We were lucky to catch up with Olga Ten recently and have shared our conversation below.

Olga, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

Before I validated my idea, I was on my own. However, once I received positive feedback from my target audience I needed to build out a team to make my idea a reality. Because I was bootstrapped, I had a very limited budget therefore I could not hire anyone full-time. Therefore, I had to be creative. My whole business is built on a combination of freelancers and small agencies.

Before hiring a team, I made an assessment of my key strengths and the areas of expertise I needed to complement my skillset and interests. To take my startup to the next level I needed to build a digital product, a brand and to make it appealing to my target audience.

While my skillset is in business strategy, brand and marketing strategy, I needed someone to develop my product and someone to help me implement my marketing strategy.

Developing a basic version of a digital product of my scale would require between $300k – $600k, which I didn’t have. So I had to look for developers outside of my region. When I was selecting a small agency, I looked at how lean their operations are, how experienced they are in my industry, their timelines, budgets and a personal connection. This way, after a few interviews I found an agency that is still with me to this day.

Once Upmarqt was about to launch I needed marketing and sales support to start building an engaged audience who eventually would become clients. Ok so how do you find great people on a budget? For me, the key here was to look for people with drive, who would believe in the idea and, not necessarily experience. From what I have seen, skills can be easily acquired while someone without motivation will drain time and energy even if they have years of experience.

The way I build my team is by focusing on peoples’ talents. So when I interview, most of the questions I ask are about how the person will fit into the team and their natural strengths and interests. Once they are part of the team, their job is defined 80% by what interests them most. This way I make sure that the new hire is motivated, excited to learn, gets the most out of the job and we get the most creative output from that person. This has helped me build the most productive and driven team as a startup founder.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m now the Founder of Upmarqt. I started my entrepreneurial journey in early 2022. My background is 12 years of corporate where I focused on global business and marketing strategy. This was exciting but I felt like I could bring more value to elsewhere.

When the pandemic started I did a lot of thinking about what my real strengths and talents were. At work I was a massive overachiever and so I thought what if I do something that I really love, imagine what I can do. Now it was time to figure out what were the things that made me really happy…and get over the fear of leaving my well paid full time job.

That is how the idea of Upmarqt was born, by getting over the fear to zone in on my talents in combination with focusing on the things that I love and love to do.

And so when I finally decided to make the step from my 9-to-5, which took me about 2 years, Upmarqt was born. Upmarqt is a platform that matches businesses with a unique talent pool of freelancers and small agencies. Everyone in our talent pool has achieved significant success for another business.

I’m most proud of the team I have built and the network of wonderful talent that does a tremendous job for our clients.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The best pieces of advice I can give for managing team and keeping everyone motivated is the following.

First and foremost, focus on everyone’s strengths. 70%-80% of what every team member should be doing is something they are passionate about. If a person is a natural designer, don’t have them write copy. You will see that when people do what they have a natural affinity for, they will go far and beyond to deliver on their projects. They will also develop faster and will love their job.

Second, once the person is comfortable with the job, continue to empower and give more responsibility. This will help your team grow and feel the sense of ownership. This will also enable you to strategically manage your business rather than be in your business without a helicopter view.

Finally, set expectations together with your team and hold them accountable. This way, you will see progress in your business and you will have wonderful team that will 100% stand behind you.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

As a startup we are always trying and testing new things to see what works and what doesn’t. Since the beginning we have tried various social media, in person events, our own online events for founders, partnerships. So far we have found that in-person events, our own online events and LinkedIn is the powerful combination. However, if I had to choose one, in person targeted events create the most incredible connections. Everyone is there to network and everyone is open to a conversation. These are relatively high investment, high reward activities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://upmarqt.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/upmarqt
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-ten-4467486/