The 5 Meeting Habits of Effective Startup Tech Company Founders

Successful startup tech founders make sure to follow these best practices in meetings.

Meetings are a staple of any company, including tech startups, but how you organize and hold meetings can make a substantial impact on your productivity and bottom line. Because there are multiple participants in each of your meetings, the man-hours associated with each meeting multiply; a one-hour meeting with a dozen participants will ultimately cost you 12 hours of work. On top of that, every hour you spend in a meeting is an hour you aren’t spending on more productive tasks.

That said, meetings are still important, so how do successful leaders handle them?

They only include who’s necessary. Every participant will add to the cumulative hours-cost of your meeting, so only include who’s truly necessary. Each meeting attendee should come prepared to contribute to the discussion.
They set a strict time limit. It may seem like a good idea to set a long, flexible time limit for your meetings, but the more time you allot for them, the more time they’re going to take. It’s better to work with a tight timeframe; it might add some pressure, but it will serve as motivation to accomplish your goals faster.
They have an agenda, and a clear goal. Every meeting you hold should have a clear agenda. Why are you meeting? What are you hoping to accomplish? How are you going to accomplish it? Make sure all your meeting participants are equipped with this information far in advance of the meeting, so they can come prepared to accomplish it.
They assign a meeting leader. Whether it’s you or someone else on your team, you should have a meeting leader, responsible for ensuring the agenda is followed and keeping the meeting from straying off point (as meetings often do).
They arrange for follow-up notes. Finally, effective startup tech company founders make plans to send follow-up notes to everyone involved in the meeting. This will recap the high-level points of the meeting, and include any action items for its attendees.

These habits can lead you to more effective, less wasteful meetings in your organization. If you’re looking for more helpful productivity habits and pointers on team management in startups, contact me today!

About the Author

Jose Vasquez is a serial entrepreneur and tech specialist dedicated to helping startup tech companies grow and succeed. As the founder of Build. Brand. Blast., Jose has worked with dozens of enterprises to find direction, gain momentum, and achieve results.