Over the last 3 months I’ve been tirelessly attempting to build a company, a game, and everything that goes with it. This is no small feat. If you ever get a chance to talk to a business owner, ask them about the first year of incorporating, and I bet they’ll have some stories for you.
So, what’s this article about? It’s about the importance of finding not just product-market fit, that’s easy! (Just kidding.) But seriously, there’s already so much coverage on that topic. What people don’t talk about enough is having a team that fits your product.
What does that mean? Well, I’ll tell you. It means you can’t just get a group of people together, even if they’ve each built a game, an app, a house, whatever, and expect they can magically build something together again. This is a very difficult thing to do, especially as a new company. These are people who have maybe worked together once, years ago, under completely different circumstances. They may have similar backgrounds and experience, but they don’t know this new environment. This is a new product. What is it? How do we do business together? It’s crazy hard. And this part is crucial for maintaining team health, project health, and getting some early wins under your belt.
The common approach is to set up structures that worked before, start making things, regroup occasionally, get feedback, course correct, adjust a little at a time, etc. You know, the usual Agile playbook. But unfortunately, that doesn’t work with a brand-new team. The steering wheel basically doesn’t even exist yet. Think of that car the Flintstones drove. That’s a giant boulder rolling downhill, and you’re trying to steer it with your feet.
So what does this mean? It means you have to make pretty dramatic shifts when things start going sideways. Don’t be afraid. Making big mistakes early is part of the game. It’s easy in the beginning to mess up because the stakes are fairly low. Messing up later, when you’re shoveling millions into the bank, is much worse. So make those big shifts early and often, especially if the team setup isn’t working.
Phase 1: Building Culture
This is critical. Many founders swear by this. What are the unbreakable rules? What’s the behavioral model we all adhere to? Who are we and why are we even here?
Building culture does a few things: it removes "what are we building?" from the equation. We are building a community first. That’s it. Do we jive well? Are we ethically aligned? Do we all give a care about the same stuff? If yes, cool, we can be friends. And let’s be honest, making games or starting a business is an absolute nightmare no matter what shiny stuff you see on social media. It’s probably one of the hardest things you could possibly do and has an extremely high failure rate. So you might as well enjoy the people around you while you’re failing, right? Yes!
I kept asking myself and the team, "Is this still fun?" It’s such a simple but important question, especially because we’re making entertainment. If we aren’t enjoying building it, it will come out in the product. Customers can smell it. It will poison the integrity of the game.
So here’s a few things that helped us establish culture:
- Rule #1: We are a collective
- Rule #2: We prioritize good vibes
- Rule #3: Experiment and iterate
I know these aren’t the most traditional "core values" but I think it’s enough. Three is perfect. Simple. We make things together like a co-op (which helps remove ego and ownership drama), we focus on good vibes (so if there’s negative energy we talk it out like adults), and we experiment and iterate (because science is good, and it takes ego out of the equation).
Phase 2: Map Out the Hard Skills
Alright, the vibe is good. We’re hanging out, connecting, feeling like a little community. Now do we start making things? Nope! The next step is to figure out what everyone’s good at and what they actually want to do. I did this by talking to everyone one-on-one.
When I talked to people, I asked three things:
- What do you know how to do?
- What would you like to do?
- What do you want to get out of this project?
These are super important questions because they tell you what skills are already in the room, what people actually want to spend their time doing (which is crucial when they’re unpaid), and what their bigger goals are. You’re trying to line up their motivations with your startup’s needs, and yes, that’s basically Team-Product Fit.
A lot of companies mess this up. They hire people, shift direction, never check in, and morale tanks. So I just kept asking people along the way: "Is this still working for you?"
Phase 3: Check the Vibe
Ok, you’ve got culture. You’ve mapped out skills. You’re making something. The vibes are good. Now you have to keep checking the vibe. Constantly. Sometimes you can do it verbally, sometimes you just feel it, sometimes you post a poll and see if people care enough to respond. Whatever works, but do it often.
Signs the vibe might be off:
- People not showing up to meetings (could mean meetings suck, be honest)
- Concerns being voiced but not addressed
- Less hype, less energy, less chatter as days go by
You need to be the person people can talk to. And you need to actually listen. Even when it’s annoying. Even when people are just venting. Write it all down. Sort through it later. Don’t get defensive. Just take it seriously.
So... What Happened?
We made it! Well, kinda. This isn’t a foolproof strategy, but it led me and the group I’m managing to pivot so hard we literally merged with another company. Did I just merge a company?! Apparently! Wild, right?
Final Thought
Culture first. Skills second. Vibe checks always. That’s how you survive the early days, and maybe, just maybe, build something people actually care about.