Who Would You Build With?

Over many years being in the industry as a product person, you get to interact, talk and build outcomes and make people's lives more enriching. Each interaction with your partners, colleagues and customers shapes you as a person but more importantly makes you learn more about their spikes, talent, quirks and habits.

A few years ago, at an informal dinner table, a close friend of mine asked: "Who would you build a company with?"

This was in the context of what we heard from colleagues—that we can do so much better as a company, or that person A doesn’t know what they are building, etc. We too had similar views but knew that if we were better or had more risk-taking ability and other skills, we would have been entrepreneurs at decent scale, setting up teams and orgs.

But as we zeroed in on the question "who would you build with?", it gave us a few interesting dimensions of how we perceive folks we work with.

• Do they have the right intent to begin with?
• Are they obsessively looking to monetize the solution?
• Do they spike in areas beyond their core job description?
• Do they disagree with principles and look at building solutions objectively?
• Are they nice people to work with?
• Can they conflict without disrespecting folks?
• Do they seek permission or forgiveness?
• Do they work well within and outside the team?
• Have they obsessively shared new knowledge with folks?
• Do they constantly learn and evolve as work gets demanding?
• Do they ask questions without hesitation to know the fundamental truth?
• Can they bring consensus for a risky bet?

While all these questions led us to name a few colleagues we have worked with in the past, across the table now filled with food and water, we also tried a thought experiment to further place these folks in certain roles based on our observations. They could be:

• Are they good with processes or execution? If yes, would they be in compliance or product?
• Who would be customer success?
• Who could lead HR?
• Who could be at the front desk?
• Who could help us with office layout, seating and policies?
• Who is in design and tech?

This led to counter-intuitive approaches—placing folks in product while they had a decade of customer support experience, or another in HR while they had a few years of experience in operations, and so on.

Bottom Line

While you work in an organisation, you have a million ways—or a few ways—you think the company can run better. At least early in your career, you have strong opinions. While all feelings could be valid, think about how you are adding value to work and colleagues on a daily basis.

How you perceive your colleagues is also reversed—how they might perceive you.