Last Updated on 16 June 2025 at 18:34

This opinion may disappoint some would-be entrepreneurs, but especially those who hold on to their business vision as if it were the discovery of the century. This publication explains why your big idea for a start-up is worthless without the right operational team and offers a few pointers on choosing the right initial people.

This publication, in the“business management” series, is thus divided into two main sections, one which focuses more on a few practical aspects and another which explains the current challenges for a new business. Finally, the conclusion offers a quick reference to remember in all circumstances.

The right choices for the initial team

Methodology for assessing the initial team

After several decades of turning around troubled projects and companies, I’ve established a methodology for rapidly analysing the initial team, even before going any further with discussions. This saves time for everyone. Here are the steps:

The idea for the new business

The talent you need for your business

The reality of the market and the time it takes to implement a strategy

I’ll say it again: it’s not enough to sense a great opportunity in a given market or to think that the idea would be great or that it would be enough to take an existing idea and transform it a little. There are many other talented entrepreneurs out there with the same or similar ideas or with the same capacity for transformation. What’s more, there are a lot of misconceptions about innovation. And business strategy. And operational or strategic processes.

A practical example of my methodology

You can’t plan for everything in a new business

Setting up the operational team

Good financial management

Reward intermediate successes

Communicate well with your investors

Be transparent in communications with your team

How to avoid pitfalls during the launch of your business and choices in the initial operational team

Strategy, its operational implementation, and the element of chance

Current thinking on entrepreneurial creation and operational management

The myth of the globally successful founder

Business leaders who become influencers or opinion leaders

On the usefulness of corporate culture in companies

Conclusions: the fundamentals for an effective startup team

• Contributeur

Elena Debbaut

Partenaire – Restructuration Opérationnelle

https://elena.debbaut.solutions/

ed@consultingteam.solutions

Elena Debbaut is a strategic execution expert to boards and executive teams. She leads and advises on complex transformations when governance barriers, internal politics, or structural fragmentation prevent organizations from executing critical decisions.

Specialities:

• governance-constrained transformation
• operational restructuring
• strategic recovery & execution