I was 16 at the time. It was early summer and we were training twice a day for a regional soccer tournament. Our coach was a former national team player. Old and out of shape I didn’t realize he was more than just a player during his day. He was the top US player by 19 years old, playing for the Cosmos with the likes of Chinaglia, Beckenbauer, Oscar, and Alberto. These are soccer legends.

Our drill wasn’t going well so he stopped it. He brought everyone over and explained something that would stick with me for a long time.

He said close your eyes and just listen. Bop…..bop..bop….bop….bop.bop.bop. It was the sound of a touch, a pass, and a few more touches. His advice wasn’t tactical to fix this or fix that. It was much more fundamental…the game has a rhythm. It has a style and when a team is connected, you can close your eyes and listen to how they play.

I remember just standing there. Dumbfounded by the simplicity I began to think about all the teams that I love to watch. He was right. My favorite teams had this smooth style to them. From the way they defended to the way they attacked they had an approach that looked effortless.

Fast forward 15 years and I believe this lessons translates to any team, especially startups. Because in a startup you’re bringing a new group of people together in an accelerated manner. Each person has their own approach and it’s your job to assimilate them into a single style of play.

This is harder than it looks. Most people just skip by it and get to work. That’s fine…when there are just a few of you. But as you start to add more people, a lack of cohesive style creates dysfunction which leads to miscommunication which leads to mistakes which leads to running out of money and the game being over.

My Own Style

It has taken me two startups and 15 years to be honest about my own style. It’s based on the following tenants.

1. Be consistent. GoPro kicked the s%*# out of us in my first company by being ruthlessly consistent. They stacked their entire culture and company around being the best in the world at one thing…marketing. Even with an average brand the found a recipe that worked and stuck with it from small to becoming a public company. It’s easy to change stuff, it’s harder to be consistent about it.

2. Play With Urgency. I believe that Paul Graham is right, speed wins. This doesn’t mean play dumb. It just means to be aggressive and play with urgency. I like to prototype and test the market before manufacturing. Ship and then improve. Publish and listen to feedback. I prefer my teams play quickly so we can learn faster. It’s a style that is hard to maintain with scale.

3. Make It Repeatable. If you are going to do something, then document it so others can repeat it. It’s more work upfront but documentation and basic templates enables everyone else to go faster in the future. I try to do this everything…briefs, hiring, company meetings, off-sites, etc.

4. Don’t Hide. This applies to everything. Take setbacks head on. Be transparent. Tackle everything that’s not working. And create a culture where people can’t hide. The more honest and direct you can be, the better a team plays.

Creating Your Style

You already have one. It started with your childhood and was shaped over time with your experiences. All you have have to do now is to be honest with yourself about what it is so you can figure out how to apply it to a group of people.

To figure out your style ask yourself…if I could start my company over tomorrow, how would it be different?

It’s so obvious that most people answer this question with an immediate list. Take that list and look at the core tenants. Your answer is in there.

Take my first company, Contour. I started it as a 21 year old just out of college and without any real work experience. Ten years later I built a culture that looked nothing like my soccer style. It was a disconnected team with people there for different reasons, each applying their own style. It lead to losing the market, me getting fired, and watching the culture that I had built go on to bankrupt the company nine months later.

Ultimately that was my fault.

So before starting Moment I made lists…

• What success looks like.
• What I want in co-founders.
• What I’m passionate about in a company.
• What’s important to my wife.

From those lists I was able to create my why, what, and how for Moment. I did that before making a product.

Applying Your Style

I’m a big believer in showing, not telling. People will watch what you do and it trumps anything that you say.

If you already built a culture and it’s not true to your style then this process is much harder. It might be easier to just start over then to try and fix it.

First you need a reason to change it, like a company set back. Second you’ll need to stop and address this with the whole company so they understand what you want to change and why. Third you’ll have to change people who don’t want to play with this new style. Fourth you will have to reinforce it on a daily basis over several months until you can change the bad habits you previously let form.

Otherwise here are some ways to instill a consistent style of play.

• Lead by example. Keith talks about this in his YC class on How To Operate A Company.

• Teach It. New initiatives are the best opportunity. They are a micro version of fresh start. From how you outline the project to run it to reflect on it, it’s a great way to demonstrate how you want your team to play.

• Discuss It. You can do this at off-sites or company meetings but run sessions about your personal style. It will help your team to understand the why behind what you are doing.

• Hire It. Layer these traits into how the team filters candidates. If you find people who already share your same style it gets much easier to scale. Changing people isn’t realistic.

• Provide Feedback. Immediate feedback works best. This can be in chat, on the phone, or in person but look for every chance to provide bite sized pieces of feedback that reinforce your style.

Please realize that applying a style does not happen in days or weeks. It will takes you years to do well.

A Word Of Caution

Your style of play won’t be for everyone. And that’s ok.

In fact, it’s what you want. But if you do this right, you will create a core team that stays together for a long time. And the more time you get on the field together, the easier everything gets.

It’s important to note, this doesn’t mean everyone has to be the same. You want diversity of thought and opinions. You just want everyone to apply those differences with the same style of play.

If you have questions dm me @marcbarros.