Member-only story

My Venture Diary — A Hard Lesson in Team Alignment

Janet Tseng
4 min readFeb 16, 2025

[EP13] I made a major mistake.

After a week of feeling down, my funk has finally lifted. However, I didn’t accomplish much this week for my venture. The main reason? I asked some critical questions that I should have discussed with my two teammates before officially starting the project, and I’ve been waiting for their responses.

(Not a Medium member yet? Click here to read the full article!)

My First Major Mistake

I’ve led teams in school and at a company, and I’ve read countless books on leadership. But that doesn’t mean you’re automatically prepared. As a first-time entrepreneur, I made a significant, and perhaps the most important, mistake: I didn’t confirm my teammates’ actual commitment levels. Instead, I relied on my intuition, judgment, and their partial commitment to move forward.

While I secured bootstrapping funds and developed a clear, logical plan, I didn’t approach the most crucial aspect — choosing the right people — with sufficient caution. This oversight forced me to take a short pause.

In EP4 of My Venture Diary — What Makes A Good Team? I discussed what I was looking for in teammates. My criteria weren’t wrong, nor have I changed my mind. The problem was that I assumed they met my expectations —…

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Janet Tseng
Janet Tseng

Written by Janet Tseng

Traveler, dreamer, and life enthusiast—the girl next door with a passion for writing and sharing, who lives with warmth and an open mind.

No responses yet

Write a response