Why is building a Core Team important for Startups Innovation - driven startups thrive on funding by venture capital firms (VC) and investors to be precise. Startup financing is determined by a variety of factors including the vision of founders, strong leadership, or core team. Hence, building a strong core team continues to play a catalyzing role in attracting investors for the business. It is the core team that is instrumental in realizing the dream or vision of the founder, not only creating a niche in market places but attracting seed investors at the initial stages. The team is a key factor venture capital firms look for i n an investment. For Canadian angel investors such as Jani Venture , it is a strong core team that puts them at ease to take a final decision for startup investing. Over the years, startups have realized the fa ct that venture capitalist firms and angel investors invest in people, not just businesses. Passion is Paramount Investment for startups is closely linked with the passion of the core team. Investors want to see a team that is passionate about their product or service. They drive the growth by overcoming any challenges they face in the growth process. Investors also want to see the team sh are the Founder’s vision and offer the relevant skills and experience to face future challenges the business will face as it expands. When it comes to building their core staff, smart entrepreneurs are very strategic, which makes it a source of value that VCs are interested in. The core team helps in the realization of the vision of the founder . A team that lacks passion spoils growth. Hence, it is the key responsibility of a founder to create a passionate core team that adds value to shape the startup and its growth. It is common knowledge that no successful venture can be attributed to a single p erson. The team is responsible for turning a founder’s vision and ambitions into reality. Creating Cohesive Culture The core team is not only responsible for realizing the short - term goals of the founder but also setting scalable long - term goals. A core te am of a startup divides key roles among themselves and assigns separate goals for each one of them. In the process, they create a cohesive work culture. To achieve these short - term, attainable, and long - term goals, the team will combine their attitude, apt itude, skill, knowledge, and competence. Collectively, they perform multiple operations taking place at the same time. It is the core team performance that leads to one milestone after the other and finally takes it to a higher stage of advancement. Over all, a core team is the culmination of all of the individuals’ vision, mission, beliefs, values, knowledge, experience, and natural personalities. These factors are expected to continue to permeate through the structural hierarchy of any forward - looking st artup. From the Tracks of Mind ‘From the tracks of mind, you develop the railway track,’ thus goes a saying. No idea can be greater than the team that implements it, since, without the team, the idea will remain just that - an idea. As a result, the most important contributing factor for success is the core staff. It is the foundation upon which a business is formed. So choosing a core team wisely and seeing how things start falling into place smoothly make the journey towards a vision far easier and quick er. As diverse skills, competence, and expertise are required to bring in synergy, the founders prefer to form their core team from different spaces such as technology, finance, legal, sales, and marketing among others. Hence, if a founder is from a tech background, selecting core team members with diverse skills would always add value for a tech startup. To cross - pollinate and maintain a solid balance in the startup, it’s critical to have a diversity of philosophies and talents. What VCs look for t he Most? As VC firms and investors recognize that business plans can alter every day as market conditions change and new possibilities and problems emerge, they fund a startup based on the expertise of the core team and not only on the business plans. A ca se in point is Jani Venture as it always looks for a strong core team that has the potential to adjust to the changes and give the startup an edge in the market. A startup’s fate is largely determined by its team, and even the strongest idea might fail if it is not implemented by a team with the necessary skills. With a simple comparison, Harvard Business Review explains the necessity of a strong core team. “Either the “jockey” or the “horse” is preferred by venture capitalists. (The startup’s strategy and business model are the horse, and the entrepreneurial team is the jockey.) Both the jockey and the horse are important, according to VCs, but the founding management team is more important.