min read
A small number of the right people, early — and a short list of the resources that make them effective. The cost of getting this wrong compounds.
The core team isn't the org chart. It's the group of people whose decisions in the first 90 days will determine whether the next 900 days are spent building or fixing. Getting this group right is the highest-leverage move a founder makes in the early months.
Three roles, not ten
- Someone who owns the problem — usually the founder with the deepest customer relationships.
- Someone who owns the solution — the craftsperson who can move between shape and system.
- Someone who owns the stance — the person who decides what the product won't do.
You can't defer the third role to later. If nobody owns the stance, every new input becomes a new feature, and the product loses its shape before it finds one.
Resources the core team actually needs
- Enough runway to make the first honest bet without flinching.
- Enough customer access to learn faster than you ship.
- Enough quiet to think — which usually means fewer meetings than a normal org defaults to.