Counting on my fingers, I’ve been in the startup world for quite a long time now, but the perceived time feels as though five or six years have already passed — long and vivid in memory.
As a first-time startup founder, after going through many painful lessons and failures, I gradually came to realize that “people” are truly the most important factor in an early-stage startup team. These people aren’t necessarily your co-founders; sometimes the term also includes early full-time employees and part-time collaborators. Inviting someone to join your startup team is like handing them a ticket to a train bound for a distant destination. You recruit passengers aboard with dreams as the final stop. But even you know that not every passenger on this train will make it to the end with you.
Whether these people are regulars, transients, or tourists on your team, they will all have various large and small impacts on the team’s development. What I want to share in this article is how, as a founder of an early-stage team, you should select the right passengers to board — and what qualities aspiring startup newcomers should possess to stay on the train for the long haul.
What I originally thought: Should I cry tears of gratitude when someone is willing to start a company with me?
Before entering the startup world, I always thought entrepreneurship was simply a group of close friends working hard together toward a shared ideal. Everyone seemingly wore glamorous CxO titles, coming and going freely, ostensibly fighting for their dreams — but in reality earning very low salaries, enjoying endless overtime and countless sunrises at the office. After officially joining for one month, these realities weren’t too far from my expectations. People who were well-prepared for hardship and challenges weren’t actually afraid of any of this. But the one thing that surprised me was discovering that “those friends gathering around a shared ideal” were far fewer than I had imagined, and those truly willing to jump out and start from zero with you were even rarer.
When recruiting people to start a business, besides selling dreams, what else can you offer? Perhaps because of poor conditions, long hours, and low pay, after witnessing one after another of those “old friends now awkwardly declining,” I decisively abandoned my previous idealistic vision. And so “anyone willing to join us can come in as a co-founder — who are we to be picky?” gradually became my guiding principle for choosing partners in the early days of entrepreneurship.
What I learned later: Letting the wrong people aboard turns your dream train into a disaster train!
Don’t worry — no spoilers ahead.
It wasn’t until six months into the startup and after personally going through multiple rounds of “Hire & Fire” that I gradually understood you really can’t hand out a single ticket carelessly. Otherwise, you’re like the train attendant in the movie Train to Busan who let the first zombie onto the platform and into the train, putting the entire train and all existing passengers in extreme danger. If you’re a passenger looking to board, please use the following stories to examine whether you’ve already been “infected.” We all hope to help this train go faster, not to make everyone aboard perish sooner.
Tragedy One: The One Bad Apple That Spoils the Whole Barrel
Excellent people naturally want to work with other excellent people.
Working with subpar teammates doesn’t just waste more of the team’s time — it also gradually erodes trust among team members. In early-stage startup teams, whether there are people in the team whom others don’t want to work with is critically important. One bad apple spoils the bunch. This kind of disharmony within a team can, at minimum, cause low morale and, at worst, tear the entire team apart.
When I was still in university, I joined a cross-departmental seven-person startup team to fulfill a course requirement. Due to course restrictions and social pressure, every team had to unconditionally accept any classmate who wanted to join. Very quickly, this train with no passenger restrictions was hit by all sorts of disasters.
Around the time our midterm report was met with the professor’s cold sarcasm, one particularly dedicated teammate spoke up first. The thought that no matter how hard he worked, the slackers in the group would receive the same grade filled him with sorrow. “I can’t take him anymore — either he goes, or I go!” By the time the storm in the teacup finally erupted, it was a massive loss for both sides. By the final presentation, only four people went on stage, cobbling together a haphazard report, barely and carelessly getting through the semester. And that teammate who had such a strong sense of responsibility was no longer the passionate soul from the beginning of the term — he now just quietly wished for the semester to end as soon as possible.
The relentless flow of time smoothed out all the sharp, distinctive gems from upstream until they blended into the pile of round, unremarkable stones downstream. That passionate teammate I admired so much never contacted me again, let alone actually formed a startup team after the semester.
Tragedy Two: Never Underestimate the Power of Those Who Drag You Down
Once, a friend was finally about to meet with a major client he’d been eagerly anticipating — after two weeks, the client agreed to sit down and discuss a potential partnership. To prepare the proposal, he specifically assigned a confident new team member to help with preliminary data collection and research. He would handle the final compilation the day before the presentation. That week, my friend stayed up nearly every night, fully participating in the new member’s work, and together they completed all the data collection. After working late on Friday evening, exhausted, he felt they’d finally reached a good stopping point. The remaining data organization shouldn’t cause any trouble, so he handed the final portion to the teammate to organize over the weekend, planning to do the final integration when he got to the office on Monday.
But when he opened his inbox on Monday, he was utterly shocked to find the materials had been recklessly altered from top to bottom, with absolutely no sign of integration. “Well, you see, over the weekend I still felt the data was off, so I discussed it with my friend, and they suggested I change things to look like this…” By that point, my friend had already lost his patience and hung up. Before the meeting, he frantically pulled up last week’s data and desperately tried to cobble together a presentable proposal, but ultimately couldn’t finish in time, losing the major client he’d been hoping to work with.
Entrepreneurs are mostly strong on the surface — they never reveal their own or their team’s vulnerabilities to outsiders. Naturally, the real cause of death for this deal could never be disclosed publicly. He could only swallow his tears and bitterness in silence. It’s not the godlike opponents you should fear, but the pig-like teammates. The energy pushing forward can never compete with the force of someone dragging you back. After that meeting, he was seriously ill for a week. The first thing he did upon returning to the office was politely asking that teammate to get off the train.
Tragedy Three: Easy to Invite, Hard to Send Away
When inviting someone to invest their time in a startup, besides selling grand visions of the future, the most tangible thing you can offer is probably company equity. During the first six months of starting up, perhaps because we couldn’t offer high salaries or direct returns, our team — like most other startups in the beginning — used equity to attract early employees and co-founders. Shares of 1%, 5%, 10% were dangled as bargaining chips, planted one by one in the heart of the young person sitting across the coffee table, until the scales of the lever tipped toward balance. Then you’d happily post a group photo on Facebook with hashtags like “#LookingForwardToWorkingTogether” and “#LetsChargeFull.” But the truth is, before most of those photos were uploaded, this partner hadn’t spent a single minute actually working with your team.
In the weeks that followed, after several rounds of arguments and adjustments, a Leehom Wang ballad suddenly appeared on your regular playlist, and you realized you once walked together, but lost each other at that crossroads. At this point, even the smallest chips you gave away start making you uncomfortable. You begin feeling uneasy, trying to strategize with other team members, testing various scenarios, using every method to make that employee feel guilty and anxious enough to voluntarily leave. But nobody’s a fool — some thick-skinned, oblivious individuals simply can’t pick up on your hints. Finally, you pick a day, solemnly gather the entire company into one conference room, and attempt a modern version of the ancient Chinese “releasing military power over cups of wine” strategy.
Maybe the problem gets resolved, but the incident leaves a permanent mark on the team: the founders struggle to trust other partners in the future, and other partners struggle to trust the founders — because they fear they’ll be the next one pushed out. In truth, if founders want to discuss equity distribution, it may be more appropriate to do so after both sides have worked together for some time, confirmed they collaborate well, and have established long-term intentions. It’s easy to invite the gods but hard to send them away. Every episode like this cuts a deep wound into an otherwise healthy startup team.
As the Conductor: You Should Carefully Inspect Every Passenger Before They Board
Combining all three points above, early-stage startups still in the concept or team-building phase should never let someone board just because they’re willing to chase the dream with you. If you’ve already given up all comfort and stability — everything that once made you happy — to build a train that’s both thrilling and potentially bankrupting, then trust me, you really shouldn’t be handing out tickets to strangers on the road just because they’re willing to ride along. And if you’re a newcomer eager to enter the startup world, don’t just grab any ticket and jump on. You should first observe the situation inside the train from the platform, ask around, and avoid getting trapped in a “easy to board, hard to exit” situation.
With all that said, what kind of partners should entrepreneurs actually look for? And if you’re a newcomer hoping to join the startup world, what qualities should you possess?
Quality One: Don’t Focus on Job Skills — Look for the Person Willing to Handle Tasks Beyond Their Job Description
While most jobs come with a title and defined responsibilities, startup teams really can’t tell you that you “only” need to handle certain things.
In our early days of starting up, we had absolutely no one on the team who understood law, taxation, or finance. Fortunately, our teammates were all willing to research online first and leverage their personal networks to find people willing to answer our questions. Every time we went to ask someone, their reaction made our team — and especially chubby me — look like clueless mammals who couldn’t understand human speech. But with each round of setbacks, questions, and homework, our team gradually accumulated a small body of specialized knowledge and could even pose questions that stumped the experts. I remember one day after consulting on tax issues, as we left the cafe, my teammate excitedly said to me: “That was amazing! We actually understood everything he was saying!”
That evening, I felt incredibly proud — not because we’d solved the tax problem, but because our teammates were willing to help across job boundaries, tackling problems that affected the entire team and trying to solve them. We should be proud of that willingness to take on challenges. Of course, this may only apply to very early-stage startups. If you have some funding and need to scale quickly, it’s still better to spend the money and hire a proper legal advisor and accountant!
Quality Two: Don’t Pick the One Asking for the Lowest Salary — Pick the One Who Truly Reflects Their Own Value
As mentioned earlier, we shouldn’t let someone board just because they’re willing to join the startup. Similarly, we shouldn’t hire someone just because they’re asking for a low salary — start tomorrow! Choose people who can genuinely create value for your team; that’s far more important than whether you can afford their compensation. But what if you believe someone is truly valuable, yet their salary expectations exceed what the team can handle? I’ve always believed that in the entrepreneurial journey, salary is merely one form of living subsidy. A startup team member’s contributions to the team are worth a hundred times more than their paycheck. Startups may not let you buy a car or house within two or three years, but at the very least, we can ensure you’re fed and clothed so you can fully focus on the venture. If you communicate with candidates using this mindset, combined with a dream and vision that’s clear, grand, and achievable, you should still be able to find plenty of like-minded partners ready to join your team with unwavering determination.
If the two sides really can’t reach an agreement but you deeply admire the candidate, try treating it like courting someone — keep their information on file and stay in touch regularly. Update them on the team’s progress, and frequently invite them to participate in internal team events so they can get to know the rest of the “family” (your teammates). Over time, if both sides grow to genuinely like each other, the moment the company’s financial situation improves, you can immediately bring your beloved aboard — and together, post photos on Facebook and live happily ever after.
Quality Three: Don’t Look for the Hard Workers — Find Those Who Actually Deliver Results
As the saying goes: Hard work is a responsibility to yourself, not a performance for others. I used to hate submitting assignments, so I’d always post on social media a few days before the deadline about how exhausted and miserable I was, occasionally accompanied by photos of hospital IV drips or a desk full of coffee cups. Of course, sometimes I really did get those IVs and drink all that coffee, but you still can’t assume what anyone’s true attitude toward their work really is. When this happens, people naturally feel sympathetic. Seeing a 40-point assignment, they’ll mentally add some pity points to let it pass at 60. And if the assignment turns out to be excellent, people silently label you a “genius” — much like Michael Jordan scoring 38 points while sick became legendary.
Unfortunately, in the reality of an early-stage startup, results are the only thing that matters. “Our team spent a year of sleepless nights building an 80-point website” and “Our team built an 80-point website” — these two sentences mean exactly the same thing. 80 points is 80 points. It doesn’t go up just because you spent a year on it or pulled all-nighters. In other words, the kind of person who emphasizes from the interview stage that they’ll “work tirelessly” and “never think about clocking out” is the same person who, when things don’t work out, constantly tells you “I tried super hard” or “I worked insane overtime.” I believe everyone can fail, but what makes failure valuable is understanding why we failed — not merely stating “I tried so hard and still failed” as an excuse. In this results-oriented world, you must never treat effort and hardship as achievements, nor use heartache and grievance as fuel for progress. Otherwise, you’ll become too satisfied with your own wounds and lose sight of the goals you need to reach.
Chasing overtime while neglecting personal life is a common pitfall for these types of teammates. As for the benefits of not working overtime, there are plenty of articles on that subject, such as Good Employee Rule #1: Leave on time and take your vacations and It’s a virtue for bosses to let employees leave on time; it’s wisdom for employees to actually do so.
But personally, I prefer teammates who consistently operate at around 60% of their capacity. They can maintain a healthy balance between work and life, sustain a long-term pace, and also ramp up to 100% when needed for short bursts. “You can enjoy life freely every day and still accomplish every goal we set” — I think that’s the working style every startup team hopes to see from its members.
Quality Four: Don’t Hire Obedient People — Find Those Willing to Discuss and Communicate with You
When I first started my company, I was terrified of bringing on teammates who were more experienced or older than me. On one hand, I worried that my limited knowledge wouldn’t be enough to command respect. On the other hand, my biggest fear was that they wouldn’t follow my instructions. It wasn’t until six months in that I realized more than half of the team was older than me, and every single one of them was far more capable than I was. But I had no need to dominate or direct them, because they were the best — they would always discuss with me and arrive at solutions far superior to anything I could have dictated.
“Finding the most suitable team in the world for this project” is what keeps founders and HR up at night. In a great team, we only recruit the best. And precisely because everyone is excellent, they fully respect each other’s ideas, making discussions more efficient and productive. NBA basketball video games always have “Manager Mode” and “Play Mode.” If you, as the founder, are running in Play Mode, then every pass, every rebound, every shot is under your personal control — and you can never simulate through an entire regular season in one afternoon. But if you’re in “Manager Mode,” you don’t need to execute every play in every game. You can simulate and skip games, you don’t have to be present for every match, and you save yourself a lot of unnecessary trouble. You focus on controlling the team’s overall direction, and growth becomes much more visible.
It’s entirely your choice. If you choose obedient employees, then you must be accountable for every single order you give, and you must ensure every command is correct. But if you choose people who can discuss with you and are willing to share the burden of responsibility, it’s like switching to “Manager Mode” — you don’t need to be on the court for every game, you don’t need to adjust the lineup after injuries, you don’t need to worry about ticket sales for each match. You only need to lead the entire team in the right direction, and let everyone shoulder the rest together.
Quality Five: Don’t Look at Current Ability — Look for People Willing to Keep Growing
Sometimes, you’re in such a rush to find a strong domestic marketing talent that you pull the best one from your network to join the team. Two years later, your team expands overseas, and more people join — including more marketing talent, all gradually led by the person you originally recruited. Before long, problems arise in the company, and many marketing people leave. Only then do you realize this person isn’t suited for leadership at all, and they don’t understand international marketing either. They’re still using domestic methods to lead the team’s overseas marketing efforts — pouring ad budgets into Facebook while ignoring the massive user bases on Twitter and Instagram. By then, you start feeling — like a married couple of twenty-something years — that this partner isn’t right. But you genuinely fell in love with them back then! After twenty-plus years of marriage, is it a bit late to say “I don’t think we’re right for each other”?
When the army marches south, if you stand still, you effectively move north. Maybe you once deeply loved each other, but the whole team is progressing, and you’re progressing too. We can’t wait for anyone who isn’t growing or is growing too slowly. When former lovers must part ways, it’s always particularly bittersweet — not to mention the torrent of harsh words from scorned ex-partners. To avoid this situation, when choosing teammates at the very early stage, try to look past current capabilities and instead assess each person’s future potential and their willingness to move forward with the team.
I believe no entrepreneur can predict the future — otherwise they definitely wouldn’t be starting a company. What we can do now is observe how each person handles challenges during work, and encourage teammates to cultivate the courage to face them. People who embrace challenges will persist joyfully even after failure; people who fear challenges won’t dare to venture far even after success. As this gap compounds over just a few months, we can clearly see each teammate’s growth trajectory and potential.
If You Are True to Me, I’ll Give You My All; If You Stay for Life, I’ll Never Leave Your Side
Perhaps after traversing mountains and rivers, the right person finally appears and agrees to board your train headed toward distant dreams.
At this point, as the company’s founder, we must also fulfill our obligations and responsibilities, treating every carefully recruited teammate with sincerity. As a respected startup mentor once noted, your team follows you as a person, not your money. We can’t feel entitled to our teammates’ contributions just because we pay their salaries. Every teammate’s contribution to the team absolutely cannot be measured by salary alone. Winning people’s hearts along with their hands is the sustainable path forward.
Every time a new teammate joins, we say: “From today onward, treat this company as your own.” Because regardless of the setbacks and challenges you face, your growth is the company’s growth. If you succeed, you carry us to victory. If you fail, we’ll start over with you. Our team argues, we debate, but we never burn bridges. Our tasks are tough and daunting, but we never shy away from trying. Our company is young and small, but we never look down on ourselves. Our members are goofy and quirky, but we take everything seriously. This is the kind of team we want to build — a group that doesn’t fear failure and pursues excellence. And we firmly believe this is the kind of company people want to join — a company where if you are true to us, we’ll never leave your side.
And to all the aspiring conductors about to set sail: entrepreneurship is hard and the journey is fierce. I hope you all safely arrive at the destination in your hearts.