There is no ‘I’ in Entrepreneur

If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner and haven’t formed a business team yet, you should consider it.  I attended the Northwest Entrepreneur Network Think Tank last week that had presentations from two emerging businesses that were recent winners of NWEN’s First Look Forum.  They both stressed the importance of building your business team, from a CEO, CFO, CPA, to M-O-M whether it is to help run the business, gain financing or even just for moral support so you don’t have to go at it all alone.

Many entrepreneurs have an idea that they want to protect so they are hesitant to bring in an outside person.  This is understandable, so it is wise to choose your team carefully.  The best example was from one of the presenters who said he just wants to be the ‘crazy inventor guy’ so he needed a business partner to run day-to-day operations and, more importantly, come across as more ‘business-like’ in pursuing financing.  In his case, he has a team member that runs the business end of it, and a Chief Financial Officer.

Other key team members you should have access to would be an accountant or CPA, an attorney, a banker, and if you’re married, it might make things easier on the home front to have your spouse on board (maybe not involved in the business, but at least supportive of your efforts!).  Keep in mind that there is free business counseling available through our local SCORE Chapter and the Small Business Development Center.

What other key people should be involved?  Do you have any experience with forming your business team and if so, what lessons did you learn?