A startup sports analogy that actually makes sense
I spent my childhood and teen years playing competitive soccer. Even after an ACL tear ended my chance to play it at the collegiate level, I’ve remained engaged in the sport. Now, as the CEO of Flexia, a startup in the connected fitness space, I can’t help but to notice how many lessons I learned from soccer prepared me for the role of entrepreneur and CEO of a high-growth startup.
What soccer taught me about early stage startups.
In soccer, there are a number of roles that determine the overall success of the team with the primary ones being the players, the player-captain, and the coach.
The players are the executors and there are multiple positions, including goalkeeper, center defender, and striker. Each of these positions requires a different skill set and ownership of a role, but it is also paramount that each player can coordinate with their teammates on the field to ultimately score and protect against the opposing team to win the game.
At some point, a player may transition to a leadership position of player-captain. The player-captain sets an example of how team members should behave. They also may be responsible for strategy preparation and game planning. However, they are also executing on the field among their fellow players.
Some players ultimately retire from playing soccer, but remain engaged by becoming a coach where they are responsible for the preparation and game planning of a team. Coaches coordinate the players and point them in the right direction based on individual skills, the opponents, the field conditions, and the weather. Unlike the players and player-captain, the coach is the planner and not the executor. While they are leading the team, they are no longer playing on the field.
How roles in soccer translate to early stage startups
In a startup, the players are the individual team members within the company. This might include the software engineer, customer support specialist, and social media manager. While it is important that each of these people is able to execute within their domain, they must be able to coordinate with each other for the startup to be successful, similar to how in soccer the players must work together to score goals against the opposing team.
Startups also often have the equivalent of a player-captain, where the founder directs the team while also executing specific tasks within the company as the early-stage CEO. While this transition phase is a normal part of the process, for a startup to grow, the founder will need to transition to the role of “coach,” where their sole role is to lead the company and they are no longer also an executor.
Why the transition from player-captain to coach is challenging in a startup
In my experience founding a startup, the transition from player-captain to coach can be quite uncomfortable. When you are in the player-captain role, you need to be able to point everyone working for you in the right direction while still executing tasks within the company that are specific to your expertise. This can be tiring, but also rewarding, because to return to the soccer analogy, you still have a chance to get on the field and score a goal.
Part of what makes the transition difficult is giving up your executing role. Your executing role is probably something that you enjoy doing and it can be hard to give up “scoring goals” and many founders find they are better at and more comfortable with executing than leading or managing people, which is a different skillset. Also, hiring and onboarding someone to take over your role can feel more burdensome in terms of time and budget constraints than doing the work yourself. However, when you’re in multiple roles, there’s so much to do that it’s hard to do any of it well, which is why it’s important to transition to the role of coach sooner rather than later if you value long term growth.
Transitioning to coach requires a leap of faith, but in a more practical sense, it is about asking yourself where you are replaceable. Your “on-field” skills can almost always be replicated. What can’t be replaced is your vision for the company. If you don’t transition to coach, there will come a point when the team won’t know where to go or how to play together. As time goes on, it’ll become harder and harder to score goals.
However, not all people are meant to be coaches. This is why sometimes the most famous soccer players are never very good coaches. Conversely, this is why some of the best coaches were not stand out players. If you’re struggling to make the transition to coach, it may come down to understanding where you get the most pleasure and find flow in your work. If executing or “scoring goals” lights you up and you can’t find the same joy in leading your team, then you may be better off remaining in an executing role instead of acting as the leader of the company. This isn’t a bad thing. However, it does require being honest with yourself and finding someone to fill the role of coach, so you can thrive in the position that you really want to be doing.
Startups are inherently hard, but the most successful ones are the result of the founders being aware of their strengths and weaknesses, so they can leverage their strengths while bringing on other people to fill in their gaps. All team members, players, player-captains, and coaches are crucial for the success of the team. The real question is where can you best leverage your strengths and where do you want to be within your company?
