'Crea tu Startup Día 36' Módulo V Compañía

Module V — Company

The session introduces the startup’s organizational and people-related foundations: founder agreements, organizational design, hiring, and leadership. Its central message is that a strong idea is not enough; founders need clear agreements, defined responsibilities, and a structure that can evolve as the company grows.

Founder / Shareholders’ Agreement

A founder agreement is a private, adaptable contract that sets out the partners’ rights, responsibilities, and procedures for handling important events. It can reduce misunderstandings, protect the company from personal disputes, and give investors confidence that the founders have agreed on how to manage disagreements.

Key provisions to consider:

• Mission, vision, and objectives: Align founders on the company’s direction and use those principles to guide decisions.
• Roles and responsibilities: Clarify which partners are active in operations and which primarily provide capital. Assign active partners responsibilities that fit their expertise.
• Ownership and economics: Agree on equity allocation and profit or dividend distribution. Consider initial investment, time commitment, and contribution to the business.
• Decision-making: Define decision rights, voting rules, and what happens when partners are deadlocked.
• New partners and investors: Specify how new partners are evaluated, admitted, and integrated.
• Conflict resolution: Set out escalation procedures, including mediation or a neutral arbitrator if needed.
• Confidentiality and non-compete terms: Protect company information and know-how, subject to applicable law.
• Vesting and commitment: Vesting requires founders to remain and work for the company for a specified period. The expert gives 2–4 years as a common example, so a departing co-founder does not retain an unearned stake without recourse.
• Exit provisions: Explain how a departing partner can sell their interest, how they will be compensated, and how disputes will be resolved.
• Sale of the company: The expert gives a 70% approval example of a drag-along clause, under which a majority can require minority shareholders to accept a sale.
• Ongoing review: Treat the agreement as a living document and update it as the company, ownership, strategy, and investment stage change.

Recommendation: Get independent legal advice before signing or revising the agreement. The session emphasizes that a partner who understands the law may not be impartial. The agreement is separate from an employment contract: a partner who also works in the company may need both.

Organizational Plan

The organizational plan maps the company’s internal structure: functions, roles, responsibilities, authority, coordination, and reporting lines. It helps prevent duplicated or neglected work, speeds up decisions, improves communication, and provides a basis for bringing in new staff as the business scales.

Core design elements:

• Functions, activities, and tasks: A function is a broad area of responsibility, such as sales or marketing. Activities are the work within that function, and tasks are specific actions. For example, in sales, customer management is an activity and following up with a client in the CRM is a task.
• Job descriptions: Define each role’s title, purpose, responsibilities, day-to-day tasks, reporting relationships, and required knowledge and skills.
• Authority and coordination: Clarify who can assign work, approve decisions, and supervise results. Define communication channels, handoffs, dependencies, deadlines, and work protocols.
• Organizational chart: Use a visual map of reporting relationships and teams. Keep job descriptions and the chart aligned with actual work; repeated duties outside a role may indicate that the role needs updating or that more staff are needed.

Organizational Structures

• Hierarchical: Provides a clear chain of command and accountability, but may slow decisions, constrain upward feedback, and limit flexibility.
• Matrix: Combines functional reporting with project teams. It can support project flexibility and focused communication, but may create multiple-boss conflicts and requires substantial coordination.
• Horizontal: Has few management layers and encourages direct collaboration across functions. The instructor identifies this as a likely fit for an early-stage startup with a small team because it supports fast communication and decisions. Risks include unclear roles and less formal supervision.
• Functional: Groups employees by specialization or department. It supports expertise and clear departmental goals, but can create silos and misalignment across teams.
• Mixed: Combines structures, such as functional departments and project teams. It can improve coordination and adaptability in complex organizations, but is harder to design and may blur authority.
• Circular: Places leadership at the center with roles around it, aiming to encourage connection and equality. Authority and career progression may be less obvious.

No single structure is right for every company. Startups should choose a structure suited to their current size and operating needs, then revise it as they grow.

Centralization, Decentralization, and Delegation

Centralized organizations reserve more decisions for a small leadership group, providing control but potentially slowing action. Decentralized organizations give employees authority in their areas, which can improve responsiveness and free senior leaders to focus on long-term opportunities. Most companies use a hybrid rather than an entirely centralized or decentralized model.

Delegation playbook from the embedded video:

• Define the expected result clearly.
• Set necessary boundaries and standards.
• Explain likely pitfalls and share useful resources or contacts.
• Focus on the outcome rather than prescribing every step.
• Provide feedback and appropriate incentives, including recognition and development.
• Train employees and allow time for them to become independent. Delegation may initially take longer but can reduce the manager’s workload over time.

The video’s example is a founder delegating video scripts to a new writer: specify the desired output and constraints, make resources available, and let the writer determine the process. The organization’s mission should be shared so employees understand how their work contributes.

For remote teams, the video recommends understanding individual motivators, maintaining access to support, and using a monthly video call to check in on employees’ well-being and connection to the team.

Examples and Practical Lessons

• A franchise can combine centralized standards—such as menu and opening hours—with local autonomy over day-to-day operations.
• A phone-company customer-service example illustrates how rigid rules and limited employee authority can create slow, ineffective service.
• Valve/Steam is presented as an example of open project allocation: employees can choose projects and must persuade others to contribute. The video notes that this model is not suitable for everyone.
• A university example shows the risk of departmental silos: sales may enroll more students than campus capacity can accommodate unless sales and infrastructure coordinate.

Metrics and Timelines

No company performance KPIs, such as revenue, CAC, margins, or churn, are provided. Concrete figures and timeframes mentioned are examples rather than targets: founder vesting periods of 2–4 years, a 70% drag-along example, and monthly remote-team video calls.

The next session is scheduled for the following day and will cover recruiting and the people plan. No activity is assigned for this session.

Presenters and Sources

• Main presenter: The instructor for Crea tu Startup; no name is given in the subtitles.
• Embedded source: Jorge Dobón of Demium Startups, discussing shareholders’ agreements, alongside unnamed entrepreneurs sharing their experiences.
• Embedded video source: An unnamed educational video on centralized and decentralized organizations, delegation, and remote-team management.
• Upcoming guest: An entrepreneur named Jorge, scheduled for the next session.