Startup's biggest Asset - its TEAM

A brilliant post on managing startup teams.

Just taking some exceprts and trying to analyze in Indian context:

For cash starved startups, having management and employees believing in the opportunity and team and being motivated by equity is key to success.
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I prefer the employee who will take less cash and a higher equity package.

In indian context, what one needs is hard cash and no equity. There would be very few people who would be willing to compensate a part of their salary with equity. I am yet to find one!

In terms of bonuses, I am not a huge fan of cash bonuses for companies losing money, especially in the early stages of development. As a company matures and hires additional executive talent cash bonuses become more important to retain top level executives. With respect to bonuses, there are no guaranteed bonuses, only performance-based ones.

Bonuses are just considered to be a delayed part of the salary, but its considered to be just there.

A Players like to work with other A Players. To the extent that you have a strong team and every hire is better than the next, I can guarantee that you will attract some great talent. A Players like to learn from other A Players and like to know that when their backs are against the wall, they have other team members with the experience and know-how to persevere.

The above perhaps holds to a certain extent but not always. Having A players around delays your next job change but given a more cash rich opportunity people just jump.

Startup culture has just started in India (my friends are involved in 4 different startups at this moment), an ecosystem , success stories are yet to become a sole part. Once that starts, there will be no stopping point. Passionate people are bound to make a mark!