If you start a company with a new product, it’s important that you keep up a fast pace of development and get feedback from potential customers, suppliers, and retailers early. To do that, you’ve got to stress the speed of activity. Check out my video about how Julie Pickens, cofounder of Boogie Wipes, did just that:
How to do Things FAST
To move projects quickly it’s often best to outsource project work to small shops with talented, innovative people and low overhead. You save money and they generally work much faster than larger firms more concerned with their operations than your’s. I mostly find partners through word of mouth—asking people whom they know with a particular skill. I recommend this approach over searching online, but plenty of founders have had success with the latter. Julie Pickens of Boogie Wipes found her chemist that way!
Smaller companies are also often much more personal and easier to work with than large ones. Partners who work with your business consistently can become part of the family if cultures are shared and the passion is there. To reinforce this sense of team commitment, I sometimes give stock options to them as if they are employees.
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