Tis the season to get real about people management.

There comes a point in the life of every business where your team is too big to manage by yourself. As a founder, you may only get to interact with a handful of employees on a weekly basis. That's when you know you have to take a hard look at your people strategy.

So, this quarter we kickstarted a company-wide conversation about people management and employee well-being. More specifically, we set goals to drive employee engagement, productivity, and retention of our high-performing and high-potential employees.

I've found that accumulating "employee well-being debt" by neglecting to set goals, can have disastrous effects down the line. It leads to misaligned teams, doubling up of work, emphasising the wrong priorities, and unclear product and customer roadmaps.

Therefore I would urge any company to set goals around employee well-being to kickstart 2023!

From our universe 🪐

• Talking about people management: our team has identified the most relevant trends in the HRTech vertical. Check out our report about industry-level shifts happening in 2023 and beyond, in the aftermath of the pandemic. Overall, we can see that as we move forward, the function of HR leaders will change from an administrative to a facilitator role between Senior management and employees.

• We organised a team-building trip to Durbuy, Belgium, to discuss our 2023 goals. We found that a relaxed atmosphere brings out the more creative and critical side of people.

• I've put some Builders wisdom into writing: read about how we, as a startup studio, think of talent investment. I've elaborated on some of our tactics to reduce risk throughout the recruitment process for Entrepreneurs in Residence.

• In a similar vein, Sharon Klaver explained the rationale of the stage-gate model, the bread and butter of Builders. It helps us plan moments of decision making, and maintain a tight grip on the order of our steps, so that our entire organisation is aligned and involved at every stage. We find it to be a great approach to reduce the ordinary startup chaos.

What we’re following 👀

• According to LinkedIn research, we have observed a 17% increase in burnout since February 2020 and a drop of 6% in employee happiness since June 2020.

• Take a look at Steve Blank's take on what types of entrepreneurs fit best within the startup studio model. How does it compare to a VC, incubator or accelerator and what types of entrepreneurial personalities thrive at a startup studio?

• On the flip side, here's an analysis of the studio model from the investor perspective. We find that it tackles some of the shortcomings of VCs, Incubators and Accelerators.

• Lastly, we would like to give a shoutout to personal branding. It is a cornerstone of thought leadership and an often untapped avenue of enhancing the brand of an early stage startup. Check out this concise summary of how to get started when building your own personal brand.

Come build with us 🧑‍💻

We are actively on the search for Future Founders in the Property Tech and HR Tech sectors to join us, as well as a technical cofounder for Noon. On the studio side, we are searching for an Executive Assistant.

• Future Founder in PropTech

• Future Founder in HRTech

• CTO and co-founder at Noon

• Executive Assistant at Builders Studio

Are you interested, or do you know someone who could be a fit? Let me know, or apply directly through the links.

Until next time,

Michael van Lier

Managing Director at Builders