You may have worked on building great teams in a number of different settings — whether start-up, business enterprise or nonprofit. Issues surrounding building great teams commonly come up, no matter the setting.

The four of us have been together at Vestigo Ventures for about a year — with Dave, Mark and Ian being together for more than  two. We have seen a fair amount together, although not all.

This raises a number of questions. What have we learned about our team in that time? How have we developed our culture of teamwork? What do we still need to work on as a team?  

Feedback

We have learned to provide honest, direct feedback which serves as a gift to the team. It allows us to learn from each other and continuously improve.  

After every LP pitch, we ask: -”What could we have done better and how could we have performed better?”. We ask questions after assessing a start-up as well. What is the team dynamic? How are we doing at assessing the business? How can each of us bring our very best insights to the process of deciding if we want to invest?

By asking these questions continually, we learn as a group. We improve as a group. We exploit our individual talents while adding value to the team.

Clear Tasks

We make sure everyone knows their responsibilities for follow-up — clearly assigning accountability for each task.

Mark likes to write so he edits the Envisions newsletter. He drives that process with contributions from Dave, Ian and Mike. He is also a power networker with lots of contacts in an industry where he has worked for over 34 years. Sure..... this makes him old, but it also gives  him the  insight to know who to call for help and ideas.

Mike is amazing at organizing our tasks in Close.io — a wonderful system for keeping track of fundraising tasks. He is adopting it for tracking start-ups we have met. All of us take our share of tasks, but Mike keeps us on track overall.

Ian does great outreach. He builds deep relationships and friendships for the firm. He brings us in where needed. And while we all contribute to building our network, Ian is our driver.

Finally, Dave is the master of taking us to the future. He often delivers this insight wrapped in a brilliant question — getting us to think bigger.  

How can startups impact their chosen markets? What ways will data insights change financial services? Where are we driving adoption of tools like Apollo, Minerva and Quake from Cogo Labs? These are the types of questions that get us thinking out of the box.

Lots of Communication

We find that the best way to stay on track and focused on returns for LP's is to check in with each other regularly — whether at formal, bi-monthly partner meetings or spontaneous texts throughout the day on what we are finding in the world.  

In our day-to-day interactions, we see lots of start-ups, financial services incumbents and influencers at universities in New England as well as other VC's. Sharing our observations and ideas quickly and often is a core part of our approach to team building.

We take time to discuss what we are finding in our four areas of focus. What interesting things do we see others doing in our main focus areas? What can we learn by others’ successes and failures? Discussions that give everyone an equal voice in our partnership are key to open dialog.

Conclusion

We are filled with wonder almost everyday at Vestigo. We see it from the start-ups we evaluate to the data insights from Cogo Labs to the vibrant community in Cambridge where we work.  Leveraging this wonder into returns for our investors comes by building a great team.  

We are always working to achieve that goal. We are formed and normed as a team at this point with storming happening regularly!

Dave, Mark, Ian & Mike