Hiring your first 10 employees?
Build a dream team with the 3–4–3 diamond attack
Recently we hiring our 10th employee — a big milestone for startup. While there are a lot of blog posts with titles like, who need to have as your first 10 team members, I wanted to spice up this discussion with an alternate take.
Thinking about our team — how we work together asynchronously, how we form an agile unit in a beautiful way. I realized we are really a lot like a soccer team. A soccer team using the aggressive 3–4–3 diamond formation.
This strategy was made popular by European soccer legend Johan Cruyff, who challenged the conventional 4–4–2 formation by moving a defender to a forward position, and was all about attacking.
Applying this as analogy to our team, can help us understand not only what is everyone’s role, but also how we fit together as a team with a common objective.
The Playing Field
Like many startups, our team has 3 main priorities:
- Strategy & Leadership. Growth, raising investment, building and managing your marketing funnel.
- Customer Success & Brand. Understanding customer needs and translating this to innovate new products and refine features.
- Technology & Data. Building your tech stack, providing technical support, and also
Due to our size, it does not make sense to structured departments. Just like the zones of a soccer field, the distinction between these priorities is implied and fluid.
Not surprisingly, most tasks we do are not isolated, and involve multiple priorities. As result, as a small boot-strapping team, it is essential to collaborate together in a way that maximizes each individual’s contribution.
To do this we need to clarify not only individual roles, but also tactics, and how we fit together in a team context.
By applying the soccer analogy, we can conceptualize our first 10 roles, and how they fit together to address business priorities.
The CEO [Center Forward ]
Our CEO is our center forward.
In soccer, the center forward is the primary goal scorer. Their job is to lead the attack, to convert opportunities developed by the team into goals, and create new opportunities out of thin air. Often the center forward is the team captain and representative.
On our team, the CEO’s job is to make business deals, raise investment, and be the face of the company.
The CTO [ Sweeper]
Our CTO is the sweeper.
In soccer, the sweeper is a versatile defender who sometimes in an attacker. The furthest back on the field (except the keeper) they have the best perspective of the entire field, and must anticipate what is going to happen and coordinate the team so everyone is in the best position to succeed.
For us, the CTO’s job is to drive R&D, communicate our technology to non-technical users, and also build the tech team.
The Chief Engineer [Keeper]
Our Chief Engineer is the keeper.
In soccer the keeper is often described as the most influential player in soccer to winning. Having a strong keeper means the rest of the team can be confident to take on risks to create opportunities.
In our startup, our Chief Engineer is our indispensable first employee.
The Full Stack Engineer [ Stopper]
Our Full-stack Engineer is the stopper.
In soccer, stoppers are a special type of defender who aggressively cover the flanks of the midfielders. The hardest working team member, the stopper must also run back to support the goalie.
On our team, the Full-stack engineer proactively works to make sure our product is well built and drives customer success by providing amazing technical support.
The UX & Product Developer [Center Midfield]
Our UX and Product Developers are the center midfielders.
In soccer, center midfielders are involved in all aspects of the game and must be able to adapt their role based on the game situation. In the 3–4–3 diamond formation positions the two center midfields in way that allows them short passes everyone on the team as a scoring attack.
A 1–2 punch, the UX and Product Developer collect, interpret, and translate customer data into impactful design and technology.
The Growth Manager [Forward]
The Growth Manager is our Forward.
In soccer, the forwards are often called on to work under pressure. Forwards move in conjunction, to outflank the opposing defense and create scoring opportunities.
For our startup this means, having an innate knowledge of our product and market to cultivating new business opportunities.
Research & Development [Side Midfielder]
Last but not least, our research & development intern is the side midfielder. The job of the side midfielder in soccer is to “open” up the game for the team. They use their superior technical ability to add with to the offensive attack.
Although young in age, our marvelous research intern possess an infectious enthusiasm and learns at blistering pace. Their role is to help the team “expand the field”, by probing the application of new technologies and ideas in our product.
Final thoughts
Because startups must work in an agile way, conventional ways of representing an organizations such as bubble diagrams or tree-charts often fail to capture the dynamics at play. In this post, I attempted to use a soccer analogy as a new way to understand the roles and interactions that make up our particular team.
