Things you shouldn't screw up: Staff a team with talent and commitment (part 5)

When you are finding people to work with, search for talent (innate) and commitment more than skills, experience, or charm. If you start with talented people, you can train them to increase their skill set, they will become more experienced, and you can buffer their personality quirks. But if you start with untalented people, you can't create more talent.

Non-committed people are difficult to work with. In a startup, it's like a game of poker - the odds can change quickly. You need people you can rely on and depend on whether the future is looking bleak or like a pretty sunrise. Non-committal people don't tend to become more committed when the situation gets worse, they usually bail, leaving the company to die.

So if I summarize this all nicely, I believe you'll have a great chance for success if you:

1. Build the right product
2. Sell that product
3. Don't run out of cash
4. Don't let yourself ruin your company
5. Staff for talent and commitment