entrepreneurs on TypeC?

[AgentF]

:hi:

i'm a crazed serial entrepreneur who just received her first round of angel capital for her new venture.

sooo....

any other entrepreneurs around here? hi tech would be awesome. but small biz owners and managers, too, as the lessons and challenges are essentially the same.

i'd like to build a team this time using [the little i know about] typology. any wisdom you can share (or that we jointly can amass) would be incredible.

the team i've assembled so far:

ENFP - CEO (who acts a hell of a lot like ENTJ in the workplace, the madwoman)
INTJ - CTO
INTP - architect/back-end developer
ISTJ (?) - front-end designer
INTJ - web developer
INTJ - angel investor
INTJ - advisor

i've made asked everyone but the front-end designer to take the mbti test...we're just a wee bit heavy on the NTs, which is not a bad thing at all in hi tech.


so, has anyone studied team dynamics using typology? (i've got a few books on the way but prefer dialogue) have experience with ENFPs and INTJs at the C-level and wanna bitch/share/brainstorm leadership? drawn up a term sheet or raised pre-VC/angel capital? worked in startups? work in the consumer web/mobile space? develop for droid/iphone and wanna talk dev timelines?

 

[garbage]

yo, congrats

I'm the CTO of ours. Our team just sort of fell together because we had the right mix of capabilities. We differ in our typological preferences, but that hasn't led to any major issues among us. I wouldn't choose a team based upon typology, but perhaps books on team dynamics, typologically based or not, would be useful.

The one that comes to mind for me is The Wisdom of Teams.. I ended up reading it for one of my university classes, then actually picking it back up when I got into more hardcore team leadership roles.

 

[PeaceBaby]

I never thought about it like that, but I guess I am a serial entrepreneur as well. Right from my first stint at 22 trying to build a business selling beauty products ... lol. Not sure why it appeals so much to me; I like the sense of creating something, I like the excitement of the new, I like having to think on my feet. But I haven't always experienced business successes ... I think my biggest failure was where I learned the most about myself, because I had never really faced my personal limitations and weaknesses before.

Right now I run a corporation that manages a network of sites and employs folks as independent contractors, primarily content writers. This absolves me of most of the day-to-day management of direct reports etc and I can focus my energies on what I do best - creating. All of us work out of satellite locations and I have no office space per se. Lean, minimal expenses.

My last business was a web development enterprise, which I tried to build into a larger full-service company. But the need to hustle each new contract became exhausting, and at the time, with teenagers and other family responsibilities, was just too much. I closed that business in 2006 and did a dev contract for a few years before getting back into self-employment full-time.

So, that's an intro, and will share some more as it comes along.

 

[AgentF]

yo, congrats

I'm the CTO of ours. Our team just sort of fell together because we had the right mix of capabilities. We differ in our typological preferences, but that hasn't led to any major issues among us. I wouldn't choose a team based upon typology, but perhaps books on team dynamics, typologically based or not, would be useful.

The one that comes to mind for me is The Wisdom of Teams.. I ended up reading it for one of my university classes, then actually picking it back up when I got into more hardcore team leadership roles.

ah, a CTO! you guys are the unicorns of tech. much sought after, highly valued etc etc. anyway, nice to "meet" you.

if you care to share, how have you used typology in your work as a CTO? i'm fortunate to know my (INTJ) CTO extremely well, but not from a typology standpoint as it's all new to me. i believe our relationship will be the most important factor in ensuring the success our startup, apart from the technology, so understanding INTJs is paramount to me.

and thanks for the book suggestion. it's one i've been meaning to pick up for ages but never got around to it. did you find it useful?

I like the sense of creating something, I like the excitement of the new, I like having to think on my feet. But I haven't always experienced business successes ... I think my biggest failure was where I learned the most about myself, because I had never really faced my personal limitations and weaknesses before.

Right now I run a corporation that manages a network of sites and employs folks as independent contractors, primarily content writers. This absolves me of most of the day-to-day management of direct reports etc and I can focus my energies on what I do best - creating. All of us work out of satellite locations and I have no office space per se. Lean, minimal expenses.

My last business was a web development enterprise, which I tried to build into a larger full-service company. But the need to hustle each new contract became exhausting, and at the time, with teenagers and other family responsibilities, was just too much. I closed that business in 2006 and did a dev contract for a few years before getting back into self-employment full-time.

So, that's an intro, and will share some more as it comes along.

hi PB! thanks for writing in. women entrepreneurs aren't as rare as they used to be, but being an NF presents a unique set of leadership challenges (to me, at least). i'd love to hear your thoughts on that sometime.

and regarding business failures. my last two ventures were tightly-bound to the US economy and sent my flying back into the arms of tech when the economy contracted. i'd sold my first company at 23 and imagined myself to be invincible. how wrong i was! i'm much more careful now but there is *nothing* like a good humbling. (tangentially, leading with humility is something i'm actively pursuing...and i find it's one of the first things that goes out the window when i'm under stress...i become a right ENTJ and not all of the good parts! which is why i'm looking into tertiary temptation for ENFPs ).


anyway, glad to know you're both around.

 

[Elfboy]

I don't have an internet business yet, but I'm working on setting one up

 

[AgentF]

I don't have an internet business yet, but I'm working on setting one up

welcome! thanks to open source computing, the cloud and the like you're about a day's work at any time away from achieving that goal.


the rest is just details schmetails

 

[Fluffywolf]

Ooh, I can tell you now, that INTP will be a tough manage in that set up surrounded by all INTJ's. But I'm pretty sure he'll get along just fine with you.

Also, I'm an entrepeneur, but I have never brought typology to the company.. But I have a functioning, tightknit, employer group, who aren't perfect but capable enough, and most have worked here for 5+ years. Which is pretty rare in our line of work. So I guess I don't have too.

I'm not sure how long I'll keep doing this work though. I'm thinking of making a change. I actually want to become a writer, can you believe it? Might just be an early onset of a midlife crisis.


PS: INTP's excel when they work on anything they are passionate about, but will play with every possible deadline or leeway when they are doing stuff they can't get their interests up with. Still, if it's me, he'd still get things done, just on his own terms. I never worked well under supervision or bosses, like ever.

 

[AgentF]

Ooh, I can tell you now, that INTP will be a tough manage in that set up surrounded by all INTJ's. But I'm pretty sure he'll get along just fine with you.

I'm not sure how long I'll keep doing this work though. I'm thinking of making a change. I actually want to become a writer, can you believe it? Might just be an early onset of a midlife crisis.


PS: INTP's excel when they work on anything they are passionate about, but will play with every possible deadline or leeway when they are doing stuff they can't get their interests up with. Still, if it's me, he'd still get things done, just on his own terms. I never worked well under supervision or bosses, like ever.

the legendary fluffywolf. greetings.

thanks for your input, and for chiming in! agreed on the INTP vs. INTJ thing. i observe interesting INTJ/P dynamics here and there on the forum, hehe. i am glad i have P in common with the INTP...we work at our own pace (which can mean different things depending on where one is in the chain of command, hehe, but not always).

and i can believe that you'd want to be a writer and at (early onset) midlife. i was chatting about this with someone the other day. at 38/39, Jung apparently had a "midlife crisis" (variously described as a confrontation with his unconscious, the integration of thinking, sensation, feeling, and intuition leading to confusion about one's life to date and one's goals).

there are some interesting books and references out there on this:

The Red Book - Carl Jung (on his confrontation with the unconscious at the age of 38)

In Midlife, A Jungian Perspective - Murray Stein

and the dubiously-titled:
The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife - James Hollis


[youtube="f7HzbUtjlRA"]for us lazies[/youtube]

anyway, it's interesting stuff.

 

[Fluffywolf]

Oh gosh, legendary? *swoon*

*crawls up* I'm really starting to think there's something to it to this midlife crisis thing. Always just discarded it as something that I could not possibly encounter. But I definately have reached a stage in my life in which I am greedy for more than I already have, even though I am not at all discontent with what I do have. It's rather that I want to have something different. What I have now is familiar, and it is starting to bore me. :>

I'm only 27 though, maybe not that midlife yet. But then again I've always been an early bloomer. ^^

Interesting movie. If I am still where I am at now at 37/38, I'm sure I'd be depressed as well.

 

[AgentF]

I'm only 27 though, maybe not that midlife yet. But then again I've always been an early bloomer. ^^

yeah, 27's hardly midlife. but who's to say you don't feel the tug of these things earlier in life? i think midlife crises are the result of a great deal of accumulation of projection, struggle, failure, unfulfilled aspiration...some people might have lower thresholds for/higher awareness of these things.

anyway, would there be an element of entrepreneurialism to your writing career? there's tons of thatcha know. i found that no matter how hard i tried to conform to a "worker" mentality, my inner entrepreneur always fought its way to the forefront.

actually, being a writer is entrepreneurial by design. in terms of organizing a venture (keyboard-induced poverty) and assuming risk for it (eating ramen).

(speaks the failed writer)

 

[Fluffywolf]

Well, I'll find out if I ever start writing something big. Tons of ideas in my head, but so far only some shorts and poems have actually made it on paper. Nothing substantial.

I'm still in the aspiring stage. :>

 

[Elfboy]

welcome! thanks to open source computing, the cloud and the like you're about a day's work at any time away from achieving that goal.


the rest is just details schmetails

yeah, the only thing I need is $100 for a tax ID, a good wholesaler to work with, a data feed management firm (I'm going to try and negotiate a free trial, if not this could be as much as $200 a month) and to figure out how to post on the free search engines

 

[garbage]

ah, a CTO! you guys are the unicorns of tech. much sought after, highly valued etc etc. anyway, nice to "meet" you.

if you care to share, how have you used typology in your work as a CTO? i'm fortunate to know my (INTJ) CTO extremely well, but not from a typology standpoint as it's all new to me. i believe our relationship will be the most important factor in ensuring the success our startup, apart from the technology, so understanding INTJs is paramount to me.

and thanks for the book suggestion. it's one i've been meaning to pick up for ages but never got around to it. did you find it useful?

To answer the rep question, too--long story short, the company's focus is on developing tools to facilitate decision-making in the medical realm, primarily in nursing, where snap decisions often need to be made with a good, solid foundation. So we crunch through hospital data and analyze trends, provide expert systems to reason through facts and provide recommendations, so on and so forth.

Right now, we've got exactly one software tool as our basis. It's a result of what I'd say is a pretty innovative idea, so it has buy-in and complete support from a large hospital system.

Our goal is to expand both vertically and horizontally--developing decision tools across different domains, and helping with (or consulting on) different aspects of the medical realm that are not necessarily focused on decision-making through software tools.

I'm the sole developer of our first software tool, but I'm leaving the software development aspects behind and focusing first on software "ergonomics" and usability, then on decision analysis, marketing, etc.--the broader picture for the company and what exactly it is that we do. As we grow the company, those facets will become more and more important.

This company is just one of a few of my jobs


I guess typology has helped when it comes to an overall understanding of other people, especially since I've got a huge interest in the psychological aspects of what we do. However, a typical CTO who wants to focus on developing technology might not get as much out of typology as, say, those who manage or interface with other people as a regular part of their job.

Wisdom of Teams is a good read for anyone who works on a team, though.

 

[xisnotx]

I guess I'm going to have to accept that one day I'm going to have to open a business of some sort. I'm not living life under a boss...not that it's a bad thing...it's just that it isn't for me.

If I need to do something, I don't want to do it.
If I want to do something, I need to do it.

 

[thisGuy]

You just got an angel hooked? That is AWESOME!! Congrats! Is it an internet startup? Post your links everywhere. We people here will help your user count skyrocket!

I'm a student...took my last internship to build a company. Then I had to quit for a while because school started (experience taught me I CANT do both at the same time). Anyway, long story short I got a couple of ideas that I think are amazing. I am waiting till Apr 26 when I finish this school term and can start working on my company again!

I am still trying to figure out how to make type dynamics work for me. I know the type of my cofounders and partners but I still don't know how to leverage it...I'm not sure if you can in a startup - unless you know them really really well

 

[AgentF]

You just got an angel hooked? That is AWESOME!! Congrats! Is it an internet startup? Post your links everywhere. We people here will help your user count skyrocket!

I'm a student...took my last internship to build a company. Then I had to quit for a while because school started (experience taught me I CANT do both at the same time). Anyway, long story short I got a couple of ideas that I think are amazing. I am waiting till Apr 26 when I finish this school term and can start working on my company again!

I am still trying to figure out how to make type dynamics work for me. I know the type of my cofounders and partners but I still don't know how to leverage it...I'm not sure if you can in a startup - unless you know them really really well

hi thx!

geosocial mobile app.

once an entrepreneur always an entrepreneur. and you bet your grannie's boots you need to know your co-founders well going into it. i happen to know my team's bowel movement schedule, among other things. used to manage them at another company...our war room shared a wall with the men's bafroom. :horor:

anyway, welcome!

 

[ThinkingAboutIt]

:hi:

i'm a crazed serial entrepreneur who just received her first round of angel capital for her new venture.

sooo....

any other entrepreneurs around here? hi tech would be awesome. but small biz owners and managers, too, as the lessons and challenges are essentially the same.

i'd like to build a team this time using [the little i know about] typology. any wisdom you can share (or that we jointly can amass) would be incredible.

the team i've assembled so far:

ENFP - CEO (who acts a hell of a lot like ENTJ in the workplace, the madwoman)
INTJ - CTO
INTP - architect/back-end developer
ISTJ (?) - front-end designer
INTJ - web developer
INTJ - angel investor
INTJ - advisor

i've made asked everyone but the front-end designer to take the mbti test...we're just a wee bit heavy on the NTs, which is not a bad thing at all in hi tech.


so, has anyone studied team dynamics using typology? (i've got a few books on the way but prefer dialogue) have experience with ENFPs and INTJs at the C-level and wanna bitch/share/brainstorm leadership? drawn up a term sheet or raised pre-VC/angel capital? worked in startups? work in the consumer web/mobile space? develop for droid/iphone and wanna talk dev timelines?

I own a business. That part is good. The bad part is having employees. That is why I will never start another business unless I can hand it off to someone else to manage completely. Serious pain in the rear end!

 

[thisGuy]

hi thx!

geosocial mobile app.

once an entrepreneur always an entrepreneur. and you bet your grannie's boots you need to know your co-founders well going into it. i happen to know my team's bowel movement schedule, among other things. used to manage them at another company...our war room shared a wall with the men's bafroom. :horor:

anyway, welcome!

interesting! knowing the co-founders part...not so much the ability to identify owner from bowel movements!

so you essentially took your team and made it into a company. cool! that must've been crucial in keeping the hierarchical structure intact...for accountability

I own a business. That part is good. The bad part is having employees. That is why I will never start another business unless I can hand it off to someone else to manage completely. Serious pain in the rear end!

for management sorrows at startups and software firms, bury your head in http://www.amazon.com/Managing-Humans-Humorous-Software-Engineering/dp/159059844X

its essentially a compilation of the author's blog but i like the book form better because its sequenced better. the book is very informal, very practical, and straight to the point. i like!

edit: author`s blog- http://randsinrepose.com/

 

[Amargith]

I'm utterly in awe at the NFPs in here with their business success. I've had my own business, but it scared the hell out of me due to the administration involved, so I left that behind me. I still have the need to have my own business or rather to do my own thing, but I hate the impersonal feel of a business, as well as many of the things you have to do to 'survive' in business..hits too many of my Fi values

Working still though at carving out my own little perfect niche..It's inspiring to see it is in fact possible

 

[highlander]

I'm part owner of a large consulting firm. I built one consulting practice from the ground up to about a 30M business and then led another one for six years. I just finished a project where we started with two of us and it ended up leading up to about 13m in revenue in a very short period of time. So, I guess I'm pretty entrepreneurial but it's within the context of a larger organization. I started my own business on the side once but found I just couldn't work two jobs at the same time.

I do use MBTI at work in the forming of teams. I like to combine SJs and NTs together on a team, for example, or have a blend of Ps and Js. It depends on what needs to get done though. For example on my last project, I had an ISTJ and an ENTJ working together. I was worried that there would be problems between the two of them but they had very complimentary talents and did get along. It is less about pegging people with type and more about understanding them. It is all about getting people in the right roles and having a blend of different kinds of people and thinkers on a team working with each other. That's a reason this recent project was hard - because I didn't know many of the people and had to quickly discover what they were good at. I guess overall, I'm not so much consciously using type but am making decisions intuitively. However, the type knowledge is an important set of data points embedded in my brain and colors my thinking.