Page 177 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

156 6 SECRETS TO STARTUP SUCCESS

very close to the victim (a few even stepped over him on the way to
their destination).4

The message of the Good Samaritan study is that our sense of ur-
gency can greatly influence whether our actions match up with our
espoused values and priorities. The “hurried” seminary students in
the study would claim to be just as altruistic as the other participants,
but their sense of urgency clearly diminished their ability to act ac-
cording to their stated values. Similarly, many entrepreneurs intend
to create highly functioning, well-communicating teams but often cast
these good intentions aside amid the time pressures of a startup envi-
ronment, where an ever-growing list of urgent concerns and to-dos
crowds out more fundamental issues.

J.C. Faulkner, when asked about his tactics for building trust and
cohesiveness among his management team, concurs with the idea of
no shortcuts. “It’s real simple,” he says. “It took time. Trust is not
something that you can buy, or that happens quickly. It is an intense
thing that has to be developed over time.” The paradoxical good news
for D1 was that this investment of time led to terrific speed and
growth. “We had a goal to produce $40 million of business in a three-
year period,” J.C. recalls, “and we did it in twelve months. In my
wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have thought it would happen, but I
learned that an efficient management team that trusts each other can
make so many decisions. The question is: How quickly, how effectively
can you have conversations to make the best decisions? Some teams
are too slow in making decisions, and some are very quick to make
bad decisions. But if you are fast and you make the right decisions, it’s
explosive.”

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH SMART PEOPLE

Another hallmark of J.C. Faulkner’s approach to building D1 was that
he sought and attracted the highest level of talent. Doug Crisp and
other members of his management team left senior posts and prom-
ising careers with one of the largest banks in the United States to join
D1. As they attracted others to the venture, a positive talent cycle
took hold, where talented people created an energetic, achievement-

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