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Building Brilliant Teams: Tips for Founders and Entrepreneurs
Starting a business is exciting, intense, and full of unknowns. But one of the biggest challenges and opportunities you'll face as a founder is building your team. Who you hire, how you lead, and the culture you create will make or break your business.
Here are Tips for Founders and Entrepreneurs.
Starting a business is exciting, intense, and full of unknowns. But one of the biggest challenges—and opportunities—you'll face as a founder is building your team. Who you hire, how you lead, and the culture you create will make or break your business.
Today, I joined the University of Bristol, Bristol Innovations for founders about how to build an effective team, nailing the technical and commercial, balancing a growing team with business demands and importantly, how to develop leadership qualities yourself. The ability to build a team is one of the key entrepreneurial skills, and you need to convince people that the new venture is worth joining at a risky early stage. Stakeholders such as investors, partners and customers will look for a strong team when evaluating new businesses.
I spoke with other founders and leaders about how to build effective teams and develop leadership skills early on in your entrepreneurial journey. These lessons are rooted in human connection because business is ultimately about people. Here are the key takeaways, practical actions, and thought-provoking questions to help you grow a team with trust, clarity, and confidence.
1. Start with Self-Awareness
Great teams begin with great self-awareness. Before hiring, ask yourself:
What am I brilliant at?
What drains me?
What do I avoid?
What gaps do I need to fill
How do I lead under pressure?
What sort of company culture do I want to create?
Emotional intelligence - being able to understand ourselves and others and use and manage your own emotions in positive ways to build relationships, trust, empathy and communication to manage stress, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict. Building strong relationships starts with knowing yourself first.
Action: Write down your top 3 strengths and 3 things you struggle with. What kind of person would balance you out?
Reflection: Understand your patterns, blind spots, and stress responses.
2. Founding Teams Need More Than Technical Talent Technical
Technical and commercial skills might get your business started, but trust, alignment, and communication sustain a team. So it’s crucial to define roles, expectations, and decision-making processes early.
“Great teams are built on trust and a culture of feedback, not just technical excellence.”
Brilliant teams balance technical expertise (hard skills) with shared purpose and vision, psychological safety and diverse strengths. If people don’t believe in the mission or don’t feel psychologically safe, they won’t contribute their best ideas. As human beings, we’re hardwired for connection. Diversity of thought matters as much as diversity of expertise — founders should intentionally build teams that challenge their thinking, not just execute on it.
Think like a football manager.
“It’s like assembling a football team – you need a mix of defenders, midfielders, and strikers to cover all areas of the pitch”
Action: Hold a ‘ways of working’ conversation with your co-founder. Explore how you communicate, handle conflict, and make decisions.
“In the early days, how you work together is just as important as what you’re building.”
3. Leadership is a Behaviour, Not a Title
Leadership is about stepping up from being the person who does the job to being responsible for the people who do the job. Leadership not just about being in charge and directing others, it’s how you show up, communicate, and respond. It’s a daily practice in being human. As the founder you set the tone - how you communicate, the standards you hold, how you respond when things go wrong will set an example for others to follow.
“We sometimes assume leaders are born—but leadership lives in the everyday moments and how we interact with others.”
What makes a good entrepreneurial leader?
Empathy and emotional intelligence
Resilience (the ability to keep your cool) and to persevere through change and uncertainty
Clarity and courage in communication
Ability to build and maintain Trust
“Startups grow at the speed of trust — not just strategy.”
4. Your First Hires Shape Everything
Your first employees aren’t just there to get the job done - they co-create the culture. Your first team members set the tone for how your company operates and grows.
When you start to recruit start by evaluating the gaps you need to fill to free you up to focus on strategy and where you add most values. The most successful leaders all talk about bringing in brilliant people with skills and experience to complement them - whether that’s in finance, marketing and sales or anything else. Think like a football manager - you need a range of skills.
Who to hire first:
Someone who frees up you, the founder, to focus on strategy
People who align with your values and mission
Co-founder with complementary strengths (business/tech)
Product Manager to own development and customer alignment
Technical Lead/CTO for the tech stack
Marketing & Sales Lead to drive growth
Operations Manager to run the day-to-day
When to go full-time:
In the early days bringing in freelance, fractional or part-time specialists is a flexible approach that can reduce costs, but how do you know when it’s time to hire someone on a permanent basis?
When the role is central, ongoing, and needs ownership
When alignment and trust are already strong
Hiring traps to avoid:
Hiring too quickly or out of desperation
Hiring with a short-term view rather than looking for people who can grow with your business.
Avoiding difficult performance conversations
Assuming everyone’s motivated by the same things
5. Building Culture (Intentionally)
Culture isn’t a ping pong table or buying pizzas for your team on a Friday - it’s how you behave when things are tough. It’s built moment by moment, conversation by conversation. Being part of a small team makes it much easier to feel included and close to the action, which is a stark contrast to most large corporations with thousands of employees and a huge distance between the people on the ground and management. Use this to your advantage by building and advertising a positive and inclusive company that will give you an advantage over large corporations.
You need to build a culture that’s about shared trust, open dialogue, and learning from each other’s perspectives.
“Teams build a business, Culture Builds a team.”
Action: Define the values and behaviours you want your team to embody and talk about them in your recruitment ads and job descriptions as well as the technical skills you need. Explore values fit in the interview process and emed your values through your onboarding process.
How to embed culture early:
Define your purpose core values and communicate them clearly
Lead by example—people mirror your behaviour
Create rituals and ceremonies: shout-outs, team check-ins, feedback loops
Promote work-life balance to protect wellbeing
Build psychological safety by encouraging feedback and experimentation
“Trust is built in small decisions—how leaders communicate, how they respond to mistakes, and how they empower their teams.”
Strong relationships at work—partnerships, friendships, mutual support change everything. They make us feel safe, seen, and part of something bigger. That’s where culture becomes real.
Action: Ask yourself daily: What am I doing today to build trust in my team?
6. Attracting Top Talent
Startups often can’t compete on salary, but they can compete on creating a meaningful workplace. When you don’t have the budget for large salaries, and the value of options is still a ways off, you should look beyond the salary to create a great culture and opportunities for growth and development as the business grows.
Founders’ reflection: How are we showing people this isn’t just a job but a mission?
Tactics that work:
Offer equity to build ownership and long-term commitment
Create a compelling vision that excites and connects people to purpose
Leverage your network and seek referrals from people you trust
Emphasise learning, growth, and opportunities to shape the business
Use social media and your website to showcase your company culture, share success stories, and post job openings.
Think beyond the salary - Offer perks like flexible work arrangements, remote work options, professional development opportunities, and wellness initiatives.
7. What Makes a Good First Hire
Start-ups can be pressured, constantly shifting and adapting
g. The best team members are:
Adaptable
Curious
Great communicators
Willing to learn and unlearn
Emotionally intelligent and collaborative
Values-aligned and invested in the mission
Self-awareness about strengths and limitations
A growth mindset
The ability to connect the dots and ask great questions
Respect for others’ perspectives and appreciation of difference
When we build strong relationships through meaningful conversations, we experience the journey differently than if we try to do it alone.
8. Managing Small Teams Under Pressure
I often see teams underestimate the importance of internal communication, people skills, or culture-building in the early stages — they focus on the product, not the people building it. But these things shape your success more than you think. Startups are intimate. Small teams work closely, and pressure can strain relationships. To thrive:
Set clear roles and expectations
Create a culture of regular and open feedback
Make space to hear all voices
Create Psychological Safety
“Conflict is natural—how you handle it defines your culture.”
Don’t forget: Respect and appreciation build trust. The more we connect, the more we realise we’re more alike than different. We’re all human, and that shared humanity is the foundation of great teams.
9. Encourage Collaboration and Innovation
Innovation thrives when people feel safe and supported. To build a creative, collaborative environment:
Promote cross-functional collaboration—bring different perspectives together
Create a safe space for unconventional ideas and experimentation
Empower your team to take ownership and make decisions
Recognise and reward initiative and creative contributions
Trust and transparency create strong teams
Action: Celebrate progress, not just results. Make sure people know it’s OK to try, fail, and learn.
10. Scaling the Team
As your startup grows, managing and scaling your team gets more complex. What worked with 5 people won’t work with 25.
Tips for scaling well:
Keep your values front and centre
Create simple but effective onboarding and communication systems
Invest in developing leadership across your team - Mentor and grow your future leaders
Hire for both today’s needs and tomorrow’s growth
Cultural check-in: As we grow, are we staying true to what matters most? Are we still a team, or are we becoming disconnected departments?
Final Thoughts
“Start with your why, and find people who share your curiosity and energy.”
We are better together—because we are built for connection. Whether you’re hiring your first teammate or growing a leadership culture, remember that relationships are the real engine of every business.
You don’t have to do it all—you just have to build something together, with trust, humanity, and purpose at the centre.
If you’d like support developing your leadership or building a high-trust team? I’d love to help drop Polly a message or book a call here >
10 Tips for launching a food & drink brand
Whether you are setting up a start-up business, hussling a side project, or introducing a new brand or product range to an existing business, here are my 10 Top Tips - well 11 tips in fact, for launching a food & drink business - or any business in fact.
Launching a new food or drinks brand or adding a new product to an existing range is exciting but challenging.
Whether you are setting up a start-up business, hustling a side project, or introducing a new brand or product range to an existing business, it’s essential to have a clear value proposition and USP (unique selling proposition), a defined target audience, a robust business plan and identified your routes to market.
Here are my 10 Top Tips - well 11 tips in fact, for launching a food & drink business - or a business in any sector.
Work out your value proposition
How does your product make customers happy? What is the value you offer? You are unlikely to be launching something completely new and unheard of, but what is unique about what you do?
Robert Breakwell of of Suffolk-based Niche Cocktails says:
“Know your market and competitors; what makes you different / better / relevant / what is your USP? What are you offering the consumer that no-one else is doing?”
2. Start with Why
Ok, so we’ve nicked this title from best-selling business guru Simon Sinek’s popular book. When you start to talk about your brand and product don’t just focus on WHAT you do, the product details like the taste, or HOW you do it - like your environmental measures, but WHY you do it. If you can clearly communicate why you exist, what’s your purpose or belief and why should anyone care, you will stand out from the crowd and build loyalty.
"If you believe in what you are doing so will everyone else.” says Breakwell.
3. Identify your target audience
As the old adage goes, if you are marketing to everyone, you are going to reach no-one! So be as specific as you can about what type of consumer you are trying to reach - whether it’s based on demographics (geography, gender, age) or their tastes, values and lifestyle. You can even create profiles of your typical customer to help build up their personality.
Robert Breakwell says: “Understand your consumer and focus everything on making your promise to them sincere.”
4. Create a business plan
You need to have a destination in mind and a plan of how to get there, how will you know where to start and how will you know if you’ve succeeded?
Think about the time and resources you need to launch your brand or product, what are all the steps, process and measures of success? It might be to sell a certain number of units or to launch in any number of stockists.
Alan Ridealgh, founder of Humber Doucy Brewery says “Have the best business plan you can create: think about the time and resources you need to build your business: do you need a space to create your product, equipment to make it, a website, packaging and marketing. Try and think of every element of your business from start to end.”
5. Ask for help in the right places
There is a huge amount of support out there for businesses of all sizes whether you are starting from scratch or a long-established. Look for what’s available regionally, your local Growth Hub is a good place to start and perhaps your region has a Food Innovation Centre.
6. Formulate a budget
How much is it going to cost you? What are the fixed costs or those that vary on how many units you are producing? Can you calculate a breakeven point - so you know how many units you have to sell to cover your costs? The reality is that the most common reason businesses fail is because they run out cash - so don’t forget your cashflow forecast.
"Have defined finance in place before starting and formulate a budget. Work how much it will be to set up, make your product and break even? How much can you charge and ensure you have the funding to ensure it survives.” Continues Alan Ridealgh, Humber Doucy Brewery.
7. Build a memorable brand
Your brand is far more than your name, your logo, your packaging, it’s about every connection that your customer has with you. Brand is what makes people remember you and why they will recommend you to their friends, so make it unique, genuine and consistent.
9. Identify your routes to market
Are you going to sell direct to your customers through a website or at events, or are you going to seek listings with independent retailers or aim high at supermarkets?
10. Tell the world
Social media is an amazing free resource to grow a community of fans. Focus on the right platform for your audience rather than spreading yourself to thin by being on all of them.
11. Work fast
Finally "Work fast – Being small gives you the opportunity to make decisions quickly and get there fast.” says Robert Breakwell.